Return to the Abyss

in Nature by Marcelo Krause — April 23, 2010 at 5:39 PM | 1 comment

The “Abismo Anhumas” or Anhumas Abyss is a cave in the Midwest of Brazil; distant 23km from Bonito, in Mato Grosso do Sul. A narrow entrance on the ground reveals a huge chamber full of stalactites and stalagmites and an underground lake with crystal clear water. To reach the lake 72 meters below ground level one must go down with a rope, on a vertical descent. Even the most seasoned traveler certainly will be impressed by the beauty and magnitude of the cave. The adventure includes a dive on the lake to see big underwater cones formed during millions of years. Such structures are very rare, and can only be found on 3 caves in Brazil and nowhere else. The dive between the cones, only illuminated by the faint green light that reaches the bottom of the lake, certainly causes an eerie feeling. Feels like a dive on another world or other dimension, different from all the dives I have done before. The only fishes that lives there are small “lambaris” (Astyanax sp.) that feed on almost anything that falls into the entrance of the cave 72m above.

In 2009 I came back to the Anhumas Abyss with a team from ESPN Brasil that was filming one more episode for the “Viajantes Radicais” (Radical Travelers) TV series. This episode brings a remake of the journey Claude Lévi-Strauss, a Belgian French anthropologist, endured in Brazil between 1935 and 1939. I joined a few days of the shooting around Serra da Boboquena, including a dive on the Anhumas Abyss. The dives were led by expert cave divers instructors José “Tuta” Barroco Neto, João Paulo “Johnny” Pavani Franco and cave diver Drica de Castro with the support of the teams from Yagarapé Tours, Bonito Scuba e do Abismo Anhumas. The team from Canal Azul made all the surface footage and Tulio Schargel made the underwater footage.

On a previous visit, with more time and planning, I spent 4 days in and out the Abyss, to capture the entire cave from different angles. These images can be seen on my portfolio page at www.marcelokrause.com.

Below are some new pictures made during the shooting of “Viajantes Radicais” and at the end of this post a quick video showing some of the backstage and the beauty of the Anhumas Abyss. I apologize to the english speaking visitors but the video is in portuguese.

I would like to thanks the teams from Abismo Anhumas , Bonito Scuba, Yagarapé Tours for the all professionalism and courtesy during my stay.

Although rappelling down the 72 meters to reach the underground lake in the cave is not a difficult task, climbing up is a complete different matter. Nikon D3x, Nikon 70-200mm F2.8 AF-S VR.

A small floating wood platform was constructed at the lake to support rappelling and diving operations. Nikon D3x, Nikon 14-24mm F2.8 AF-S VR.

This picture can show the size of the underwater cones when compared to the human figure. Some of then can be more than 12 meters high. Nikon D3x, Nikon 16mmF2.8D, Aquatica D3 Housing, Flash Sea&Sea YS-250 (x2)

As the sunlight goes trough the water, it gives a green colorcast to the bottom of the lake and it’s walls. Nikon D3x, Nikon 16mmF2.8D, Aquatica D3 Housing, Flash Sea&Sea YS-250 (x2)

The underwater cones are one of the reason this is a unique and drastic environment. Nikon D3x, Nikon 16mmF2.8D, Aquatica D3 Housing, Flash Sea&Sea YS-250 (x2)

Strong sunlight in a dark cave makes a difficult scenery to capture in photos due to areas of strong shadows and highlights. Nikon D3x, Nikon 16mmF2.8D, Aquatica D3 Housing, Flash Sea&Sea YS-250 (x2)