Čerovák - the largest cave complex in Croatia

Čerovák is the largest investigated cave complex in Croatia - the length of the lower is 2,779 meters, the upper - 1,200 meters. Some articles often write that this is the most beautiful cave complex in Croatia, and many come to this corner of the globe only to travel to the bowels of the earth. It may well be that the place, as it turned out, is really fabulous.

The guides of the Cherovak cave do not sit constantly in place, and if you come at random, there is a high enough chance that the tour will not succeed. On the website of the company organizing the visits, there is information that you need to inform about your visit in advance - almost a week so that they can form a group.

The tour begins with the fact that you are sent to the forest. On the path. Like, go to the victorious and rest there:

Therefore, we walked through the picturesque forest and walked, and the path rose higher and higher. It turned out that to get to the entrance to the cave, you need to stomp along the side of the mountain for about one and a half kilometers. It is not surprising that the guide sent us forward - she herself rose much faster.

Near the entrance is a leading even higher staircase. As we were told, the Upper Cave is located there. However, for ourselves, we decided that for exploring the underworld, the Lower was enough for our eyes, because we had no idea what to expect.

The entrance to the cave from random visitors closes the bars. You can get inside only with a guide. About 700 meters are open for visitors in the Lower of the two and a half kilometers explored - you can’t get any further without special equipment.

In fact, photographing is strictly prohibited here. As I understand it, this is standard practice in all caves (at least in Croatia). However, when I asked at the entrance if I could take a few shots, the guide once again reminded me of the complete ban on shooting, but then she smiled and said that it’s still possible for us to rent a little room.

I honestly held on for almost two minutes. And then off and on: first removed the bridge, then the tunnel, then the stalactites. I did not begin to make any comments, and my conscience did not torment me for long - about the first fifty or so frames. In the end, who knows, which of the halls that came across our path was that same Big One?

When we were planning the trip, I somehow imagined these caves - a dark tunnel, walls covered with wet clay, dirty puddles underfoot. In general, the contrast between what was expected and what we actually saw was really great.

By the way, there were puddles, but a bridge was carefully thrown over each one - in essence, you can completely calmly take the whole walk without ever getting your feet wet:

As I understand the guide, the growth rate of stalagmites in this cave is only 1 millimeter in 30 years. You can imagine their age, if some reach several meters in height.

Many stalagmites have names. For example, that gray lumpiness in the lower right quarter of the frame is Santa Claus. By the way, on the steps that are visible to his left, we just went into this room - you can try to imagine the scale.

To be honest, I did not remember the name of this handsome man, but he was very big, yes. About two of my height, no less.

This stalactite is called the Bear Paw. Incidentally, the remains of prehistoric cave bears were discovered in approximately this part of the cave. The guide said that such a bear, standing on its hind legs, was about three meters high. I would not want to meet such a colossus in the forest.

In general, I really liked how the backlight was organized in the cave - lamps and spotlights were hidden all over the route, as a rule, almost invisible, but at the same time allowing you to see everything that nature created without any flashlights. By the way, this is partly the answer why in the caves they prefer to work with groups and in general they may refuse to the casual visitor - burning all this illumination and driving the guide back and forth for seven euros is somehow completely unprofitable.

In the caves, bones of prehistoric people and the remains of an ax were discovered. The age of the finds is approximately 30 thousand years.

The color of stalactites depends on the composition of the water. For example, if there is a lot of iron in the water, the color will be brown, red or yellow.

This room is the room where the tour ends. In theory, you can get further, but for this you need to get out into a small hole somewhere on the ceiling.

The floor here is very peculiar in shape. The whole is covered with the so-called "stone waves".

In general, it takes about an hour to visit one cave, but in reality we were in the cave for about 40 minutes, the rest of the time is needed to get from the parking lot to the entrance and back.

By the way, another standard practice when visiting caves is that the guide always comes last on the return trip. As I understand it, this is done for those reasons so that no one is flattered to grab a souvenir in the form of crumb stalactite.

Here and there, droplets of water are visible on stalactites. That’s how they grow.

The air temperature in the cave is always 9 degrees. All year round, regardless of the time of year. Judging by the reviews of tourists about visiting the caves, in the summer in Croatia, many are very happy about the opportunity to relax for an hour from the heat. Well, in winter you can bask here.

On the way back, it was harder to shoot, because this time I went first and had to constantly run a little ahead so as not to detain anyone.

In general, I would like, of course, to spend a couple of hours here, to walk thoughtfully with a tripod - and the result would be completely different. But something tells me that such a possibility will not be provided in any cave. In fact, as I understand it, the complete ban on shooting is precisely what is due to it - if you wait until everyone with a camera takes everything that comes to his mind, the tour will last for the whole day. Meanwhile, the program does not provide for delays - before going down to the cave, the guide makes a mandatory call and reports that the group is going inside, and one more when it gets to the surface. We must not forget to send help if after a certain time there is no second call.

In general, if someone suddenly wants to go to Croatia - I highly recommend visiting the caves, especially since there are almost two dozen tourists who are open to visitors. However, it is better to attend to the organization of the visit in advance - as far as I understand, not everything can be reached without prior agreement and many are open only in season.