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Driny Cave

Driny Cave is the only show cave in the western Slovakia. It is located in the Smolenice karst in the Lesser Carpathians, to the southwest of Smolenice. The mysterious hole in the earth was known for the local people already in the 19-th century, but only in 1932 they dared to enter underground. Flowstone draperies with indented facing are typical for this cave.

Natural settings

Driny Cave

It is formed in brown-grey Lower Cretaceous chert limestones of the Vysocký Nappe by corrosion of atmospheric waters penetrating along tectonic faults. The cave reaches the length of 680 m and vertical span of 40 m. It consists of narrow fissure passages, from one to three meters wide (Collaborators’ Passage, Beňovský‘s Passage, Passage of Hopes) and not big hall spaces (Slovak Speleological Society Hall), formed mostly on intersection of tectonic faults. The discovery chimney, which descends to 36 m’s depth from the upper opening to the intersection of the Entrance Passage (Vstupná chodba) with the Collaborators’ Passage, has a character of doline chimney.

A rich sinter fill decorates fissure underground spaces. Flowstone draperies with indented facing are typical for this cave. Flowstone waterfalls and flowstone structures, pagoda-like stalagmites and various forms of stalactites occur her. Also small flowstone pools, supplied with water by percolating rainfall water, can be found here.

Driny Cave

Air temperature in the rear parts of the Driny Cave ranges between 7,1 and 7,8 °C, relative humidity between 92 and 97 %. Influences of outside climate show themselves under the Discovery Chimney, which communicates with the surface, and in the Entrance Passage. Air temperature in these spaces reaches from 5,6 to 8,7 °C

Eleven bat species have been found here by now. The most abundant is the Lesser Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hipposideros). From among other species the following ones can be found here: Greater Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum), Greater Mouse-Eared Bat (Myotis myotis), Barbastelle (Barbastella barbastellus), Common Long-Eared Bat (Plecotus aurituss), and others.