Base Jumping In The World?s Deepest Cave Shaft

Base Jumping In The World?s Deepest Cave Shaft

July 310,2010

How about base jumping into the world’s deepest cave shaft?

Yes you’ve guessed it right I’m talking about the Cave of Swallows, a cave that is so deep that it can engulf the Empire State Building.

Located in a rain-forest in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, the cave is a 400m vertical shaft and the dream destination of adrenaline junkies. It takes approximately 12 seconds to base jump from the top of the cave but believe me it’s not a sport for the faint hearted.

 

About Cave of Swallows, Mexico

Ø      The Cave of Swallows, also called Cave of the Swallows (Spanish: Sótano de las Golondrinas), is a pit cave situated in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. The entrance lies along a sloped section of karst, is elliptical in shape, and measures approximately 160 by 205 feet (49 by 62 m).

Ø      The entrance is undercut around its entire perimeter, and the pit opens up to a room that measures approximately 995 by 440 feet (303 by 134 m).

Ø      The low point of the entrance provides a 1094 feet (333 m) freefall drop to the bottom of the cave while the high point provides a 1220 feet (372 m) freefall drop.

Ø      These measures make it the largest cave shaft in the world, second deepest pit in Mexico and the 11th deepest in the world.

 

At 1,220  feet from top to bottom, the Cave of  Swallows (Sótano de las Golondrinas in Spanish) in San Luis Potosi state in Central Mexico is the largest cave shaft in the world, the second deepest pit in Mexico and the 11th deepest in the world.

 

 

The Cave of Swallows is one of the biggest natural depths of the world located in the town of Aquismón in the state of San Luis Potosi (Mexico). The depth of the abyss is about 376 meters, a Tour Eiffel could fix inside it. The top has a diameter close to the 60 meters, while the bottom has an aperture of nearly 300 meters. It has the characteristic of having the aperture smaller than the bottom, giving it a conical shape overall.

 

The name “swallows” is due to the habitants of the region, who were the first to saw the unique phenomenon that happens every day in its interior: thousands of birds of the family of swifts, which the locals call “Swallows” leave the bottom of the abyss, filling the sky with their flight from the Huasteca, which is repeated in the evening when all the birds return to the cave indicating that, one more day is over. In the cave is also possible to find a species of parrots, called locally Cotorras de la cueva (Cave’s Parrots)

This cave was discovered in 1976 by a team of ornithologists from the University of Texas, who made a detailed survey of birds in the Huasteca potosina area. Currently, the Basement of Swallows is highly frequented by lovers of climbing, base jumping and spelunking; its beauty and uniqueness makes it one of the largest protected natural areas of Mexico.