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Reportaje Central Main Article reportaje central main article 28 www.facesdigital.com La Cueva Charles Brewer Uno de los descubrimientos más importantes de los últimos tiempos según se informa en las publicaciones internacionales. Un regalo de la naturaleza, de dimensiones difíciles de imaginar, encontrado por casualidad, y que hoy es reconocido como la cueva de cuarcita más grande del mundo. International publications have considered it one of the most important discoveries of recent times. A gift of nature, of dimensions which are hard to imagine, found by chance, and that today is recognized as the greatest quartzite cave in the world. Por/By: Alfredo A. Chacón, Javier Mesa y Federico Mayoral Foto/Photo: Marek Audy, Charles Brewer-Carías y Javier Mesa 29 reportaje central main article Ninguno de los exploradores que es- Para revisar los antecedentes al des- tuvo en la Guayana venezolana an- cubrimiento de la extraordinaria tes de 1930 informó haber visto una Cueva Charles Brewer en la cum- of the explor- montaña tan extensa como la Isla bre de ese macizo montañoso que ers who were de Margarita (en Venezuela) o la Isla ahora se llama Chimantá, es preciso in the Vene- Gran Canaria (en España), hasta que remontarnos a enero de 1962, cuan- Nonezuelan Guayana before 1930 informed el explorador Holdridge publicó en do Charles Brewer-Carías regresó to have seen such an extensive mountain N as Margarita Island (in Venezuela) or the 1931 la fotografía de un macizo mon- de dirigir una expedición en la que tañoso de más de 2.000 m. de altura había ido a buscar los restos de la Gran Canaria Island (in Spain), until 1931 al que llamó “Metcalf Mountains”. La ciudad perdida de San José de Gui- when Holdridge, the explorer, published forma de esta meseta era, sin duda rior. Esa “Expedición Universitaria al the photograph of a mountainous massif alguna, parecida a la del Monte Ro- Alto Paragua” resultó memorable no of more than 2000 m. of height which he raima y a la del Cerro Duida, que por la fracasada búsqueda arqueo- called “Metcalf Mountains”. The form of this plateau was, without a doubt, similar hasta entonces habían sido los dos lógica, sino por las ricas colecciones to the one of Mount Roraima and to the únicos tepuyes explorados; pero por de plantas y animales que se obtu- one of the ‘Cerro Duida’ (Duida Hill), that la distancia a la que se encontraba, vieron, y a su regreso Brewer partió until then had been the only ‘tepuyes’ ex- este explorador pensó erróneamen- de inmediato en compañía del Capi- plored; but because of his distance towards te que aquel macizo formaba parte tán Harry Gibson para sobrevolar el it, this explorer erroneously thought that de la extensísima Sierra Pakaraima. Cerro Sipapo y buscar allí los restos this massif was part of Pakaraima’s Moun- Holdrige también supuso que aque- de una posible antigua civilización, tain range. Holdrige also supposed that the lla montaña de cumbre plana estaba y fue durante esos viajes cuando es- flat summit mountain was closely together muy cerca del nunca encontrado tudiaron desde el aire unas cuevas to the, never found, Parima Lake, border in Lago Parima, en cuya orilla habría que atravesaban el Cerro Autana de which the mythical city of Manoa was sup- estado la mítica ciudad de Manoa, la un lado al otro “como el ojo de una posed to be, and that according to many, cual según muchos, fue habitada por aguja” que finalmente descubrió el was inhabited by the ‘Principe Dorado’ el Príncipe Dorado. 20 de septiembre de 1971. –Golden Prince-. 30 www.facesdigital.com Las siguientes cavernas tepuyanas que Brewer-Carías exploró y des- cubrió fueron la Sima Mayor y la In order to review the precedents to the by the pilot Salvador Mares in 1964, and Sima Menor de Sarisariñama en 1974 discovery of the extraordinary ‘Cueva by December of that same year, Brewer- (bautizadas inicialmente como Sima Charles Brewer’ in the summit of that Carías had climbed the southern summit of Brewer y Sima Gibson). Éstas habían mountainous massif that is now called that plateau. Three years later, he prepared sido reportadas por primera vez por Chimantá, it is precise to go back to a multidisciplinary expedition in order to el piloto Salvador Mares en 1964, y en January 1962, when Charles Brewer-Carías descend to the middle of that “Island in diciembre de ese mismo año Brewer- returned from running an expedition in Time”1, as he baptized the tepuyes then, to Carías escaló la cumbre Sur de esa which he went to look for the rest of the collect, for the first time, the great plants meseta. Tres años más tarde prepa- lost city of San Jose de Guirior. Such that grew at the bottom of such great 2 ró una expedición multidisciplinaria “University Expedition to the High Paragua “simas” which sank in the surface of that para descender en medio de esa “Isla river” was memorable, not because of the unexplored plateau. en el Tiempo”1, como bautizó enton- failed archaeological search, but because This expedition generated a great commo- of the rich collections of tion in the world of spele- ces a los tepuyes, para recolectar por plants and animals that ... on Saturday ology3, and immediately primera vez las plantas que crecían were obtained. Afterwards, March 27th, 2004, other speleological groups en el fondo de las grandes “simas”2 Brewer left immediately in at 11:01 a.m., were motivated to explore que se hundían en la superficie de company of Captain Harry the tepuyes, thus finding esa meseta inexplorada. Gibson in order to fly over the mouth of this other simas and caves in the ‘Cerro Sipapo’ (Sipapo enormous cavity many of these wonder- …aquella cavidad Hill) looking for the rest of was visited for ful plateaus, including a possible old civilization; Sima de la Lluvia (Sima insólita podría and it was during those trips the first time in of Rain) also in Sarisari- tener un volumen when, from the air, they history by Charles ñama, and others in the studied some caves that Brewer-Carías... summit of the Chimantá tal, ¡que en su crossed the ‘Cerro Autana’ Massif. (Autana Hill) from one side to the other just interior cabría “as the eye of a needle”, which he finally In the way to The discovered on September 20th, 1971. Phantom Cave el Poliedro de The following tepuy caverns that Brewer- To talk about the ‘Cueva Charles Brewer’, Caracas! Carías disovered and explored were the casually discovered in the summit of one of ‘Sima Mayor’ and the ‘Sima Menor’ of the plateaus that crown the summit of the Esta expedición generó un gran re- Sarisariñama in 1974 (initially baptized Chimantá Massif, it is precise to present 3 vuelo en la espeleología mundial, e as Sima Brewer and Sima Gibson). These some details that allowed Brewer-Carías inmediatamente otros grupos espe- simas had been reported for the first time to distinguish the crack that gives access leológicos se motivaron a explorar los tepuyes, encontrando así otras La Cueva de El Fantasma se encuentra en simas y cuevas en muchas de estas el flanco Noroeste del Aprada-tepui. maravillosas mesetas, incluida la Esta cueva, avistada por el piloto Raúl Arias, fue dada a conocer por las fotografías de Sima de la Lluvia también en Sari- Charles Brewer-Carías. sariñama, y otras en la cumbre del Macizo de Chimantá. En el camino de La Cueva ‘La Cueva de El Fantasma’ is located de El Fantasma in the Northwest flank of the Para hablar sobre la Cueva Charles Aprada-Tepui. This cave was first seen by pilot Raúl Arias and photographed Brewer, descubierta casualmente en by Charles Brewer-Carías. la cumbre de una de las mesetas que coronan la cumbre del Macizo del Chimantá, es preciso dar a conocer 31 reportaje central main article to this natural patrimony of Venezuela and that it is now considered as the greater quartzite10 cave of the world in terms of dimension and volume. The first step towards this discovery was on January 11th 2002, when Ricardo Cisneros asked Brewer-Carías to assist him as a geographer during a helicopter trip in order to know what could be the name of a mountain in which, a month before, his pilot had seen an enormous crack, and to which only he knew how to arrive. Until such moment the name of this mountain was not known; nobody had photographed it nor registered its coordinates. During that trip it rained a lot, which made the landing of the helicopter into the enormous crack in the base of a tepuy a very difficult one. Brewer-Carías immediately identified it as the Aprada-tepui, whose summit he had trod during a botanical and herpetological4 expedition, where he also explored for the first time the summits of Murey-tepui and Eruoda-tepui in the algunos detalles que le permitieron cuando Ricardo Cisneros le solicitó neighboring Chimantá Massif by February a Brewer-Carías distinguir la rendi- que sirviera como geógrafo durante of 1978. ja que da acceso a este patrimonio un viaje en helicóptero para saber In that year’s visit to the fantastic door with natural de Venezuela y que ahora se cuál podría ser el nombre de una a threshold located at 250 m. of height, they considera la caverna de cuarcita10 montaña en la que un mes antes su decided to call that crack as ‘La Cueva de más grande del mundo en dimen- piloto había visto una enorme grieta, El Fantasma’ (The Phantom Cave), not sión y volumen.
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