Norwegians returned alive from the Devil’s Cave

The Norwegians Bjorn Loe, Rune Gjeldnes, Andreas Hauer and Torry Larsen have recently returned from a four weeks expedition in Venezuela's jungle. Their challenges have been many. They paddled 800 kilometres. The river Rio Caura flooded over the riverbeds and the currents were strong. They broke through the densest jungle and almost ran out for food. They arrived 9 days delayed to their target destination; the 350 metres deep (straight down) Devil`s cave in the Amazon jungle in Venezuela. Finally the 5th of September they reached the bottom of the cave. Several expeditions have tried to reach the cave, but no one has succeeded.

Exotic and wild Venezuela Venezuela is situated on the northern coast of South America, north of Brazil and between Colombia and Guyana. The country has the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls. In this country you can find a wide variety of exotic plants and animals, including the jaguar, ocelot, tapir, armadillo, anteater, and the longest snake in the world, the Anaconda.

Evil spirit Some days the Norwegians just managed to break 300 metres trough the jungle. The jungle was so dense. In this area there are two dominating Indian tribes; Yekwana and Sanema. An old Indian myth says it is an evil spirit in the cave that eats humans. When they approached the cave, some of them got very afraid and returned in the middle of the jungle. The Norwegians were very grateful for the Indians good help. Without them they would not been able to make the tour.

Explorations of the cave The descending went fine. It was a unique experience to stand down in the cave, according to an interview with the expedition member in the Norwegian web site and national newspaper VG. 350 metres down in the cave they found an totally unknown biotope. There the jungle was denser, it was big rocks, blind birds and a wasp nest. Fortunately the nest was empty. Wasps in this area could be very danger, and cause deadly outcome. Because of the delay they brought shorter time in the cave than planned.

Surprises There have been some surprises on the expedition. A jaguar visited their camp. They were 10 centimetres from a scorpion, and an aggressive snake approached their canoe on the river.

The Norwegian adventurers would like to do the same again, but first they will write a book and make a film about recent experiences. Who else will try to get down the Devil`s cave? And are you ready to meet the Devil who eats very one that comes near?

Stein Morten Lund, 27th September 2001