Ледена пећина

Ledena Pećina

Useful Information

Location:	Gornje Lopiže. (43.3569410, 19.9544972)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	Park Fee: Adults RSD 50. Cave Fee: Adults RSD 150. Ice Cave Tour: Rastoke RSD 2,000, Markova ravan RSD 1,800. Per Group RSD 15,000. Ice Cave Tour and Veliki vrh: Rastoke RSD 2,400, Markova ravan RSD 2,200. Per Group RSD 20,000. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	bring torch
Dimension:	L=6,185 m, VR=125 m.
Guided tours:	Ice Cave Tour: D=2 h. Ice Cave Tour and Veliki vrh: D=3 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Ledena Pećina, Gornje Lopiže, Tel: +381-20-744843. Резерват Увац д.о.о., Трг војводе Петра Бојовића 3, 31320 Нова Варош, Tel: +381-33-64-198. E-mail:
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

Description

Ледена пећина or Ledena Pećina (Ice Cave) is sometimes considered a show cave, although there is actually no development at all. The cave is quite remote, on the western slope of the Uvac river canyon. In this area the river forms a very long meandering lake as it was dammed at Брана Сјеничког језера or Brana Sjeničkog jezera (Sjenica Lake Dam). It was built by the Drinsko Limska HE to produce electricity in the Hidroelektrana Uvac (Uvac Hydroelectric Power Plant). As a result the river was raised for kilometers, there are numerous lakes, the whole area became a water-sports paradise and numerous caves were flooded. The whole area is now protected by the Специјални резерват природе Увац or Specijalni rezervat prirode Uvac (Special Nature Reserve Uvac). The Ice Cave is located higher up on the slope, and the park rangers offer guided cave trekking tours into the cave. Starting point is either the UVAC Rafting Rastoke Site on the dam or the camping ground Markova Ravan Kamp, which is located upstream, about They even named their restaurant "Ledena Pećina". The tours start with a boat ride down the lake to a jetty, then a climb on steep stairs to the cave entrance follows, and finally a cave trekking tour into the ice cave. As the whole tour is organized by a governmental organization, it is quite bureaucratic. Even the payment is quite complicated, you have to pay the park fee, the cave entrance fee, the tour guide and the boat ride. As far as we know the guides and the guys where you must make the appointment (mandatory) speak only Serbian. We suspect that if the sportive difficulties are not enough to keep you away, the bureaucratic hurdles will easily manage that.

The cave was slightly developed, as far as we understand, two lines of rocks were placed on the floor as borders for the footpath, and when the trail crosses speleothems, wooden planks were layed down the protect those formations. And the jetty and the staircase to the entrance were built. Unfortunately, the cave was not gated, so there are pictures of people making bonfires in the cave entrance, which is actually forbidden by European law. And the cave is actually, despite the name, not an ice cave. It seems there are ice stalactites (icicles) and stalagmites in the winter in the entrance section of the cave. But as there is no cold trap, the ice melts when the temperature raises, and it is not possible to see ice the rest of the year. This is actually quite sobering. To us, it seems the outlook is much more interesting than the cave, so we strongly recommend taking the long tour which includes the hike to the outlook.

The Ice Cave is the upper level of the Ушачки пећински систем (Ušač cave system), which is the largest known cave system in Serbia. As always with such systems, there are caves with different names, which were later connected by the cavers, and in speleology they now are considered the same cave. Those three caves are Ушачка пећина (Ušačka cave), Ледена пећина (Ice cave), and Бездана or Bezdana (Abyss). The system has a total of four entrances, which is notable as normally people give names to entrances, and so most cave systems have one name per entrance. The Ušačka cave has two, one is located in the village of Gornje Lopiže at the end of the blind valley of Duboko potok. When the river is reactivated after heavy rains, the water flows into this cave entrance which becomes a ponor, a river sink or swallow hole. The second entrance is located near the Uvac river, the rising river has flooded the cave entrance, which is now accessible only by boat. Once it was the resurgence of the river which entered at the upper end. This is still the case, but now it flows into the Uvac river underwater. Bezdana is the Serbian word for Abyss, sometimes it is called Jama Bezdana, but as Jama also means Abyss, this is actually a nonsensical Smile tautology. The park is karstified and there are actually numerous other caves. Notable caves are Тубића пећина (Tubica cave) and Баждарска пећина (Baždar Cave).

But finally a word about the name, there are hundreds of ice caves, and also hundreds of Ledena Caves. This name is generic, it is not a proper name, it just describes the fact that there is ice in the cave. As a result, it is almost impossible to keep all those ice caves apart. The next one, which is also semi-wild, is 75 km to the west in Montenegro, there is one in Bosnia and Herzegowina, and two more in Montenegro. In other words: if you search the web with a search engine, you never know which of the numerous caves with the same name you will get.