Black Eye (Crno Oko) is a beautiful spring located at the bottom of one of Herzegovina's many massifs nearby Mostar. The cave was first explored by the local team and subsequently by the FFESSM. The cave is unusually shallow 9m maximum depth with passage characteristics that are more associated with Mexico and some of the Florida caves. Water temperature in the cave is constant 7°C. The passage length is 100m, surfacing in a dry section that continues for another 500m. Team spent a day exploring and surveying this cave with some promising new leads. Video footage of this cave was also taken. Exploration of this cave will continue in 2011.

Special thanks to: Esad Humo, Adventure Club Neretva, Banja Luka diving club BUK and Amphibian Sports (London).


Black Eye (Crno Oko)

Black Source (Crno Vrelo) is located few kilometers from Mostar and is another impressive cave with excellent visibility, some flow and pretty constant 7°C water temperature. This source was first explored by Easd Humo and his team, with subsequent exploration efforts by the FFESSM. Our team explored the cave to a maximum distance of 266m with max depth of 75m. The cave is characterized by distinct 30° sloping single passage which after 100m distance opens in to a huge room 50m by 60m diameter. After some survey dives team has decided to look where the water could be coming from. It was very soon realized that the passage will continue directly under the ledge of where the passage opens into the big room. Big white limestone walls at 75m depth under the ledge suggest a very high flow. Team could also see a crack in the wall that appears to be widening at around 95m estimated depth. This cave also requires special permit access as it feeds into a dammed (Hydro-Electric dam) river nearby Mostar. Exploration of this cave will continue in 2011.

Special thanks to: Esad Humo, Adventure Club Neretva, Banja Luka diving club BUK and Amphibian Sports (London).



Crno Vrelo

 

The remoteness and the sheer size of this karst object left us speechless. Our local guide had told us that he had never seen the water levels so low, despite the persistent rain for few days. The shape and the size of this circular tube, is impressive and it leaves one wondering about powerful force of groundwater. The bottom of the, now dry tube was some 60/70m down where you could see the, what from above looked as a small pool of water. The opportunity to explore virgin caves and to be part of the principal exploration effort is becoming a rare occasion indeed. At this site we needed to ensure that everyone in the team fully understood the flow, visibility and rapidly raising water levels. The first 10-15m had revealed that this cave system was exceptionally rich in cave fauna. On our first dive we have encountered around 200 specimens of Proteus Anguinus, also known as Human Fish (Quest 9.2 Spring2008, Dinaric Karst). It soon became very evident that this was a very unique cave system, as these cave dwellers are very rare and are only found in the karst belt stretching through Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina. In previously dived caves systems in the region we encountered these creatures, but in very small numbers, ones and twos at best. The cave’s initial opening was huge, low celing, chamber like space. During our first 40min dive the water levels rose by 5m. Such speed of water level rise could have only meant that this cave system was connected to an underground lake or some groundwater reservoir. Our second dive in this system revealed 400m of a perfect Ressel-esque tunnel. The tunnel very quickly narrows down to 6-7m in width and 3m high. It remains pretty constant going S-W direction, in line with most cave systems in this region, with constant good visibility and no flow. At the furthest point of our exploration the loud noise of water moving above the tunnel we were swimming in and deterioration of visibility suggested we nearing the end of the tunnel. The large boulders lying on the cave floor at the end of the tunnel must have been part of some sort of collapse from the above. The decision was made to suspend our exploration efforts in this system due to the rising water levels and heavy rainfall.

 

Special thanks to: Hinda Memic and Memic family, Diving club Vir-Sana, The mayor and the town of Sanski Most, Banja Luka diving club BUK and Amphibian Sports (London)

In 2009 the Karst Odyssey team focused their exploration on a previously unexplored Mracaj spring. This spring is located 4km from a nearest village and is a karst object of an exceptional beauty. The sheer remoteness of this site presented the KO team with some logistical challenges. However, the helpful local community and the BUK members stepped in and offered much needed help with the logistics and surface management. Local community provided a tractor which played an instrumental role in getting our equipment as near as possible to the site. Although very helpful, this unfortunately still left us hauling our gear on foot for good 500m of rugged terrain and in sweltering 32C°. With the help of local community the KO team has managed to explore, survey and video 400m of this rather beautiful cave. Unlike many other caves in the region, Mracaj is relatively shallow with max depth of 26m and average depth of 13m. The visibility in the cave throughout our exploration was between 7-9m. Similar to other caves in the region, Mracaj has a distinct dark red rock, which indicates bauxite deposits on this karst topography.

Special thanks to: Banja Luka diving club BUK, Amphibian Sports (London), Ministry of Trade and Tourism (Republic Srpska, B&H), Department for Cultural and Natural Heritage (Republic of Srpska, B&H), Mayor and the town of Mrkonjic Grad.

Map of Mracaj cave

Krusnica is located near the small town of Bosanska Krupa, which lies on the banks of the Una and Krusnica rivers. This area is famous for its distinctive watermills and fishing houses built on stilts. This cave has very distinct black/red cave walls. After some research we discovered that karst bauxite or carbonate bauxite depsits were responsible for these wall colouring. Karst bauxites are formed on a carbonate terrain and are concentrated in sinkholes, springs and solution depressions on the surface of carbonate rocks. This location was originally explored by notable French cave explorer Claude Touloumdijan, he explored the cave to a distance of 350m at depth of 67m. In 2007 Karst Odyssey team extend the exploration to 400m at a depth of 78m. We did not visit this site in 2008, however, we are planning to go back and continue the exploration.

Special thanks to: Anes Halkic, Amphibian Sports (London) Banja Luka diving club BUK and the Town of Bosanska Krupa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source of Krusnica

This is the spring from which the town of Sanski Most pump out directly its fresh water and access was graciously granted by the town council. The small pool of water is easily reachable from the man made cistern. A hundred meters downstream a trout farm serves the best broiled fish in town. The entrance to the cave is narrow but leads to a conduit that is 2mts x 2mts at a depth of 10mts. There’s a crack in the ceiling that seems to open up into an air pocket. The depth gradually slopes to 45mts. abruptly, in a sharp elbow the cave runs back on itself. The conduit rises to 21mts displaying well defined, beautifully scalloped walls and floor. After a total of 500mts, the passage ends in a sump. The source of Zdena is heavily decorated in dissolutional scallops. These are very commonly found on the cave floor and ceiling and indicate high flow system. The dissolutional scallops are smallest where the water flow is the fastest. This location was originally explored by notable French cave explorer Claude Touloumdijan.

The rain that fell continuously during the first week in B&H seemed to have less impact on Source of Zdena than in the other caves in regard to flow and visibility. Visibility was 6mts and water temperature 10c.

Special thanks to: Hinda Memic and Memic family, Diving club Vir-Sana, Mayor and the town of Sanski Most, Banja Luka diving club BUK, Amphibian Sports (London)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source of Zdena

 

  

  

 

  

   

  

 

 

Map of the Source of Zdena

The big cave entrance of Dabar is visible from the top of the hills surrounding Sanski Most. A 30 minute walk down a narrow and steep path leads to a river bed. After a few more minutes hiking on the well polished river rocks, the entrance is finally reached. Above, hundreds of meters of vertical limestone create an impressive background.

Continuing along the bottom of the rock face, a nearby second entrance is easily accessible. This is a dry entrance that opens up into a massive cavern.

Unfortunately, heavy rainfall during the week prevented the team to explore this cave. The steepness of the surrounding slopes seems to funnel the rainwater thereby increasing the hydrostatic pressure. The amount of water coming out of the cave was such, that within 24 hours, the dry river bed was transformed into a raging torrent!

Special thanks to: Hinda Memic and Memic family, Diving club Vir-Sana, The mayor and the town of Sanski Most, Banja Luka diving club BUK and Amphibian Sports (London)

Source of Dabar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Team at Dabar cave

 

Karst regions often present areas of exceptional beauty and natural phenomena such as mountain karst, open landscapes, cave systems and unique flora and fauna. These areas provide invaluable but highly vulnerable water resources. Bastasica spring is one such karst object. This is the location where the Karst Odyssey team has been exploring for the last 4 years. This site was originally explored by notable French cave explorer Claude Touloumdijan. In July 2008 the KO team went back to this beautiful spring and spent few days exploring. During the few days spent at the site the team has managed to add another 50m of line. To our pleasant surprise the cave seems to be getting shallower. We have now extended this system to a distance of 500m at 70m. During this exploration effort we have also completed a survey of the deep section of this system, which will be published on the Karst Odyssey website together with the rest of the survey data in a due course.

Special thanks to: Banja Luka diving club BUK, Amphibian Sports (London), Town of Drvar, Bastasi village local community.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source of Bastasica

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sketch of the Source of Bastasica

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Map of Bastasica Spring