Olivier Testa

Olivier Testa (born April 1, 1977) is a Cave explorer, known for his discovery of the orange cave-dwelling crocodiles of Gabon,[1] the sepulchral cave of Iroungou[2] in Gabon, the discovery of unexpected caves in the volcanic Bamboutos mountains in Cameroon and several discoveries in Haiti.[3][4] He has led or participated in over 40 caving expeditions in Africa, Asia and in the Caribbean.[5]

Olivier Testa
Testa at ONA Film Festival (Venice) in 2020
Born (1977-04-01) 1 April 1977
Marseille, France.
NationalityFrench
OccupationSpeleologist, Explorer
Known forCave Exploration
Websitewww.olivier-testa.com

Early life

Testa was born in Marseille, France, and grew up in the Alps, in Annecy, France, where he learnt mountain sports.

After obtaining an engineer's degree at École Centrale Paris in 2000,[6] Testa tried different jobs and worked 2 years at French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) (Real-Time Scheduling),[7] near Grenoble, France, from 2001 to 2003. Meanwhile, he was an active caver at the La Tronche caving club (FLT).[8] He explored and practiced in many deep caves in Chartreuse Mountains and Vercors Massif, and started cave diving.

Wanting a radical change in his career, he volunteered for a 2-year mission in Dschang, Cameroon with AFVP (the French equivalent of Voluntary Service Overseas) in 2006–2007.[6] He was in charge of coordinating the Route des Chefferies cultural program and the preliminary works on the Musée des Civilisations in Dschang.

Back from Cameroon, Testa worked in Ituri, DR Congo for a Humanitarian NGO,[6] and after a few months, he finally followed his calling and decided in 2009 to dedicate himself full-time to cave exploration.

Caving expeditions

Gabon

In 2007, Testa and EEGC team, on an expedition to Gabon, discover in the area of Tchibanga, Nyanga the first cave drawings of the country.[9] Other cave drawings or carvings have been later discovered in other parts of Gabon by Testa and Richard Oslisly, in Lastoursville in 2015 and 2016,[10] or near Mouila in 2018[11]

In 2010, Testa, with a team led by Oslisly (Shirley, Testa, Sebag, Decaens, Mabicka) went on an expedition in the upstream part of the Fernan Vaz Lagoon, Gabon.[12] In the caves of Abanda, cave-dwelling crocodiles, with a unique orange color, were found and captured by the team. These dwarf crocodiles are trapped in the caves along with 10,000s bats. They live in complete darkness, in liguid guano,[13] feeding mainly on bats and cave crickets.[14] Follow-up expeditions took place in 2011, 2015, 2016, 2017.[12]

In 2013, 2015, 2016, Testa and Oslisly conducted speleological research[15] in the area of Lastoursville, known for a couple of caves since early 20th century.[16] In three expeditions, they explored and surveyed 40 caves in the rainforest surrounding the small town. Among discoveries, new caves (Boukama cave , Missie cave, Moungueke cave), several archeological findings (cave drawings in Koubou cave, carvings in Lipopa cave, some ancient iron currencies in Nzoundou cave, beads and bells in Siyou cave, jasper flints in Youmbidi cave).[10]

In 2018, Testa and Oslisly discovered the sepulchral cave of Iroungou during a speleological expedition in Mouila area.[17] Testa rappeled down a newly discovered cave and set foot in a chamber were he counted 20 human skulls and hundreds of human bones. Hundreds of artifacts made of iron, copper and brass were scattered on the ground : hoe-blade currencies, knife currencies, currency bracelets, bells, and other power objects.[11] The cave has been excavated by archaeologist in 2019.

Selected publications

Gabon
  • Oslisly, Richard; Testa, Olivier (Jan 2016). "Prospections archéologiques et inventaire spéléologique dans les grottes de Lastoursville". Les Grottes de Lastoursville : Recherches Scientifiques et Valorisation du Patrimoine Souterrain Rapport d'activités 2014-2015 (Report). Libreville, Gabon. pp. 5–51.
  • Arribart, Yann; Luschevici, Olivier; Massad, Rocco; Mesnier, Geoffroy; Poisson, Jérôme; Testa, Olivier (Sep 2007). Rapport de l'expédition spéléologique au Gabon Gabond 007 (Report). Montrouge, France: EEGC.
  • Testa, Olivier; Oslisly, Richard (Dec 2013). "Expédition Gabon Lastourville : sous la jungle reste le mystère ...". Spéléo magazine (84). pp. 36–38.
  • Shirley, Matthew; Burtner, Brittany; Oslisly, Richard; Sebag, David; Testa, Olivier (2016-09-26). "Diet and body condition of cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles ( Osteolaemus tetraspis , Cope 1861) in Gabon". African Journal of Ecology. 55 (4): 411–422. doi:10.1111/aje.12365.
  • Pauwels, Olivier; Carlino, Piero; Chirio, Laurent; Daversa, David; Josiane, Lips; Oslisly, Richard; Testa, Olivier (2019-05-02). "Amphibians and reptiles found in caves in Gabon, western Equatorial Africa". Cave and Karst Science. 46: 3–12.

Saudi Arabia
  • Charloux, Guillaume; Courbon, Paul; Thomas, Matthieu; Testa, Olivier (2017-06-29). "Mapping an ancient qanat system in a northern Arabian urbanized oasis". Water History. 10: 31–51. doi:10.1007/s12685-017-0203-4. S2CID 164971815.
  • Thomas, Matthieu; Testa, Olivier; Courbon, Paul (Mar 2013). "Les puits et qanats de Dumat al-Jandal". Spelunca (129): 43–47.

Cameroon
  • Testa, Olivier (Dec 2009). "Les grottes sacrées des hautes terres de l'Ouest du Cameroun". Spelunca (116).

Chile
  • Marbach, Georges; et al. (2010-06-01). "Ultima Patagonia 2010 : Dix ans sur les karsts du Grand Sud". Spelunca (118): 9–24.

China
  • Bottazzi, Jean; Sanson, Eric; Hugon, Bruno; Testa, Olivier; Maurice, Alain; Guichot, Marc; Guillot, Florence; Pacaut, Cécile; Faverjon, Marc; Tremblay, Marc; Laborde, Amandine; Faure, Nicolas; Vitte, Emmanuel; Morin-Buote, Jessica; David, Eric; Lecuyer, Eric; Madelaine, Eric; Connes, Gilles (2019). Voyages en terre chinoise tome 5 - Expéditions spéléologiques franco-chinoises dans les grottes de Suiyang Shuanghedong (Guizhou, Chine). Spelunca Memoires. Jean Bottazzi (ed.). Fédération Française de Spéléologie.
  • Voyages en terre chinoise tome 3 - Expéditions spéléologiques franco-chinoises 2006-2010 (Guizhou, Guangxi, Chongqing, Beijing, Shandong). Spelunca Memoires. Jean Bottazzi, Bruno Hugon, Jean-Pierre Barbary (eds.). Fédération Française de Spéléologie. 2011.CS1 maint: others (link)
  • Voyages en terre chinoise tome 2 - Expédition spéléologiques franco-chinoise (Guizhou, Chine). Spelunca Memoires. Jean Bottazzi (ed.). Fédération Française de Spéléologie. 2006. ISBN 2-9526246-0-7.CS1 maint: others (link)

Haiti
  • Testa, Olivier (Dec 2009). "Ayiti Toma 2009, reconnaissance spéléologique". Spéléo Magazine (68). pp. 8–10.
  • Testa, Olivier; Fabriol, Jean-François; Devillers, Carole (Jul 2012). Les grottes des Nippes - Rapport technique (Report). Port-au-Prince, Haïti: Fondation Françoise Canez Auguste. p. 108.
  • Testa, Olivier; Fabriol, Jean-François; Devillers, Carole; Jagou, Stéphanie (Sep 2013). Expédition Haiti Sud Est. Spéléo Magazine (Report). pp. 28–31.
  • Testa, Olivier; Hédoin, Jérémy (Jun 2017). Expedition spéléologique Sud 2017 (Report). Hommes des Cavernes. p. 129.

Congo
  • Testa, Olivier (Nov 2011). Expédition Malala 2011 Forêt de Bangou, Congo 5-13 novembre 2011. Spéléo Groupe La Tronche. p. 1.

French Polynesia
  • Oudit, Patricia (Jul 2019). "Makatéa - sur la bonne voie". Paris, France: Red Bulletin. p. 10.

Films
  • Expédition Abanda, à la recherche du crocodile orange (52min, Elodie Fertil, 2011)[18] - Protagonist
  • Cave Crocs of Gabon (60min, Graeme Duane, 2018)[19] - Protagonist
  • Anba, in the Depth of Haiti (23min, Vladimir Cellier, 2018)[20] - Producer, protagonist
  • Africa's Longest Flooded Cave (26min, Phillip Lehman, 2021) - Diver, editor
  • Spirits of the Cave 3 (9min, Phillip Lehman, 2019)[21] - Protagonist

References
  1. "National Geographic: Orange Cave Crocodiles May Be Evolving Into a New Species".
  2. "Press release on the discovery of the Iroungou cave".
  3. Torres Etayo, Daniel (Mar 2014). "Rapport préliminaire de la mission archéologique au Cap Rouge, Jacmel, Haïti". La Habana, Cuba: Centre d’Etudes, de Conservation, de Restauration et de Muséologie Universidad de Las Artes. p. 14.
  4. Jagou, Stéphanie (2014). "Cinq ans d'exploration en Haïti". Spéléo magazine (136). pp. 23–27.
  5. "Olivier Testa: Expéditions".
  6. "Testa Olivier (00) Explorateur-spéléologue". Centraliens (634). 2014. pp. 14–15.
  7. Simon, Daniel; Sename, Olivier; Robert, David; Testa, Olivier (2003). "Real-time and delay-dependent control co-design through feedback scheduling". CERTS’03 : Co-design in Embedded Real-time Systems. Porto, Portugal.
  8. Bulletin 2001-2002, La Tronche: FLT Speleo Groupe de La Tronche, 2002, p. 34
  9. Arribart, Yann; Luschevici, Olivier; Massad, Rocco; Mesnier, Geoffroy; Poisson, Jérôme; Testa, Olivier (Sep 2007). Rapport de l'expédition spéléologique au Gabon Gabond 007 (Report). Montrouge, France: EEGC.
  10. Oslisly, Richard; Testa, Olivier (2017-01-01). Recherches scientifiques dans les cavités de Lastoursville et mise en valeur de la grotte de Boukama - Rapport annuel 2016 (85p) (Report). Libreville, Gabon: Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux, Gabon. p. 85.
  11. Testa, Olivier (2018-12-01). Expedition Report - Grottes de Mouila 2018 - 18-28 septembre 2018 (Report). NOT Engineers. p. 54.
  12. "Abanda expedition official website".
  13. "CNN : Why are these grey crocodiles turning orange".
  14. Shirley, Matthew; Burtner, Brittany; Oslisly, Richard; Sebag, David; Testa, Olivier (2016-09-26). "Diet and body condition of cave-dwelling dwarf crocodiles (Osteolaemus tetraspis , Cope 1861) in Gabon". African Journal of Ecology. doi:10.1111/aje.12365.
  15. "Les Grottes de Lastoursville website".
  16. "Recherches spéléologiques dans l'est du Gabon". Spelunca (4): 151–160. 1979.
  17. "Press release on the discovery of the Iroungou cave".
  18. "Elodie Fertil - Expedition Abanda".
  19. "Smithsonian channel "Cave Crocs of Gabon"".
  20. "Anba, in the Depths of Haiti (on vimeo)".
  21. "Spirits of the cave 3 (on vimeo)".
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