For some, they are just holes in the rock, the bottom of which cannot be discerned. Others even look at them with suspicion and fear. For speleologists, caves are places where there is a lot to see and learn, with the emotion factor always present.
And there are more and more fans of exploring and studying these natural rock cavities in the Algarve, some of whom took the opportunity to participate in the first Level 1 Speleology Course to be held in the region.
Last May 23, 12 trainees benefited from an intensive action, which had a theoretical component in the premises of the University of Algarve, but also a practical component, with a visit to karst cavities in the Algarve Barrocal. «Everything went very well. I had people who came out of the cave and asked me to join," he revealed to the Sul Informação the member of the board of the Geonauta André Soares association.
The action, carried out in partnership with the Algarvian University's Biology Nucleus, involved «six biologists, three marine biologists, a researcher from the Molecular and Structural Biomedicine Center and two students from the UAlg cultural heritage and archeology course».
For that leader of the association, who promoted the course, this commitment to training at the local level makes perfect sense, in a region like the Algarve, which has hundreds of caves to visit, many of them almost unexplored.
And the great proof of this is the help that the association has already given to research projects. Recently, Geonauta supported Portuguese researcher Sofia Reboleira, from the University of Aveiro, in her research, which led her to discover a new species of pseudoscorpion, in an Algarve cave.
“We helped her on various outings over the course of three years. And the result was the discovery of the largest underground insect in Europe and the second largest in the world. The cataloging she carried out led to the Vale Telheiro cave, three kilometers north of Loulé, being considered the most biodiverse in Portugal», said André Soares.
"Right now, we are working on the elaboration of a 3D map of this cave, to present at an international speleology conference, which will take place in England, in 2016", he added.
Participation in scientific initiatives does not stop there. «We have collaborated with projects here at the University of Algarve, by professor Cristina Veiga-Pires. I worked as a technician at SipClip project, in which an attempt was made to understand the paleoclimate of the Algarve, based on stalagmites from caves in the region. In this last round of FCT projects, we submitted a new project with it», he revealed.
The new speleologists with a level 1 course will join other members of the association who already held this qualification and the "seven or eight" with the level 2 course in speleology, the highest and which qualifies holders of this certification, in André Soares includes himself, exploring any type of cave and providing training in the area.
Geonauta has been around for a few decades
Officially, Geonauta is «a non-profit speleological association, which tries to explore this discipline in sports, scientific, educational, but also recreational aspects». «But we try to ensure that our activity always has a useful component», even when the outings are for leisure, according to André Soares.
The association was born in 1978, founded by Daniel João, at the time a teacher at the Secondary School Laura Ayres, in Quarteira. This cave lover gave the kick to this community and managed to call other Algarve speleology enthusiasts, despite the lack of resources, initially, that the existing material was «very rustic, such as handmade stairs, with sisal and orange branches ».
Today, the association already has other conditions, not least because there was a phase in which it was particularly active, in the late 90's, when it came to function as the Quarteira delegation of the Portuguese Speleology Society. After a period of lesser activity, in the first years of the XNUMXst century, the association returned to “animate”, with new elements and a renewed direction.
Over time, Geonauta has actively contributed to feed official records on Algarve caves, having been, for many years, a partner of the then Institute for Nature Conservation, in monitoring bat colonies in places of interest throughout the Algarve. «However, we are not the ones who do this anymore, it is an association in Lisbon», he explained.
«We also had, for several years, program contracts with the Câmara de Loulé, to give lectures at schools in the municipality. This year, after an interregnum of five years, we once again signed a protocol with the Loulé municipality», he added.
See the photos of the course and the field trip:
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