Рајкова пећина

Rajkova Pecina - Rajkova Cave - Rajko's Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Kapetanska, Majdanpek 19250. Near the town of Majadanpeka, in eastern Serbia. 120 km from the Belgrade - Nis motorway and 200 km from Belgrade. (44.441286, 21.953113)
Open:	APR to OCT daily 9-18. NOV to MAR closed. [2022]
Fee:	Adults RSD 300. Groups (10+): adults RSD 250. [2022]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=2,304 m, A=469 m asl, T=8 °C, H=100 %.
Guided tours:	D=60 min, L=1,410 m.
Photography:
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Dr Radenko Lazaravic (1983): Rajkova pecina, sb illus. Р. Лазаревић (1975): Рајкова пећина, Месна заједница "Божа Стојановић", Мајданпек. Р. Лазаревић (1982): Рајкова пећина, Туристички савез – Мајданпек, Мајданпек.
Address:	Rajko's Cave, Kapetanska, Majdanpek 19250, Tel: +381-66-8006576. Information: Majadanpeka Tourist Office, Tel: +381-308635. Majdanpek Municipality Tourist Organisation, Svetog Save bb, 19250 Majdanpek, Tel: +381-30-584-204.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1894	explored by Jovan Cvijić.
1974	explored by Dr Radenko Lazarević who developed the cave for tourists.
12-SEP-1975	cave opened for the public.
2014	artificial tunnel and staircase built to connect the two levels and create a circular tourist route.

Description

A passage in Rajko's cave. Public Domain.

The cave is the source of the Mali Pek River and the river can be seen in most of the lower series. The upper, dry level is the exit for the tourist route.

The cave is named after a national hero called Rajk who lived in the area during a period of Turkish rule. Legend has is that Rajk used the cave to hide treasure from the Turks.

From the entrance the visitors walk beside the Rajk River to the second entrance. After crossing the Brkin Bridge which is 44 m long, they arrive in the Jezevu Hall where there are over a thousand stalactites. From here the tourist route wanders past various speleothems including: The Egyptian Idol, Puz, Panjs pucurkama, Mecka koja spava, Duhovi, Paradni slon, Karfioli, Plast sena, Rakijski kazan etc until one finally reaches the Dvorane vodopada or Waterfall Hall. From here a tunnel links with the Ponor Cave, or the pothole section. The passage passes close to an underground dam, built in 1860 by the French to provide a water supply.

Arriving at the Rajk is like entering the mouth of hell, with the noise and fog of falling water, the visitors turn to make their way out of the cave via a dry horizontal passage, through Hedgehog Hall to daylight. On the way out they pass through Veliku dvoranu or Great Hall, which is 50 m long 20 m wide and 20 m high. From here a short tunnel connects dry horizontal passage to the river cave via Kristalana dvoranu or Crystal Hall, so called because of the snow-white formations to be found here. The main formations are Drvo zivota, Velikomucenik, Kristalni grad, Tri gracije, Glava secera, Devojacke grudi, and Kapel plodnosti. This part of the cave contains the best speleothems in all of Serbia. It is full of sparkling white crystals, whilst for a length of more than 300 m the cave floor is composed of red stalactite gours 1 m deep.

Text by Tony Oldham (2002). With kind permission.

Рајкова пећина (Rajkova pećina, Rajko's Cave) was named after Rajko Vojvoda. He lived at the end of the Turkish rule during the 19th century. According to local lore, he was an innkeeper (or mechanic, or drunkard, depending on the source) by day, but by night he robbed Turkish caravans and hid the treasure in this cave. And there is the lore that the treasure is still hidden inside the cave. This is one of those caves which are known to the locals for a very long time, very rarely visited and no recording of such visits available. The only documented exploration was in 1894 by the geographer Jovan Cvijić. The next was in 1974 by a group of cavers led by Dr. Radenko Lazarević. He is also responsible that the cave was immediately developed as a show cave and opened to the public in the following year.

Actually, there are documents of a much earlier human presence at the cave. In the entrance section, a stone hammer and other prehistoric remains were discovered. They are now kept in the archaeological collection of the Majdanpek Museum. Also, the bones of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), and deer (Cervus elaphus) were found.

The natural entrance is the resurgence of the cave river. The passage is only a meter high, and there is the river on the floor. To reach the dry part of the cave, it is necessary to crawl more than 100 meters through the icy water. At some points it is less than 40 centimeters high. The reward is a magnificent cave, but considering the clothes of that time, further exploration with wet clothes was probably not really enjoyable.

In the 70s they used water tight nylon sacks for spare clothes, food and part of the equipment. But Dr. Lazarević wrote in his diary, that the sharp ceiling and walls tore most of them apart. Nevertheless, they decided to continue, fascinated by the sight of the huge Crystal Hall with its fantastic white speleothems. Finally, the expedition was interrupted by the ringing of the Polish telephone, their only connection with the outside world. The phone rings and from the other end they get the urgent demand to get out. After returning with all equipment through the water, they learned that there had been an unprecedented downpour and that they were only minutes away from death in an underground torrent. After only 24 hours of resting and drying, they re-entered the cave and discovered a passage close to the surface, which allowed the construction of a comfortable artificial entrance. They actually created this artificial entrance only days later, which made the cave accessible without crawling through cold water.

The cave has two levels, the lower level is a river cave, the upper level is fossil. The underground river is called Rajkova Reka, and at the resurgence it meets the Paskova Reka, which springs from a nearby cave, forming the Mali Pek river. The Rajkova Reka flows above ground for 3.6 km before it sinks at the contact of crystalline slates and Upper Jurassic limestones. This end of the cave system is thus called Ponorska pečina (Sink Cave) while the resurgence part is called Izvorska pečina (Spring Cave). Notable is the Ježeva Dvorana (Hedgehog Hall) with thousands of soda straws. The cave is part of the Geopark Đerdap.

During 2014, a tourist circuit was created by connecting both levels of the cave with an artificial tunnel created by miners from Majdanpec. They also built a huge metal staircase for the descent. The structure weighs 65 tons and was carried in pieces to its final location by the young miners. The total length of the tourist route was thus increased to 1,410 m. Before the trail was a bit more than 600 m long, and visitors had to return on the same trail once they had reached the end. Now they descend the long staircase and follow the river from the ponor downstream to the resurgence. Quite impressive are watermarks in the Ponorska pečina (Sink Cave), when a flood was so massive the cave was not able to swallow all the water. The marks are more than 10 m above ground, so the huge chamber was filled with water to this height. This kind of flood has not happened for at least 7,000 years, they were caused by melting water from the end of the last ice age.