Cavernas do Petar

Petar Caves

Useful Information

Location:	Southern part of São Paulo. 350km from Campinas.
Open:	Núcleos (Centers): daily 8-17
Fee:	yes
Classification:	Karst cave.
Light:	none
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
Last update:	$Date: 2011/12/13 08:43:51 $

History

Description

The Petar State Park is a nature preserve for the Atlantica forest. It is very rich in limestone and heavily karstified. More than 200 caves are known in the park.

Petar is neither the name of a cave nor of the area. It is the abbreviation of the name of the park, which is P.E.T.A.R. or Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (High Ribeira River Turistic State Park). But it seems to be common to use and write the name like it was Petar. The park was created in 1958 around the cities Iporanga and Apiaí.

Many caves in the park are open to tourists, but there is no real show cave, with paths and electric light. The caves are rather wild, some have wooden ladders. There is no light in any cave.

The park has four visitors centers, which are the starting point for any spelunking activity.

Núcleo Santana (Santana Center) is the location were the most interesting caves are.
Núcleo Caboclos (Caboclos Center) in the city of Apiaí is the oldest center. Here are many caves, but we do not have sufficient information about them. Chapéu (Hat), Chapéu Mirim I (Little Hat I), Chapéu Mirim II and Aranhas (Spiders).
Núcleo Ouro Grosso (Ouro Grosso Center) is close to Bairro Serra (Serra Village) in Iporanga. Its main attraction is Caverna Ouro Grosso.
Núcleo Casa de Pedra (Casa de Pedra Center) is the starting point for a walk to the Gruta Casa de Pedra (House of Rock). It is said to have the highest cave entrance in the world, with 215m height. It is 2,930m long and has a vertical range of 292m.

Caves of Petar National Park

Caverna Água Suja |

Caverna do Morro do Couto |

Caverna do Morro Preto |

Caverna Ouro Grosso |

Casa de Pedra |

Caverna Santana