Divje jezero

A karst spring lake in a steep rock amphitheatre in the Idrijca valley near Idrija whose flooded shaft has been explored to 160 m. After several fatal accidents, diving in the spring is reported to be prohibited.

Divje jezero, the 'Wild Lake', is a deep spring pool about 60 by 30 m set in a dark, cliff-walled cirque in the Idrijca valley south of Idrija. The FFS fiche describes it as a protected natural site that remains freely accessible to visitors.

At the bottom of a cobble slope cluttered with tree trunks, the flooded gallery begins at about 15 m. The conduit, of tectonic origin, descends through a chaotic gallery to about 60 m, where a terminal shaft bends into an inclined tube that divers have followed to 160 m.

Slovenian divers explored the cave in stages from 1957, reaching 38 m in 1969, 50 m in 1972 and 83 m in 1981. Tomo Vrhovec passed 100 m in 1995 and reached about 135 m in 2000; Olivier Isler reached 122 m in 1996; and the Italian diver Luigi Casati reached 160 m about 450 m from the entrance, with eight hours of decompression in very cold water. Three divers have died in the spring according to a report quoted on the fiche.

The fiche states that, following these fatal accidents, dives in the spring are now prohibited. Water temperature is given as about 6 to 7 °C, and divers have reported poor visibility.

A powerful spring draining depressions on the higher massifs to the south; the FFS fiche mentions a reported hydrological link with the Postojna region.

One of Slovenia's best-known deep karst springs and a site of deep exploration dives since 1957.

Very cold water; poor visibility reported by explorers (about 3 m on one 1996 dive).

نطاقات اعتيادية من مصادر منشورة، لا ظروف آنية.

One entrance, the spring lake.