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Caves

There are a considerable number of large caves in the park, several taking the traditional form of horizontal caverns. Three are of particular interest, namely:

Hoyos del Pilar
Hoyos de Lifa
Cuevas del Moro

The area is perhaps more famous for its potholes, or simas in Spanish. One of these, GESM, is one of the deepest in Europe. GESM stands for Grupo de Exploraciones Subterráneas de Málaga and was clearly named after the group that mounted an exploration in September 1978. It has still not been fully explored.

The entrance to the pothole is located at 1.670m and it descends 1.098m. with a few large drops. The Gran Pozo drops 115m and the Pozo Paco de la Torre has a vertical fall of 194m. At a depth of 900m there are some interesting rock formations in the Sala de Maravillas, and Lake Ere is located almost at the bottom.

The best way to reach the entrance is to leave your car at the Recreation Area Los Quejigales and then walk up to Puerta de los Pilones (the large antenna). Follow the footpath for 2km in the general direction of the summit of Torrecilla and from there up to the summit of Torrecillo climbing Cerro Mateo and dropping finally to Hoyos del Pilar. The entrance to Sima GESM is located on a pit 30m by 15m and a depth of 9m.

Sima de la Tinaja is located in the area of the Tajo de la Caina at an altitude of 760m. It is 54m deep. It can be reached from Tolox. See the section on suggested routes in the park from Tolox. If you follow the river Horcajos from Tolox, after 5km you come to a gorge on the right-hand side. The entrance to the cave is 100m up this gorge. The exact location is 36· 41' 34'' North and 4· 57' 18''West. Many prehistoric artefacts have been recovered from this cave and many are to be found in the Malaga Museum.

Some of the other potholes are mentioned here. The list is by no means exclusive and many are surely yet to be discovered.

Sima Honda is located at an altitude of 1.640m and drops to a depth of 133m and is formed from two vertical wells of 52m and 80m.

Sima de Horcajuelos is located at an altitude of 1.600m, dropping only 22m.

Sima Bambi is near GESM and drops 7m.

Sima de las Grajas is located 500m from the Quejigales recreation area and is 10m deep.

Sima de la Espalda is located near Hoyos de Pilar at 1.750m altitude and drops 38m.

Sima Erotica, located near Hoyo de las Pilones, is 103m deep with various drops, one of which is 53m.

Complejo Raya Heleda located near Hoyos de Pilar is 57m deep.

Sima de las Palomas located near Hoyos de Pilar is 56m deep.