Explorando Mexico, a travel, culture, economy, and events blog, posted useful information on how to get to the “Cave of Swallows”, and what are some of the activities and extreme sports people can practice there.
500 kilometers (310 miles) northeast from San Miguel, the “Pozo de la Golondrinas” (Cave of Swallows), is a natural abyss located in the state of San Luis Potosi. This cave of karst origin was formed by the water of limestone plain.
The entrance measures approximately 205 feet. The entrance provides a free fall of 1220 feet to the cave’s bottom. Its interior is conical in shape; the bottom has 990 feet in diameter. These measurements make it the second deepest cave in Mexico and the 11th in the world.
In 2012, then President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, was lowered by rope to the bottom of the shaft (Image: Google)
Despite its name, this natural refuge doesn’t host swallows, but rather white-collared swifts apus apus (relatives of the swallows and hummingbirds) and the parrots Aratinga holochlora, known as green conures.
The depth of the pit has more than 1,200 feet. (Image: Google)
These birds do surprising rituals. At dawn, thousands of them fly in an orderly fashion to the coasts of Veracruz, more than a hundred kilometers away, in search of food. To exit the cave, the birds fly in circles, gradually flying upwards until they reach the surface. Birds do this every morning and this exodus has become part of the tourist attraction.
In the evenings, they fly in spirals for then precipitating to their nests in the cave’s deep abysm. A large group will circle the entrance to the cave and about once a minute, a group of perhaps fifty will break off and head straight for the entrance. Once they cross the edge, they pull in their wings and free-fall into the cave. They extend their wings and pull out of the dive once they reach the height of their nests.
This cave is considered one of the biggest and most beautiful vertical caves in the planet. (Image: Google)
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Source: http://www.explorandomexico.com/
