…one of those places that EVERYONE should experience. It’s a part of nature that has been discovered, yet not overexposed. It really is nature at its purest. It’s a small piece of heaven on earth where you are literally experiencing and witnessing the past.

As I mentioned below, my photographer friend contacted me over the weekend and said

As soon as I followed his link, I knew I was going, and I forwarded the information to my friend Debbi. She was just about as excited as I was. We both have a love for photography, adventure and not to mention FABULOUS husbands, that were willing to partake in plan B for school pick-up…which was great, since we needed plan B .

Luka picked us up after drop-off [we had to do some mom duties for the day ]. We then drove about an hour outside of LJ, and arrived at a very basic “base camp” for Krizna Jama. (Slovene lesson of the day: Jama=cave). Inside the building, heated (very nicely I might add) by a wood burning stove, our guide Lojze outfitted us in head-to-toe cave gear. We already had on 3 layers of clothes, including 3 pair of ski socks and our 90s stirrup ski pants (that YES we both still owned, but came in very handy because we needed the warmth, but not the bulk of other ski pants under the cave suit…NOW congratulate this mother of two, and Debbi, a mother of 4, for still fitting into our 90s pants!). Inside the cave the temperature is a constant temp (right above freezing) and wet, so we needed to be prepared. Lojze also provided us with helmets, geared with headlamps and battery packs. (I’ll spare most of you the “where do we go to the toilet” story, but just ask…it’s a good laugh).

We then entered inside the most beautiful cave/underground lake world you’ve ever seen. We hiked, climbed and rowed our way through a maze of just a speck of God’s wonderful creation. There were areas where we were walking along an edge no wider than 4-6 inches as we hung onto a climbing rope that was bolted into the side of the cave’s wall. We then would enter into a small inflatable boat (British lesson for the day: small inflatable boat=dinghy), and row our way from one lake to the next. In between each lake was a “dam;” a shallow part of the lake (less than an inch deep), where we would exit the boat, cross by foot, and then place the boat down on the other side (quick confession: Lojze carried the boat from side to side).

The entire trip underground was more than 5 hours. Every so often, Lojze would stop the boat on the edge of the lake, and we would set up our tripods and cameras while Luka explained different lighting techniques, including light painting. One of our stops (to photograph the “pirate ship”), we were perched on a ledge about 6-8 inches wide, in about 6 inches of water. We then had to place our tripods and cameras, all the while wearing our camera backpacks.

Lojze was also an amazing cave guide. He explained that there we about 12 different cave species that lived there. We were fortunate to see 4, which was amazing in and of itself because they are TINY. We did see one cave worm, which apparently is rare to see because they are usually hidden in the mud; and that was the largest one (about 6 inches long). He could spot them meters away! I’ve thanked him many times, but it deserves one last thanks…THANK YOU LUKA! Without your invite, I probably would have never seen or experienced Krizna.

All text and images by Michelle Kirmse Michaud.