Flying over prehistoric worlds

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Created: Monday, 23 March 2015 10:55

Published: Monday, 23 March 2015 10:55

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2600 km of flight between the basin of the Caronì and of the Upper Orinoco, 25 hours among the clouds, spotting mountains like islands in a sea of trees. 18 takeoffs and landings on clay strips and blooming lawns. 2978 photographs of valleys, walls, waterfalls, grietas and huge entrances of unexplored caves.
These are just some of the figures that have characterized the "Amazonas Tepui" survey, ending these days in Venezuela. A journey that has clarified the potential of massifs that until now we have only dreamed about, and that now have become a real landscape, even beyond the expectations of our dreams.
We have begun this journey taking off from Puerto Ayacucho, the last town bordering the Upper Orinoco. Flying over granite mountains and boundless forests, we have landed in La Culebra valley, a heavenly place surrounded by one of the largest massifs in the Amazonian quartzites: Duida to the south (2358 m high, 131 km2 of plateau), Marahuaca to the east (2832 m high, 131 km2 of top surface) and the smaller but elegant Huachamacari to the north (1900 m high, 8 km of top surface).

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The activities and knowledge of La Venta on Le Scienze and Plein Air

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Created: Monday, 09 February 2015 08:47

Published: Monday, 09 February 2015 08:47

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Is a moment of outputs on widely read magazines for La Venta.

On Le scienze on sale (italian edition of the prestigious Scientific American) a wonderful interview for the signing of Claudia Di Giorgio to Francesco Sauro focused primarily on the research activities related to explorations in the Tepui and more generally in the quarzite rocks. There are still many discoveries awaiting us in these places isolated from the rest of the world by tens of millions of years.

In the next Plen Air (March), however, there will be a report of the activities at the Arbol de Navidad in Chiapas (Mexico). Has attracted a lot of interest the fact that we have taken the task to protect and save this natural monument. In this case there is also a preview of the website: http://goo.gl/woSjch

The descent to the Arbol

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Created: Thursday, 15 January 2015 12:43

Published: Thursday, 15 January 2015 12:43

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On December 3, in the early afternoon, after reaching the field in the top area (about 3 hours walking) we started the descent towards the Arbol de Navidad and the Grijalva River. It took about 4 hours to overcome a height difference of only 90 mt because of the work of securing the wall.

The day 4 we arrived to overcome a height difference of other 150 m. About 8 hours of work due to the long sections leaning full of vegetation prickly and stinging and the huge stones to throw down for our safety.

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New Executive Board for La Venta

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Created: Tuesday, 13 January 2015 12:07

Published: Tuesday, 13 January 2015 12:07

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Has passed a new three-year period in the life of our association. And with this deadline were renewed corporate offices.
First we want to thank all the past Council and in particular the President Giovanni Badino for what they did for all of us and for the geographical and caving research.
And wish a good job to the new Council for the three years ahead full of new projects to start and old projects to be pursued.
The new board consists of: Francesco (Ciccio) Lo Mastro - President, Enzo Procopio - Vice Presidente and secretary, Francesco Sauro - Vice President, Tullio Bernabei - Treasurer, Carla Corongiu, Antonio (Tono) De Vivo, Luca Imperio, Alessio Romeo, Natalino Russo.
To all of them our most sincere wishes!
Finally we want to thank the Gruppo Grotte Treviso for the hospitality and excellent meals !!!

Árbol de Navidad - Our little gift to Chiapas

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Created: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 10:08

Published: Wednesday, 24 December 2014 10:08

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The cave of the Arbol de Navidad was reached December 5 after 30 hours rigging and especially cleaning the many stones balanced on the wall. The quality of the rock did not meet exactly with the descriptions of those who went down 20 years earlier. The wall was also rich in vegetation including cacti-like agaves, cacti and other species such as Comocladia Guatemalensis called Cincos Negritos, one of the most poisonous plants in the world, which caused burns with severe itching to all those who worked in the wall and videographers placed on the opposite wall of the canyon. On the way back we could not do anything but use tablets and cortisone creams. On the same December 5 we reached the river so we leave the wall and the cave of the Arbol where we thought to camp but that really was too small to accommodate the hammocks or a makeshift camp of any kind.

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Birthday gift

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Created: Monday, 22 December 2014 10:38

Published: Monday, 22 December 2014 10:38

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Following the work for the restoration of flow to the cave upon the Arbol de Navidad, we decided to bring a gift to the sons of Lucas, Mexican La Venta associate who died recently, in the occasion of the birthday of Gianni, the eldest son of 5 year. As we know that many will be happy to see them we want to share on this Blog the photos made by Alessio Romeo because for us it was really touching and beautiful. Happiness in the eyes of these children to gifts that for our children would be simple and perhaps trivial says a lot. Gianni Todini is creating a fund to support the family and to sustain the three children study.

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