The Postojna Caves (pronunciation something like Posst-stoy-nya)

OK, I should say I haven’t actually been here for nearly 30 years… but considering they haven’t changed much for thousands of years (barring the addition of electric lighting and a train around a century ago), I think I’m still safe to comment. Judging by the website and a recent TV program I’ve seen (more of which later) there have been a few additions above ground, but the heart of the experience is much as it was when I visited.

I should also give a warning to anyone who enjoys going down the publicly viewable caves in the UK (Wookie Hole, etc). Once you’ve been to this one, you will be totally spoiled. There is just no comparison to anything you can see in the UK. If going into a cave is entering into the body of the Earth Mother, then anything in the UK is a peep into a nostril. Postojna is the full mouth and labyrinthine guts experience. It’s everything a cave should be.

The experience starts with a 10 minute train ride deep into the earth. Yep, this cave is that big… Actually it’s a rather good train ride too, with twists and turns and low ceilings that you think are going to hit you. My first stop was at the Ballroom (now called Convention Hall, and end of the walk judging from the website!), a large cave that’s used for events, and didn’t impress me that much as it’s large, dun coloured and has a flat artificial floor. Never mind, after that it’s into the labyrinth… Level paths are laid for the sake of visitors, but you get to see lots of natural looking and very impressive cave with huge stalactites and stalagmites (tip: when the mites go up, the tights come down! Bad I know but it works…). One especially memorable cavern is called Big Mountain. It’s sort of difficult to describe. Imagine walking up and down and across on the slopes of a mountain. Now imagine that covered in stalagmites, with a roof (and stalactites) paralleling the slope up above. And both upslope and downslope disappearing into darkness.

Postojna is also the birthplace of the science of speleobiology (study of life in caves). 84 species live in the cave, but the star is a creature called an olm or proteus. It’s a blind salamander, also known as the human fish because its albino flesh looks a bit human. Postojna is the only place in the world that it lives. Locals used to believe they were baby dragons. When I went they had a pool with some on display in the cave. From the website I think they have a display in a building at the entrance now. This creature also brings me back to that TV program: Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures, episode on the Human Fish. An absolutely magical program, though maybe I’m biased having visited the caves and seen the creature for myself! Worth looking out for: it turns up on Animal Planet on a regular basis (and has been on channel 5). Though trust me, you can’t get a proper sense of what the cave is like from a TV program.

Though the tourist trail is impressive enough, it actually only visits a small percentage of the huge 21 kilometre cave system. See the website for information on guided visits to deeper caves for those that are up to it. Definitely something I’d like to do one day. Don’t miss the chance to visit these caves, even if it’s only as a ‘normal’ tourist.

The website link given is for the German section of the site. For English click on the flag or use this link: http://www.postojnska-jama.si/?cat=6&lang=en