Huda Luknja

Useful Information

Location:	Dolina Pake (Pake valley), Mislinja. South of Velenje, on the road Velenje - Slovenj Gradec.
Open:	only by appointment, entrance portal no restrictions. [2006]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst cave River cave
Light:	lamps provided
Dimension:	L=2,339 m, VR=119 m.
Guided tours:	D=2 h.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:
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

1895	opened to the public.
1995	reopened by the local caving club.

Description

Huda luknja is a very old show cave, but today it is only used for cave trekking tours. The cave crosses a whole mountain underground and ends in a spectacular cave entrance ensemble. There is a narrow gorge calle Soteska Hude luknje (Gorge of the Bad Hole) with a road and railway tracks right in front of the impressive portal. The railway, now abandoned, crossed a tunnel first, then a bridge across the cave river right in front of the entrance of Jama Huda luknja (Bad Hole Cave). Historic postcards show this ensemble with trains and steam engines in front of the cave.

The name Huda luknja is originally the name of the gorge. However, the huge entrance is an integral part of this gorge and so it was named under the same name. The long known entrance, also called veliki dvor gostišče (Big Court House), was used since prehistoric times. Several archaeological remains were found here and in other caves nearby. Jama Pilanca, about 100 m away, was exacavted between the World Wars and contained potsherds and stone age bones as well as a Roman fibula from the second century. Jama Špehovka, 30 minutes walk away, is the most interesting archaeological site of the area. It was first excavated in 1934 and last in 1990. The findings from the old Stone Age included 226 stone tools, bones and two harpoons. There are also bear markings, where cave bears used to rub off their old fur after winter along the wall.

The original show cave was the passage behind the huge portal, a huge horizontal passage which ends at a high climb. With the construction of the railroad and a station nearby the cave was easy accessible and became a favourite tourist spot. On the other side of the mountain Tisnik (786 m asl) is another cave, originally named Lisičnica. Rather narrow passages lead into the huge Medvedji Rov (Bear Cave), a huge horizontal passage which connects the two sides. Below the Lisičnica entrance the water of the neraby brook Ponikve looses underground, crosses the mountain and reappears at the Huda luknja. This lower level, a water cave called Vodni Rov (water passage), is partly accessible from the old show cave.

The local caving club maintains both the cave and a small hut nearby. They offer various tours through the cave, but the normal tour is the through trip from Lisičnica entrance to Huda luknja entrance. The two hour trip requires good physical fitness, equipmet is provided. Of course there is also the possibility to visit the old show cave, for less sportive visitors, but all visitis including this easy one, are only made by appointment. The most difficult and strenuous visit is obviously the water filled passage, but this tour is only made with good cavers.