Route of the Caves (Lagoa Santa; Sete Lagoas; Cordisburgo)

The Route of the Caves, which the government of Minas Gerais calls Rota das Grutas Peter Lund, brings together the limestone caves open to visitors in the karst region north of Belo Horizonte, between Lagoa Santa, Pedro Leopoldo, Sete Lagoas and Cordisburgo. It is a landscape of limestone hills, lagoons, sinkholes and swallow holes, where water has opened dozens of caves and where some of the oldest records of human presence in South America were found.

The name honors the Danish naturalist Peter Wilhelm Lund, who settled in Lagoa Santa in 1835 and lived there until his death in 1880. Lund explored more than 200 caves in the region, collected thousands of fossils of extinct animals, such as the giant sloth, and found human bones mixed with them, which changed what was known about the antiquity of humans on the continent. His tomb is in Lagoa Santa, under a pequizeiro tree.

The three caves on the route have guided visits, with walkways and lighting. Lapinha, in the Parque Estadual do Sumidouro in Lagoa Santa, has chambers at several levels and the Museu Peter Lund nearby. Rei do Mato, in Sete Lagoas, on the side of the BR-040, is known for its twin calcite columns. Maquiné, in Cordisburgo, was explored by Lund in 1834 and is the largest of the three, with seven chambers. Cordisburgo is also the birthplace of João Guimarães Rosa, whose house became a museum.

The towns are close to the capital and Confins Airport, which makes it possible to see one cave per day on a day trip or travel the route in two or three days, from Lagoa Santa to Cordisburgo, via the BR-040 and MG-010.

This destination brings together 3 cities: Lagoa Santa, Sete Lagoas, Cordisburgo.