The Tindoul de la Vayssière: our guide to the sinkhole of the Causse Comtal

A sinkhole 67 metres deep

"Tindoul" simply means "chasm" in Occitan, and this one lives up to its name: an oval opening about 40 metres long and 25 metres wide, plunging 67 metres into the limestone of the Causse Comtal. What we love about the place is the contrast: quiet pastures as far as the eye can see, then suddenly this gaping hole, which you come upon almost without warning as you near the edge.

The sinkhole was formed by underground rivers which, over thousands of years, carved out a vast network of galleries: the main one is said to be about 4 kilometres long, but two or three of them remain inaccessible to this day. The same underground network feeds the waterfall of Salles-la-Source, a few kilometres away: the water bursting out in the centre of that village built around its waterfall partly rises here, beneath the plateau.

A history of exploration going back to the 18th century

The Tindoul has intrigued the curious for a long time. Its first explorations date back to the 18th century, with Abbé Charles Carnus and his team, who went down to the bottom of the sinkhole to understand its layout. Later, in the summer of 1892, a more methodical exploration was led by Édouard-Alfred Martel and his cousin Gaupillat: Martel is now considered one of the pioneers of modern caving, and his visit here was part of a series of explorations that laid the scientific foundations of the discipline in France.

Our advice for the visit

You don't go down into the sinkhole without specialist equipment and supervision: it is not an outing to improvise yourself, and we only recommend the descent with a local caving club. On the other hand, the site can be observed very well from the surface, taking the time to walk around the rim to see the opening from different angles and try to imagine the scale of the network hidden below. It is a short walk, but one we would rather you approached as a destination in its own right than as a mere detour on the road: this place rewards the curiosity you bring to it, not the speed at which you pass through.