The cave divers have swam through the so far unexplored shafts 250 metres below the surface, carrying 50 kg of research equipment; the visibility was only a metre and a half. The newly discovered shaft starts with a syphon, which increases difficulty and danger of the exploration. Expeditions last up to twelve hours, and include a larger number of speleologists and cave divers from several associations.

The team effort was rewarded not only by new shafts, but also by the extremely rich underground life. A number of fish were noticed in the syphon lakes, and a plentiful colony of proteus (olm) accompanied them through the shafts. Yet the newly discovered shafts will be accessible only to speleologists, and will remain closed for the other visitors for a long time.

The fact that Postojnska jama and Planinska jama are connected has been established more than 170 years ago; the proof was obtained by adding pigment to the waters of the Pivka river which runs through both cave systems. But in speleology a proof is considered adequate only when a person walks or swims through shafts and syphons; it took 40 years to get to that point.

The Postojnska jama cave is of late 24 kilometres long! Once it is connected to the Planinska jama cave, speleologists will try to reach a new goal: find a connection to the Rakov Škocjan.

D. S., E. P. L.
Translated by G. K.