Maquine Cave

Maquine runs about six hundred and fifty metres through limestone under the hills at Cordisburgo, in seven chambers linked by a level walkway and lit throughout, which makes it one of the more comfortable caves in Brazil to visit. The formations are heavy and ochre-stained - columns, curtains, a chamber the guides call the ballroom - and the lighting scheme is old-fashioned in a way that suits them. Its scientific place comes from the Danish naturalist Peter Lund, who worked this karst in the 1830s and 1840s and collected extinct megafauna and human remains from caves in the region, opening the long argument about how early people reached the Americas. Cordisburgo is also the birthplace of Joao Guimaraes Rosa, and the town runs a museum to him.

What you actually see

• Seven lit chambers - about 650 metres on a level guided circuit.
• Ochre-stained formations - columns and curtains through the linked halls.
• Lund's karst - the cave country worked by the naturalist in the 1830s and 1840s.
• Guimaraes Rosa's town - Cordisburgo above the cave, with its museum.

When to go

All year, the cave is unaffected by weather. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Visits are guided only and on a fixed timetable, in Portuguese. The circuit is short. Lighting is dated. Photography without flash is difficult. It works best combined with the Guimaraes Rosa museum in town rather than as a trip on its own.

Nearby

Cordisburgo is above the cave; Sete Lagoas and Lagoa Santa are south.