Caverna Ouro Grosso

Massive Gold Cave

Useful Information

photography — Caverna Ouro Grosso, PETAR, Brazil. Public Domain.

Location:	Petar National Park, Nucleus Ouro Grosso. 3 km from the Bairro Serra (Serra Village) in Iporanga. Rodovia SP-165 - Km 156. (-24.545687, -48.682028)
Open:	All year Tue-Sun 8-17. Tours every 30 min. [2020]
Fee:	Park: Adults BRL 16, Children (0-12) free, Seniors (60+) free, Disabled free, Students BRL 6.50. Cave: free. [2020]
Classification:	Karst cave river cave
Light:	bring full caving gear
Dimension:	L=1,100 m, VR=192 m.
Guided tours:	L=200 m, D=2 h. Max=8, per day 136.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Caverna Ouro Grosso, Parque Estadual Turístico do Alto Ribeira (PETAR), Núcleo Ouro Grosso, SP-165, Iporanga - SP, 18330-000, Tel: +55 15 3552-1875. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1998	headquarters of the Ouro Grosso branch inaugurated.

Description

Caverna Ouro Grosso (Massive Gold Cave) is definitely a wild cave, appreciated by those who like extreme sports. It seems it is the location of cave trekking tours but they are only for physically fit and not too big participants, as the entrance is very low. Arachnophobia will also disqualify you, as the narrow entrance is the home of numerous cave spiders - which are protected, of course, so you must not harm them. They have a tourist route of 200 m which takes two hours due to the technical difficulties. A few years ago they offered tours with 4, 6 and 8 hours duration, obviously they now realized that this is a bit much. Also the tours are monitored, so you must first find a monitor, then buy the tickets. If you buy tickets first and find no monitor, you can not go on the tour.

The rive passage is actually a series of waterfalls, each one must be climbed. The full cave has a length of 1,100 m and a height difference of 192, in other words the passage is quite steep. And full of water. Neoprene is a very good idea, otherwise the water will cause hypothermia.

The name of the cave was given by prospectors who found beautiful gold nuggets in its surroundings. Prospecting for gold brought wealth to the region (Michel Le Bret 1995). The simple explanation is though that the speleothems are wet and sometimes glisten like gold.