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In the late Eighties some Russian, Italian and British expeditions started the detailed exploration of the Baysun-Tau region, a series of parallel limestone ranges showing karst features in an high altitude desert environment, with cave entrances between 3,000 and 3,900 m a.s.l. The exploration came to a halt soon because of the breaking up of the Soviet Union and related border contentions between Uzbekistan and Tagikistan. Over the past five years, the improvement of the political situation in Uzbekistan and the possibility to get permits for exploration in this remote area has lead the Ekaterinburg Speleological Club, with the support of La Venta Geographic Explorations, to inaugurate a new season of expeditions. In two years, 2011–2012, new and extensive branches were explored in the cave systems Festivalnaya (-625 m, 16 km; entrance at 3,500 m a.s.l.), Dark Star (-610 m, 7 km; entrance at 3,640 a.s.l.), with more than 11 km of new passages surveyed. Dark Star, renamed as Central Karst System of Hodja Gur Gur Ata, in particular shows a great potential to become one of the deepest caves of Central Asia, reaching now over 600 metres of depth but with a potential of 2,400 metres between the entrance and the resurgence of Machai. In 2011 also Ulugh Begh Cave was reached again, twenty years after its first and unique exploration, discovering a new entrance at almost 3,800 m a.s.l. Additional to explorational works, Chinese, Russian, and Swiss scientists harvested the first samples for climatic studies in 2012. The Baysun Tau limestone ranges show exceptional potential not only for exploration and connection of the caves, but also for future scientific research on paleo-climate and the paleo-geographic evolution of the area.

Very little is known about the karst and caves in southern Uzbekistan, where some of the deepest caves in Asia have been discovered. In particular, the limestone plateau of the Baisun-tau mountain range has a tremendous potential for exploration. This region is also important for palaeoclimate studies, as it is situated in the transition zone between the Westerlies and the Indian Summer Monsoon. For more than 15 years Festival’naya Cave, now the Festival’naya–Ledopadnaya cave system, was the main focus of cavers’ attention. Then, in 2011 the great potential of Dark Star Cave was revealed, after extensive new discoveries were made. Since then, additional expeditions with international teams of cavers, led by the Ekaterinburg Speleological Club and with the support of the Speleological Association of the Urals (SAU, Russia), have continued the exploration of these unique high altitude caves of the Baisun-tau. Both the length and depth of Dark Star have been increased almost two-fold every year. So far, six entrances and 9,537m of surveyed passages have been discovered to a depth of −858m, and Dark Star has now become the focus of exploration for expeditions to the area.