Sumidero Canyon

The Sumidero Canyon (Spanish sumidero " Gully ", " drainage ditch ") is a deep canyon with up to some 1,000 m high towering rock walls in the Mexican state of Chiapas, 15 km north and 15 km east of the capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez, by the Río Grijalva first travel north and then flows through the west. Its formation began 35 million years ago - or about the same time as the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA.

Equipped with 30 rapids and waterfalls 5 Sumidero Canyon and the surrounding area constitute the more than 20,000 -acre national park Sumidero Canyon, where crocodiles and river turtles, sometimes bask on rocks or sandbanks. In the rocks on both sides of the gorge there are several caves. Tourist explorations (usually boat tours) are offered by several agencies in Tuxtla Gutierrez.

By 1981 finished Chicoasén dam at the northern end of the gorge here was one of the largest reservoirs in Mexico, its 261 m high dam is also among the 15 highest in the world.

During the conquest of the highlands by the Spaniards rushed hundreds of women and children from the Mayan tribe of Chiapa, thus depriving the enslavement, in the Sumidero Canyon. The tribe of Chiapa extinct below.