Category: News

/Notice of Temporary Access Change to Barać Caves and the Speleon/

Dear Visitors,

Due to roadworks on the local road, access to Barać Caves and the Speleon will not be possible via the usual routes — for cars as well as buses — on the following dates:

📅 June 16 (Mon)
📅 June 17 (Tue)
📅 June 18 (Wed)

For detour access, we recommend using the alternative route:
➡️ In the village of Čuić Brdo, turn toward Furjan and follow the signs: “𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐀𝐊 – 𝐁𝐀𝐑𝐀Ć𝐄𝐕𝐄 Š𝐏𝐈𝐋𝐉𝐄 𝐈 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐎𝐍”

🔗 You can download detailed directions at the following link:
Google Maps – Detour Route

We thank you for your understanding and kindly advise all visitors to:
✔️ plan their visit using the detour route, or
✔️ postpone their visit to another day.

Harmony with Nature and Sustainable Development: The Public Institution Barać Caves as an Example of Coexistence Between Humans and Wildlife

In a world increasingly affected by biodiversity loss and climate change, the Barać Caves stand as an example of harmonious coexistence between humans and nature. Spanning just 5.19 km² within the Barać Caves Significant Landscape, this area achieves a unique balance between nature conservation, sustainable tourism, and scientific research.

A Biological Treasure in the Heart of Karst

The area managed by the Public Institution Barać Caves is home to an exceptionally rich and diverse flora and fauna. So far, the following have been recorded:

• 562 plant taxa, an impressive number given the area’s size—especially when compared to the Žumberak–Samoborsko Gorje Nature Park, which has just over 1,000 plant taxa across 350 km².
• 603 species of butterflies, including 78 species of diurnal and 525 species of nocturnal butterflies.
• Seven species of reptiles, including one turtle, three lizard species, and three snake species. Additionally, seven species of amphibians have been recorded: one newt, one salamander, and five frog species.

The area is also a habitat for large carnivores such as wolves, lynxes, and bears. Camera traps have also recorded foxes, roe deer, badgers, and wild boars, confirming the ecosystem’s integrity.

An Underground World of Exceptional Value

Biospeleological research conducted in 17 caves and 2 springs within the area has documented:

• 100 species of invertebrates, including 28 troglobionts (species that live exclusively underground), 3 stygobionts, 37 troglophiles, and 22 trogloxenes.
• Upper Barać Cave alone contains 47 different invertebrate taxa, highlighting the ecological importance of cave ecosystems.

Bats as Indicators of a Healthy Environment

Croatia is home to 35 out of 45 European bat species, and 7 species of bats have been recorded within the Barać Caves Significant Landscape. These highly beneficial mammals are crucial for maintaining ecological balance by feeding on large quantities of insects and serving as bioindicators of environmental quality.

Bird Research

Over a two-year study, 56 species of birds were documented within the Barać Caves Significant Landscape, primarily during the nesting season. The most commonly recorded species include the great tit (Parus major), the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), and the marsh tit (Poecile palustris).

Tourism in the Service of Conservation

With over 50,000 visitors annually, the Barać Caves Significant Landscape is a major tourist attraction in the Municipality of Rakovica. However, tourism here does not conflict with nature conservation—quite the opposite. Educational content, guided tours, and scientific research help raise awareness about the importance of environmental protection, while strict conservation rules minimize human impact on natural processes.

The Barać Caves are not just a natural phenomenon—they are a model of sustainable development and harmony between humans and nature. This approach—based on science, conservation, and education—shows the way forward for preserving biodiversity in the 21st century.

Are you planning to visit the Plitvice Lakes? Discover the Plitvice Valleys too!

Planning a trip to Plitvice Lakes with your kids? Take the opportunity to enrich your day with a visit to two nearby attractions that the whole family will love – Barać Caves and the modern visitor center Speleon!

This perfect triangle of adventure, learning, and natural beauty offers everything you need for quality time together – walks, education, play, discovery, and lots of fun.

🕳️ Barać Caves – An Underground World for Young and Grown Explorers
Just a 20-minute drive from Plitvice Lakes National Park, Barać Caves invite you on a guided tour through the underground world.
Kids will be fascinated by the natural formations, cave stories, and discoveries about prehistoric humans and animals that once lived there.

👣 Guided tour duration: approx. 1 hour
🌡️ Cave temperature: a pleasant 9°C
🔦 Accessible, well-lit paths – ideal for all ages
🌳 A spacious picnic area with restrooms, free parking, and play zones – including a badminton court and mini football field
You’ll also find three well-marked circular hiking trails of various lengths starting and ending at the Barać Caves picnic area.

🦖 Speleon – A Visitor Center That Combines Science, Fun, and Technology
After exploring the caves, continue to Speleon – an interactive center that takes you and your kids on a journey through time and space.

Here, you can:
🦴 See a real fossil collection of cave bears and other extinct species
📽️ Watch educational films in modern screening rooms
🧩 Play and learn in the kids’ zone
🌍 Experience what the underground world once looked like through multimedia displays and interactive screens

Speleon is fully family-friendly – the content is engaging, educational, and visually captivating, making it easy for children to follow along, learn, and have fun!

📅 We’re Open Every Day – Even on Holidays!
Barać Caves and Speleon are open daily, including weekends, holidays, and school breaks. That means you can plan your trip whenever it suits you – no stress, no reservation needed.

🧭 How to Reach Us?
Both attractions are located in Nova Kršlja (Rakovica), just a few kilometers from Plitvice Lakes. Parking is available, and everything is clearly marked and easy to find.

🧺 Family Day Trip Suggestion:
✅ Visit Plitvice Lakes in the morning
✅ Stop for lunch at a local restaurant
✅ Spend your afternoon at Barać Caves and Speleon
✅ End the day relaxing in nature and enjoying the fresh air

Give your family a day to remember – a blend of nature, discovery, and adventure!
For more info on prices, opening hours, and directions, visit:
👉 https://barac-caves.com/visit-cave/
👉 https://barac-caves.com/visit-speleon/

Photo: Patricia Rubčić, Dinko Neskusil, Josip Durdov

Promotional period at Speleon and Barać Caves/

The Upper Barać Cave is reopening its doors to visitors. Along with promotional prices at Plitvice Lakes National Park, the spring campaign also includes Speleon – Center for Underground Heritage and Barać Caves!

📅 The promotional period at SPELEON lasts from March 28th to April 8th!
📅 The promotional period at BARAĆ CAVES (opening) is from April 1st to April 8th!

The individual ticket price for the Upper Barać Cave and the Speleon Visitor Center (for each location) will be as follows: Adults – promotional ticket price €12.00
Children (4-18) – promotional ticket price €6.00
Special visitor groups – promotional ticket price €8.00

• If you visit the Upper Barać Cave and/or the Speleon Visitor Center individually (without a tour operator, less than 15 people), no prior reservation is needed.
• The Upper Barać Cave is open for visits from April 1st, every day of the week from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, including weekends, holidays, and public holidays.
• Speleon – Center for Underground Heritage is open every day of the week from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, including weekends, holidays, and public holidays.

Along with the mysterious underground world, get to know the inhabitants of Speleon – fossil remains of Ice Age animals found in the Upper Barać Cave, and their hyper-realistic specimens will take you tens of thousands of years back in time, to when lions, hyenas, woolly rhinoceroses, and other large beasts roamed this area!

For all information:
Phone: +385 47 639 387
Email: info@baraceve-spilje.hr

Spring flowers/

Today, March 20, 2025, we mark the first day of spring. What most strongly associates with spring is the greenery, but also the spring flowers that emerge even before the greenery. As their name suggests, these are plants that bloom in spring, at the very beginning of the growing season. This characteristic is probably the main reason for the public’s great interest in these species. Although the interest comes from admiration and attention, it has always been accompanied by collecting. Excessive collecting remains the biggest threat to spring flowers today. Another threat is habitat destruction (expansion of construction areas, turning meadows into arable land, deforestation, drainage, and land reclamation, etc.).

National and international regulations now help protect and ensure the survival of these species. The Environmental Protection and Nature Institute launched the “Have You Seen Them? – Spring Flowers” campaign in 2024. In the first year of implementation (during just two months), 544 plant species were reported, with 136 participants involved. By collecting data on observations of spring flowers, valuable information was gathered about many rare and endangered species, more was learned about the distribution of common spring-flowering species, and new observation locations were discovered.

In order to obtain new data and detect changes in species distribution, the campaign continues, which is why we invite you to report spring flowers in your area this year as well! To this end, the “Have You Seen Them? – Spring Flowers” project was created in the iNaturalist app. To start, you need to install iNaturalist on your mobile phone and register. The next step is to photograph and record your first spring flower through the app. If you wish to follow updates related to the “Have You Seen Them? – Spring Flowers” project, you can become a member of the project, although this step is not necessary for your spring flower to be recorded in the system. Once the app is installed, you can use it not only for spring flowers but also to report and view observations of other species, and it can also assist in identifying unknown species.

Expert Lecture at Speleon/

Today, February 17, 2025, at 11:00 AM, expert lectures on recent research conducted by the Public Institution Baraćeve Špilje in collaboration with external associates were held in the conference hall of Speleon – Centre of subterranean heritage

We had the opportunity to listen to Nikolina Kuharić (HBSD – Croatian Biospeleological Society), who presented speleological and biospeleological research in caves and pits closed to the public, as well as studies on monitoring key and indicator species in underground habitats managed by the Public Institution Baraćeve Špilje.

Vida Zrnčić (HBSD) provided a detailed overview of research on the distribution and establishment of regular monitoring of bat fauna in the Significant Landscape of Baraćeve Špilje and other sites managed by the institution.

Leopoldina Dakić highlighted the positive research results on the freshwater crayfish population in the Rakovica municipality, once again confirming that the crayfish is rightfully the symbol of our region.

📸 Check out our photo gallery to see how it all went: Patricia Rubčić, Ivana Hodak, Irena Tomičić

 

Public institution Barać caves is a member in good standing of the International Show Caves Association/

Public institution Barać caves is a member in good standing of the International Show Caves Association and is committed to:

• Upholding the aims and objectives of the International Show Caves Association.
• Promoting proper management to ensure the conservation and preservation of show caves.
• Promoting a concern in show cave management for the safety of visitors and guests in the use and enjoyment of show caves.

About organisation

The International Show Caves Association (I.S.C.A.) was founded in November 1990 and set up its central office in Genga, Italy.

After the first Consitutent Assembly held in Frasassi (Genga Ancona, Italy) in November 1989, important events have contributed to the development and consolidation of the association.

Definition of show cave

A show cave is defined as a natural occurring void beneath the surface of the earth that has been made accessible to the public for tours.

Objectives and purpose

The purpose of the Association is to guarantee, on the one hand, the respect and the safeguard of the subterranean environment and its natural wonders while on the other hand it aims at promoting the economic development of the caves by supplying to all its members (i.e. the show caves) the experiences and solutions gained on the subject of research and management activities carried out by the most advanced caves which can afford a larger expenses.

The main objectives of ISCA are

1. To promote and maintain an international organization of persons, associations, corporations and government agencies who own, manage or operate recognized show caves or caverns.
2. To promote proper management to ensure the conservation and preservation of show caves.
3. To promote and increase public awareness and interest in show caves.
4. To promote a concern in show cave management for the safety of visitors and guests in the use and enjoyment of show caves.
5. To compile, preserve, publish and share cooperative data, both technical and promotional, for members.
6. To promote and encourage the development of a spirit of cooperation and courtesy among show cave operators.

4th DINARIC SYMPOSIUM ON SUBTERRANEAN BIOLOGY – Event announcement/

With great pleasure, we are excited to announce that the 4th DINARIC SYMPOSIUM ON SUBTERRANEAN BIOLOGY will be held at the Speleon Visitor Center, Nova Kršlja 47a, Rakovica, from October 11 to 12, 2025.

In light of questions that intrigue researchers of subterranean biology and with the aim of exchanging knowledge, data, and experiences, the HBSD organized the First Dinaric Symposium on Subterranean Biology of the Dinaric Karst in Zagreb in 2016. The Second Dinaric Symposium on Subterranean Biology was held in Postojna, Slovenia, from October 18-19, 2019, and the journey continued in 2022 with the Third Symposium on Subterranean Biology held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from April 9-10, 2022.

For more information about the 4th Symposium, follow the Public Institution’s website, social media channels, and the following link: https://www.facebook.com/dinaric.symposium.

GROUNDWATER, GUARDIANS OF LIFE

Today, the final conference of the project “Groundwater, Guardians of Life,” implemented by Studenac d.o.o., was held at Speleon.

The project was launched to educate and raise public awareness about the need to preserve groundwater, a vital resource for human life and ecosystems. To achieve this goal, Studenac systematically promoted discussions about the importance of groundwater conservation, informed the wider community about ways to protect these resources, and encouraged positive ecological changes in the daily lives of individuals and communities.

As part of the project, a new series of Studena water bottles was introduced. Studenac allocated a portion of the proceeds from the sale of these bottles to support the preservation of Croatia’s groundwater and drinking water.

A panel discussion titled “A DROP FOR THE FUTURE” was held, moderated by Tatjana Spajić. Panel participants included Mr. Damir Basara (OSMICA), Jasmin Sadiković (Zeleni Osijek), and Ivan Gluščević (Kolektiv).

Numerous guests from various institutions and organizations participated in the event and spoke on this topic:

• J. J. Strossmayer Institute for Water – Director Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mario Šiljeg
• Mayor of Rakovica Municipality – Mihovil Bićanić
• Aquatika Freshwater Aquarium Karlovac – Director Margarita Maruškić-Kulaš
• Public Institution Barać Caves – Managing Director Tihana Oštrina, responsible for managing protected natural values in the Rakovica municipality
• OSMICA – Society for Mountaineering, Exploration, and Preservation of Natural Values (including a speleology section) – Secretary Damir Basara
• Zeleni Osijek Association – President Jasmin Sadiković
• Youth Association Kolektiv – President Ivan Gluščević
• Students of the Undergraduate Program in Hunting and Nature Conservation from Karlovac University of Applied Sciences
• Studenac Representatives:
  • Tatjana Spajić (moderator)
  • Anja Škulje Makjanić
  • Ivana Nakić
  • Petra Vuka

We are particularly pleased that Speleon – the Center for Underground Heritage – was chosen as the venue for this exceptional event, which contributes to groundwater conservation and the protection of natural values.

Conference of Croatian Speleologists/

This weekend, from November 29 to December 1, the Gathering of Croatian Speleologists was held in Drežnik Grad, organized by the Speleological Society Veles and the Croatian Speleological Association.

The event marked the 70th anniversary of the Croatian Speleological Association, 15 years of the Speleological Society Veles, and 20 years since the re-opening of Barać Caves for visitors.

Approximately 200 participants attended the conference. On Saturday, 25 presentations were held, during which over 50 speakers showcased their research, technologies, and their applications in speleology. Publications were introduced, along with ways to popularize speleology through the promotion of STEM.

At exhibitor booths, participants also had the opportunity to purchase various publications, T-shirts with society logos, and other souvenirs.

In addition to lectures, the event featured entertaining activities such as the traditional speleo-obstacle course, which required participants’ agility and speed. A fun program with socializing among participants followed.