In October 2014 Mauro was invited to explore in southern Madagascar, the project was organised by DRSS (Dominican Republic Speleological Society), this was the first expedition following a cave scouting trip a few months earlier.
Some of the sponsors of the project were National Science Foundation, Brooklyn College and National Geographic. The trip was focused on studying the abundant animal skeletons in the sinkholes, video documenting of the caves and exploring.
Mauro withdrew from the project after this expedition with a significant last exploration dive in which he found a way through from what was considered a dead end, exploring and surveying 1200 feet of new passages with a roller coaster up and down profile, bouncing from 150 to 20 feet, leaving going cave for following explorations.
The findings were of enormous scientific relevance and were received with great enthusiasm by palaeontologists. The National Science Foundation described Aven cave as an enormous underwater fossil graveyard. Clips taken from what was shot during the expedition made international TV various times and are a testimony of the importance of cave exploration for science.
Cave World 