The Haitón del Guarataro is a solutional cave system in the Sierra de San Luis in Falcón State, Venezuela, south-east of Curimagua. It is the deepest limestone cave in Venezuela, and the entrance is a tourist attraction within the Juan Crisóstomo Falcón National Park. A large entrance shaft in diameter leads via drops of , , and to a stream passage which follows the dip down for a distance of about to the north to where it eventually chokes. An upstream passage is intercepted which runs south for about to the base of a shaft. The cave has a depth of , and a total passage length of . It was first explored and surveyed in April 1973 by members of the Venezuela '73 British Karst Research Expedition. It is formed in Oligocene reefal limestone.
A faunal survey was undertaken during the exploration of the cave, but only a few cavernicoles were recorded. They included cave crickets, phalangodid harvestmen, a depigmented troglophile garnmarid shrimp (Hyalella meinerti) found in a large pool, and a troglobitic trichopolydesmid millipede found on the roof of the terminal chamber.
References
External links The Venezuela '73 British Karst Research Expedition survey of Haitón del Guarataro Video of a December 2018 descent by members of the Sociedad Venezolana de Espeleologia