Haitón del Guarataro

The Haitón del Guarataro is a solutional cave system located 2.5 kilometers (1.6 miles) south-east of Curimagua in the Sierra de San Luis, Falcón State, Venezuela. The entrance is a tourist attraction within the Juan Crisóstomo Falcón National Park, and it is Venezuela's deepest limestone cave.

A massive entrance shaft with a diameter of 12 meters (39 feet) leads to a stream passage that follows the dip down for about 350 meters (1,150 feet) to the north, where it chokes, via dips of 168 meters (551 feet), 55 meters (180 feet), and 19 meters (62 feet). There is an upstream passage that goes south for about 150 meters (490 feet) to the foot of a shaft. The cave has a total length of 640 meters and a depth of 305 meters (1,001 feet) (2,100 ft). Members of the Venezuela '73 British Karst Research Expedition were the first to investigate and survey it in April 1973. Oligocene reefal limestone is responsible for its formation.

During the cave excavation, a faunal survey was conducted, but only a few cavernicoles were discovered. Cave crickets, phalangodid harvestmen, a depigmented troglophile garnmarid shrimp (Hyalella meinerti) discovered in a big pool, and a troglobitic trichopolydesmid millipede discovered on the top of the terminal chamber were among the creatures discovered.

Location: Falcón State