The first access to the system, the Sima del Viento, welcomed us, allowing us to install a campsite that hosted at least 12 people, 7 italians and 5 venezuelans united by friendship, curiosity and desire to explore. We went down into the cave without stopping, some of us without ever take a day off. The cave was revealed to our eyes in a growing of emotions, surprising us every day, more and more huge, complex and fascinating.

Two streams, one of the Venezuelans and one of the Italians, come together in a spectacular confluence to originate the River of a Thousand Columns. At the same time we explore another river that takes us to very ample and labyrinthic areas, we enter into Agoraphobia, the Gallery Saul Gutierrez with its incredible nests of Guaciaro. We think that we can not ask for more, but here is Universe of Silence opens up in front of us,  spaces more than 70 meters wide, abandoned by the waters, with crystal floors. And then the Blue Lagunas, the Cjamber of the Dancing Stones and while we scream with emotion, the immense Chamber Paolino Cometti, 250 meters long and 150 wide. Water analysis, photo shoots, measurements and scientific discussions. How is all this possible? We are often incredulous looking at formations unknown, never described before, never imagined.

The last three days we enter into for an internal camp of several days, exploration and survey follow each other in a urgent way at a rate of more than 2 km per day, thanks to Sniper, the revolutionary new tool designed by our Polish friends, without which probably would have been impossible in such a short time to describe the complexity of those spaces (Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!).

Returning up the great river upstream at last we emerge under a large waterfall that overlooks the blue of the sky: is the Chamber of Ratò, the God of water. David looks at me and says: “Only gods know this place... and now we... I can not realize how privileged we are”. This is the word that recurs constantly in our thoughts: “privileged”.

The last day we return to the fabulous reality of the surface of the plateau where we find Raul, Julio the pilot and our friends Maritza and Rodolfo. A bottle of wine is opened while we grab the data on the computer: 15450 meters in only 12 days. The party goes on the next day when we all go down in the cave and walk calmly, together, in the galleries. In our eyes glistening with emotion are reflected lakes, waterfalls and the pink color of the quartzite. There could not be more beautiful end. What else? It was a fantastic experience, made possible once again by the great friendship that binds us to Raul Arias, the greatest sponsor of this project, and to our hermano Freddy Vergara and all his friends of the Teraphosa Exploring Team, who believed in this dream. Essential then has been the support and help on field received from InParques, that has allowed and oversees all operations. The guardiaparques Jesus Lira and Virgilio Abreu have come into the cave with us and become our partners in this great adventure. A big help also came by Venezuelan army, thanks to Colonel Ulises Cardona and to the support of Major General Cliver Acala Cordones, that have helped us a lot in dealing the problems that were to occur in the organizational step. The exploration of the cave is completed, but there are still many scientific questions that will deserve further expeditions in the future. More and more tepui reveal themselves as a magical place, “another world” where the questions spreads leading to new questions, while imagination struggles to keep up with reality.

For all of us, after living this strong emotion, it is now impossible to stop dreaming. Francesco Sauro Took part in the expedition: Virgilio Abreu, Raul Arias, Alfredo Brunetti, Carla Corongiu, Vittorio Crobu, Antonio De Vivo, Jo De Waele, Fulvio Iorio, David Izquierdo, Jesus Lira, Francesco Sauro, Freddy Vergara, Jesus Vergara, and the helicopter pilot Julio Testaferro.

The expedition was made possible thanks to the permission for speleological explorations granted by the Director General Sectoral of InParques Ing. Carlos Cova and by the sponsors Geotec SPA, Raul Helicopteros and by the following technical partners, Dolomite, Intermatica, Ferrino, Amphibious, De Walt, Allemano Metrology, Chelab, Scurion, GTLine, New Foods, Bialetti, MountainHouse. A big thanks to Ortensia Berti and to the comunity of Kavak, to Felipe Campisi and his Robinson, to Karina Ratzevicius of Raul Helicopteros, Maritza Morelli, Rodolfo Gerstl, to the Hotel Gran Sabana and to Elements Adventure for the logistic support.

Gave their patronage: Ambassador of the Republic Bolivarian of Venezuela in Italy Julian Isaias Rodriguez Diaz, Foundation Dolomiti Unesco, Italian Speleological Society, Central Commission for Speleology of CAI, CONI Veneto, Italian Institute of Speleology.