Kičljive Jame Caves

Kičljive jame, also written Kičljeva jama, is a cave system near Skrad, a small town in Gorski Kotar, the forested highland between the Kvarner coast and the Croatian interior. The name covers two linked pits, the Big or White Kičljeva jama and the Small or Black one, which together form a single underground system. Speleologists explored it between 1963 and 1985, and recorded about 1,075 metres of passages reaching a depth of roughly 285 metres.

That makes it a serious caving objective, not a show cave. There is no ticket office, lighting, guided tour or walkway, and the descent is vertical, so the system is meant for experienced, properly equipped speleologists from a caving club rather than for casual visitors. Most people will never go below the surface, and that is the sensible choice: loose rock, cold water and the lack of any quick rescue make unaccompanied exploration dangerous. Anyone with a genuine interest should contact a Croatian speleological society, which can say whether and how access is possible.

The surrounding country is classic Dinaric karst. Gorski Kotar is built on limestone that rain and snowmelt have dissolved over a very long time, leaving sinkholes, pits, dry valleys and springs. Water sinks underground in one place and reappears somewhere else, which is why the region has so many caves and so many small, clear streams. Beech and fir forest covers most of the slopes, and winters are cold and snowy.

Skrad itself makes an easy base for a day of gentler sights. Vražji Prolaz, the Devil's Passage, is a gorge about 800 metres long, cut by the Jasle stream, with cliffs up to about 100 metres high, and a path with iron bridges and walkways follows it. It was protected in 1962. At one end lies Zeleni Vir, the Green Whirlpool, a karst spring where a small waterfall drops into a pool of green water, and at the other end is the Muževa Hiža cave, a short cave that can be entered from the path. The walk takes about an hour. Skradski Vrh, the hill above the town, has marked hiking trails, and Skrad is also on the cycling trail that crosses Gorski Kotar. The municipality had fewer than nine hundred residents at the 2021 census, so it is quiet, and rooms and restaurants are limited. Plan meals and accommodation ahead in peak season.

Wear boots with a good grip, since limestone and wet leaves are slippery, leave bats and cave formations alone, and carry out all rubbish.

Allow a day for the area: the gorge in the morning, a picnic by the spring and a climb to a viewpoint in the afternoon. The pits suit experienced cavers, and everyone else will enjoy the gorge and the forest around them.