Govještica Cave

Govještica Cave is located in the of the river Prača canyon , Rogatica municipality at an altitude of 580 m (entrance), the length of 9682 m, with a large entrance, which is also the source. Shortly after the main entrance, the hallway branches off to the north-western and south-eastern arm. The north-western arm is still open to further exploration and advancements.
Govještica was known of at the same as Banj Stijena, from the time of construction of narrow-gauge railway line Sarajevo – Višegrad in 1906, but Govještica was difficult to explore without modern speleological equipment at the time. The first obstacle is already in the start – a small lake whose size vary depending on the rainfall. It is not a problem during the dry season, when the lake diameter is 8 metres only. However, the water level can rise by three metres and the width can triple and then the lake is too difficult and dangerous to cross. The deepest climb at the time was 100 metres, according to a 1911 document. Further climb was impossible due to a 20-metre vertical after which a rope climb was necessary.
In the following hundred years, the silence of Govještica was only disturbed by a small waterfall between the first and second lake, when Italian speleologists came from Bologna and Novara and started exploration of the cave in cooperation with the Sarajevo Karst and Speleology Centre.
It the next two years the number of teams had increased with more and more speleologists exploring the cave. Year after year (2010 – 2013), the cave was getting new dimensions: in 2011 –  – 3800 metres, in 2012  – 7715 metres, to become the absolute champion in Bosnia-Herzegovina with 9682 metres explored, leaving behind the previous record holders – Mokranjska Miljacka Cave (7200 m) and V
jetrenica Cave (6700 m).
Boro Brusin and I have visited the cave several times using makeshift equipment, because we have no funds for the proper one. We managed to visit 3000 meters of the cave, and it is difficult to describe all the incredible beauty jealously hidden for millions of years. I was right to name the cave the Wild Beauty, as one simply gets lost in the splendour of stalactites, stalagmites, pillars, draperies and other cave formations.
Numerous verticals, several lakes, sumps and a river in distant parts of the cave, as well as chasms more than 60 metres deep make Govještica a very dangerous cave. The cave is not significant only for its dimensions – it also has its natural, aesthetic and scientific value. Large colonies of about a thousand bats each, found in the cave, as well as significant quantities of the cave bear (Ursus speleus) bones estimated to be 20,000 years old, widespread species of Anthroherpon cylindricollis and cave formations of a great aesthetic value, make Govještica one of the most beautiful caves in Bosnia-Herzegovina.