On the flat-topped mountain of Cerro Sarisarinama in southwest Venezuela, gravity has punched four perfectly circular holes nearly 1,000 feet deep into a landscape of remote rainforest. Hundreds of miles from the nearest road, the area is so far removed from civilization that the sinkholes weren’t discovered until 1961, when they were spotted by a pilot flying over the mountain.
Exploration
Sarisarinama became a much sought destination for exploration after 1961, when pilot Harry Gibson noticed both enormous sinkholes,[4] a natural phenomenon unknown at the time.
The summit of Sarisarinma was reached only in 1974, with a helicopter. Initial investigations were done at both sinkholes, including a descent to the bottom of Sima Humboldt. A more thorough speleological investigation was done in 1976 was done two years later, in 1976 by a joint Venezuelan – Polish expedition. They discovered one more sinkhole, Sima de la Lluvia. For some two decades it was the longest known quartzite cave (1.35 km) in the world and its exploration to a great extent solved the mystery of the formation of these sinkholes. In total there are four sinkholes known on Sarisarinama.
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