We have been warmly greeted by the community of the Ye'kuana natives with their representative Francisco, and a group of curious children. Our main goal is flying over the Marahuaca, the second highest mountain in the Amazon after the Neblina Peak, and the highest massif with the morphology of a real Tepui. The Marahuaca is a mythical mountain, but it is very little known. Its imposing walls, over a thousand meters high, have been the dream of many mountaineers and explorers of the Amazon, including the Italian Alfonso Vinci and Walter Bonatti (who made two attempts to climb them in 1967 and 1973), but only the expeditions of the Terramar foundation, in 1983-1985, reached for the first time the plateau on the top using an helicopter and carrying out a research on the fauna and flora of the plateau. Since then no one has ever returned there.
In 2010 we attempted a thorough investigation of this mountain, but it unfortunately got stuck against several logistics problems.
This year, finally, we have managed to arrive here with two Cessna, determined to flight over the plateau to evaluate the speleological potential of the massif. However, such an impressive mountain, in the middle of the Amazon forest, is hidden for over three hundred days a year by the mists that climb with strong whirlwinds the gigantic east wall. Finding a passage through the clouds to access the top plateau has been not that simple.
The first flight has allowed us to reach the giant wall of North Marahuaca, the northern offshoot of the mountain. The following morning a new overflight has allowed us to turn around this huge promontory, penetrating along the eastern wall and facing the immense waterfalls of the South Marahuaca, but the highest part of the massif was still hidden by the mists. With the third overflight we have decided to go up until 3500 meter a.s.l. to find a gap in the clouds and finally lean out on the top plateau. We have contact flown among moments of uncertainty and a healthy dose of fear, but suddenly we have found a wild world of rivers, plateaus, deep grietas and sinkholes, confirming the ideas we have made watching the satellite images: the Marahuaca is one of the Amazonian massifs with the greatest speleological potential, with a morphology and altitude to host very deep chasms yet to be explored.
Back in Puerto Ordaz, thinking about how we could organize an expedition there, we have quickly arranged for another survey, this time to the well known Sarisarinama Tepui, part of the Jaua Massif, in the basin of the Upper Caura, halfway between the Tepui of the Gran Sabana and the Amazonian massifs.
It is a mountain well known for its two big "simas", Mayor and Menor, explored by Venezuelan and Polish speleologists in the '70s.
However, nobody has come back to explore over there, and from a careful analysis of the satellite images it is evident that the speleological potential of this quartzite massif has been barely touched.
Thanks to Raul's organization we manage to have two Cessnas for this new operation, with two pilots whose names are ironically Jimmy and Angel, composing together the name of the great American pilot to whom is dedicated the highest waterfall in the world on the Auyan Tepui. We think about it as a good omen and we fly from Puerto Ordaz to the Ye'kuana village of Kanarakuni, at the foot of the mountain. A truly remote and fascinating place, where we have the opportunity to meet the local indigenous people and to enjoy the coolness of the large circular community hut, the so-called Churuata.
During the flight, zigzagging between heaps of fog and strong winds, we finally manage to photograph a new area of great interest. Besides the known simas, we indentify at least another 5 large entrances promising important developments, but also great difficulties to reach them, because this tepui is covered by a dense forest. But underneath there is certainly a huge system of underground galleries, just waiting to be explored.
During all these flights we have filled our eyes and the cards of our cameras with many wonderful places, in a corner of our planet remained at the time of the genesis, observing entrances of underground worlds that make us dream and encourages us to continue along this route. A confirmation that the explorations on the tepuis are just at the beginning.

The participants: Francesco Sauro, Daniela Barbieri, Freddy Vergara, Carla Corongiu, Vittorio Crobu, Tono De Vivo.
The overflights have been realized thanks to the support of Rolex Award for Enterprise and of all our sponsors.