Slovenia has many caves and I was lucky enough to explore Skocjan today. It is not the most popular cave in Slovenia but that is just by the standards of tourism. The most popular cave seems more like a Disneyland ride. Reading about the caves Slovenia has to offer, this cave seemed more authentic and less touristy. Of course my ideal cave exploration would be with a headlamp and not 20 people but funny enough our tour included the same Japanese tour group that we saw in Triglav yesterday. I guess we think alike (however we didn’t pay a couple thousand dollars to come up with the same plan).
I was pretty bummed that no photos are allowed in the cave. The Reka River flows through the cave and has created a beautiful canyon underground. The cave also is home to certain rare indigenous subterranean animals like the human fish. Although we didn’t see any animals you should really look up what a human fish looks like. They can live up to 100 years and they don’t need any food for several years at a time. The cave is also home to 2,000 bats and I am happy to report, we didn’t see one single bat. The tour lasts an hour and half and includes 500 stairs and a 3 km walk .
The cave tour was great and the guide had extensive knowledge. I’m pretty sure that one of the reasons you can’t take photos in there is the flash is not good for the cave walls. (Well and that the tour would take forever if you waited for every person to get the photo they wanted.) The lights that they use to line the trail turn the cave walls green. So it is a little sad to see human influence is ruining the walls.
You are allowed to take photos as you walk out of the cave. You can’t tell how beautiful the cave was from my photos so I recommend you click on the following link to look at the professional photos (cave website).
Fletch Travels 