Rajko’s Cave

Rajko’s Cave is located in eastern Serbia, 2 km away from the town of Majdanpek. It can be accessed by the asphalt road along the riverbank of the Small Pek (Mali Pek) and the artificial lake of Veliki zaton. The whole surroundings of the spring of the Small Pek are rich in the mix forest of beech, sycamore and oak trees, and are a unique natural and speleological precious asset. Rajko’s Cave was named after famous Rajko the Duke, who is assumed to have lived in the 19th century. According to the legend, he was an inn-keeper during the day, and during the night, he would plunder Turks’ caravans, hiding the treasure in this cave. The cave was first researched by geographer Jovan Cvijić in 1894, and further research was made no sooner than in the 1970s, under PhD Radenko Lazarević’s guidance. The cave was opened for tourists in 1975. The entrance part of the cave from the direction of the village of Rajkovo (Rajko’s Village) was populated as early as in the prehistoric times, which is testified by the stone hammer preserved in the archaeological collection of the Museum in Majdanpek. Rajko’s Cave is a fluvial cave, through which Rajko’s River flows. After leaving the cave, the river becomes one with the Paskova River, which also leaves the cave, thus making the Small Pek River. According to its speleological characteristics and morphogenetic evolution, it is one of the most interesting caves in our country. The cave consists of the two horizons, namely the sinkhole and the spring parts, and each one of them has the lower – hydrologically active and the upper – dry horizons. Because the cave channels have been researched in the length of 2304 m so far, it is the longest cave in Serbia. By merging the fluvial and the dry channels, the circular path of 1410 m in length was created, and for now, tourists can take a tour of the parts of the fluvial and the dry horizons 633 m in length. The temperature in the cave is +8°C and relative air humidity is close to 100%. Rajko’s Cave is rich in cave ornaments of different shapes of snow-white crystal calcite, which is of the highest quality in Serbia. While walking down the cave path, the visitor is gaining a unique experience of the rippling clear Rajko’s River, which echoes all through the cave spaces of “The Hall of the Hedgehog”, with the thousands of calcite tiny pipes on the ceiling. Then, the visitor is led across the ruddy tufa tubs, by “The Winter Fairytale” with “The White Bear” all the way to the entrance to “The Crystal Forest” with “The Fluttering Small Lake”. Some of the most famous figures are also “The Egyptian Goddess”, “The Snail”, “The Tree Stump with Mushrooms” and so forth.