A heat wave has gripped most of Europe, and our regions are no exception. But where to find relief from the high temperatures?
If you choose the sea, rivers, or lakes in our country, you must still be aware that the current refreshment in the water will not give you the rest you need from the heat.
However, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) abounds in many special features, and one of them is the Vjetrenica cave, where the temperature is always 11 degrees.
Vjetrenica represents the largest cave system in BiH. It is located in the area of the southern Dinaric karst, with the entrance at the very edge of Popovo Polje, 300 meters east of the village of Zavala at 260 meters above sea level. It is 80 kilometers from Mostar and about 200 km from Sarajevo.
In the world, it ranks first in biodiversity and its length exceeds seven kilometers. The average temperature inside the cave is 11 degrees.
A rich ecosystem lives in the cave, in which almost 200 different animal species have been recorded, and one of the most famous is the olm that lives in Donja Vjetrenica.
The occurrence of a strong “wind” at the entrance is a fascinating feature of Vjetrenica and it is after this that it got its name. However, it is not actual wind but a physical phenomenon of air currents, which seek to equalize the constant internal and changing external air temperature.
On the topographic surface above Vjetrenica, there are deep cracks through which warm air enters in summer, cools, and exits at the main cave entrance. The constant temperature in the cave is 11 degrees Celsius, and the strength of the wind on summer days is 15 meters per second.
The cave is very spacious and hydrologically rich with numerous lakes, waterfalls, streams, and smaller underground watercourses that flow in various directions.
At the very entrance, on the right side, there are two medieval reliefs, a deer hunt, and a knight’s tournament, and the age of some cave drawings is estimated at 10.000 years. The most significant archaeological discoveries are the bones of a cave bear and a leopard.
The most systematic scientific research was led by the Czech scientist Karel Absolon in the period from 1912 to 1914 when he discovered almost all of the cave’s channels known today. One of the channels (Absolon’s) is named after this scientist and is characteristic of the frequent occurrence of fog.
The magical beauty, spacious corridors, and halls, underground waters and waterfalls, and the wind that constantly flows make this cave unique in the world. The mystique of this place is also made up of various folk legends, according to which fairies lived here whose voices can still be heard today.
