Zibreira, Torres Novas

Easy access; you can park just behind the Renova paper factory that uses the water from this spring for its production. No entrance fee.

The entrance to Almonda is through a tight vertical restriction. This is an artificial entrance to the system that is situated in the basin of the spring that also serves as a water collection point for a paper factory (Renova).
The natural and original entrance to this cave is through a 50m dry cave section which is not easy to negotiate with doubles. The entrance through the basin is unstable and is not uncommon for the winter heavy flow to dislodge some rocks that end up collapsing and closing up the entrance.

The first 100 or so meters of the cave is characterized by many side tunnels – there is a continuous metal :-( line running in through this section of the cave. Most side tunnels are accessed through jumps; the last few T's are currently being replaced by jumps as the survey work progresses. The main tunnel leads to a dry entrance, known as the “Cisterna”.

There are two main tunnels, the North tunnel that has been explored by João Neves up to a depth of -81m, and the North-West tunnel that has been explored to 800m (depth around 45m).

You need an authorisation from IPPAR (it is considered a arqueological site) & RENOVA (the basin is located on the property of the RENOVA factory) to dive the cave.