The Sinkholes on the Table Mountain
On top of a remote Venezuelan table mountain, a pilot spotted giant holes leading down to hidden forests.
What was reported
Sarisariñama is a tepui, a flat-topped mountain rising from the jungle of southern Venezuela. In 1961 a pilot, Harry Gibson, saw enormous round sinkholes on its summit. The largest is about 350 metres wide and as deep, with sheer walls.
An expedition in 1974 climbed down into them and found forests at the bottom with species found nowhere else, cut off for thousands of years.
Explanations offered
The sinkholes formed in quartzite, a rock that dissolves only extremely slowly, over millions of years, which makes them unusual. The mountain is protected, with access mostly limited to scientists.
- When
- Seen from the air in 1961
- Where
- Cerro Sarisariñama, Bolívar, Venezuela
- Witnesses
- A pilot, then scientists
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.