The action of karst has forged today’s myriad underground and surface caves – the latter having become partly visible thanks to the action of torrents and creeks. Although exploring underground caves may not be open to everyone, a good look around at the landscape should suffice to discover the many facets of this remarkable area. Indeed, everything within it is note-worthy, from suspended valleys created by raising tectonic phenomena, to relict valleys where water only flows in the riverbed after heavy rainfall. Water collects into lapies which then convey it to an underground network of karst, which is entirely separate from surface waterways. Smaller and larger sunken areas are formed by collapses or dissolution thus forming sinkholes, which were covered over with residual red soil and used for farming.

When walking across what were past sedimentary layers of seabed, you will certainly come across dissolution and cover-subsidence sinkholes where low-acid rainwater has gradually dissolved the bedrock. Again, if you raise your eyes to the rocky walls used for free climbing sports, vertical streaks prove how the slow persistent trickle of has produced load casts. Indeed, this is what karst looks like!