Primož Jakopin, photo diary

Velika Karlovica
Passage to the Water Tunnel

September 28, 18 pictures

          The images, except for the portrait, where the vertical side measures 450 pixels, are mostly 768 by 1024 pixels in size, numbers in front of the picture descriptions are serial numbers of the original photo files. Vladimir Levašov contributed greatly to the success of the excursion, he did all the work that the author could not have done himself, and Jože Stražišar from Dolenja vas also added his own part - he lent the boots that were left at home in a hurry. The names of the parts of the cave are mostly the author's.
          The purpose of the excursion was, as has been the case several times before, to visit Velika Karlovica through the tunnel in Rakovski mostek, again with an inflatable boat and regular boots. With a bit of luck and hassle we were able to do it.

          Page, text and photos copyright (c) Primož Jakopin - Klok 2025, except for photos VL63 to VL66, which were taken by Vladimir Levašov and are published with his permission.

 
56092. Vladimir ...

 
56091. ... pushed the boat through the rake ...

 
56090. ... to the other side.

 
56073. View through the rake to the Lake Cerknica side, in the background are Manfred and Brigitte, also enthusiastic cave goers.

 
56074. At the entrance to the tunnel, the water level was about the same as on September 7th, around 75 cm, and the stream also had a flow of about 20 liters per second. The water current in the tunnel was not strong and in its end the water slowly sank into the rock collapse. In the photo: Vladimir on the bank after the end of the tunnel, with the small boat.

 
56089. On the north side of the hall behind the end of the tunnel, the water appeared again in a stream that flowed northwest and soon sank into a siphon.

 
56075 and 56076. A little further from Blatna dvorana (the Mud Hall), which the author reached on August 17, the spacious tunnel descended considerably, and there were quite a few beautiful pebble banks in wall indentations pockets along the left side of the tunnel. The image is a collage of photos 56075 and 56076 - the right fifth was taken from the first, where the author is better visible, and everything else from the second, because the headlamp, set to full power, illuminated the sand nicely, but also produced an oversized "cave sun" around the head.

 
56077. Another side pocket on the left side of the tunnel, with water and pebbles

 
56078. A little further on, the tunnel narrows a bit, and from the left wall protrudes this "Svinjski rilec" (Pig Snout), an important landmark in the cave. If the path to the Mud Hallr through the Rakovski mostek is relatively short and simple, as is the path from the Main Entrance through the Bukovec Tunnel to the water strait, everything else in this the most labyrinthine Slovenian cave that the author has visited is much more complicated. And every orientation point comes in very handy.

 
56079. In the hall in front of the "Pig Snout" there is a steep climb on the right side, where the continuation is visible from below. Vladimir climbed there and reached the stream on the other side, which he followed first a few dozen meters upstream, as far as he could without a boat, and then downstream, where he did not go all the way because he had previously found a smaller tunnel to the left, through which he heard the author and joined him. Together they went to the stream, which leads upstream to this picturesque scene.

 
56082. A bit downstream on the left side there is this stalactite chamber.

 
56084. At the tunnel leading to "Pig Snout" the water tunnel widens considerably. View downstream to the fork, the right branch is too low to proceed, but on the left branch, in front of which the author is in the photo, Vladimir was able to wade quite a distance.

 
56087. View upstream from approximately the same standpoint. The water tunnel continues to the left of the sandbank in the middle of the picture, and the author has his back turned to the tunnel that leads to "Pig Snout" and further to Rakovski mostek.

 
56093. A late afternoon view from the Cvinger viewpoint over the meadows and the lake

Vladimir's photos

 
VL63. Flowstone heap with rimstone pools a little further from "Pig Snout", in a tunnel that is larger than the one that branches off towards the Water Tunnel.

 
VL64. Upstream view of the Water Tunnel from the point where the side tunnel branches off towards the exit

 
VL65. The author, while preparing for the photo 56082.

 
VL66. Another scene from the Water Tunnel, at the same place where the photo 56079 was taken, but downstream.

Related pages:

• This page in Russian and
• in Slovenian language

  Mala Karlovica, September 4 to 22, 2025     Velika Karlovica, October 1 to 12, 2025  
 

This page, text and photos by Primož Jakopin, member of the Ljubljana Cave Exploration Society (DZRJL), except where stated otherwise. Send inquiries and comments to primoz jakopin guest arnes si (insert dots and at sign as appropriate). Page was initiated on September 29, 2025; date of the last change: October 15, 2025.

URL: https://www.jakopin.net/primoz/slike/2025/PJ20250928_en.php     663