Dona Duka Cave near Rashche
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 1.38 mi
- Elevation gain
- 289 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 289 ft
- Max elevation
- 1,422 ft
- TrailRank
- 32
- Min elevation
- 1,115 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- one hour 33 minutes
- Coordinates
- 201
- Uploaded
- August 17, 2021
- Recorded
- July 2021
near Rašče, Grad Skopje (Република Северна Македонија)
Viewed 281 times, downloaded 6 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
See https://mymacedoniablog.wordpress.com/ for more info about sightseeing and hiking in Macedonia
According to the scientific paper “Threats and actions to protect the cave Dona Duka” by Slavco Hristovski et al., the Dona Duka cave was the first (officially) explored cave in Macedonia in 1925. It’s remarkable how unknown this rather large and impressive cave nowadays is. At least I had not heard about it before I digitally stumbled upon it on the OpenStreetMap.
It’s just a one km walk and less than 90 m ascent from the central square of the village Rashche to the Dona Duka Cave. The village Rashche itself is about 30 min by car west of Skopje.
After a few minutes of looking around near the location of the cave on the digital map on the GPS device we found the entrance of the cave. I was pleasantly surprised by its size! The cool air inside the cave was very welcome because it was a hot day in July 2021.
Of course it is very dark inside the cave so make sure you take a good flashlight and/or headlights with you.
There are not a lot of decorations in the cave like stalagmites or stalactites, but there are at least two different levels that are easily accessible. There even was a wooden ladder placed to access one of the higher levels, but it looked rather slippery and dangerous. You probably cannot get lost in this cave but watch your steps especially if you are on the second level because there are some steep drops.
That a visit to this cave indeed may dangerous is illustrated in the picture above. The poor guy on the picture did not get out alive…
Opposite to the Dona Duka Cave is another cave, which appeared to be man-made.
According to the scientific paper “Threats and actions to protect the cave Dona Duka” by Slavco Hristovski et al., the Dona Duka cave was the first (officially) explored cave in Macedonia in 1925. It’s remarkable how unknown this rather large and impressive cave nowadays is. At least I had not heard about it before I digitally stumbled upon it on the OpenStreetMap.
It’s just a one km walk and less than 90 m ascent from the central square of the village Rashche to the Dona Duka Cave. The village Rashche itself is about 30 min by car west of Skopje.
After a few minutes of looking around near the location of the cave on the digital map on the GPS device we found the entrance of the cave. I was pleasantly surprised by its size! The cool air inside the cave was very welcome because it was a hot day in July 2021.
Of course it is very dark inside the cave so make sure you take a good flashlight and/or headlights with you.
There are not a lot of decorations in the cave like stalagmites or stalactites, but there are at least two different levels that are easily accessible. There even was a wooden ladder placed to access one of the higher levels, but it looked rather slippery and dangerous. You probably cannot get lost in this cave but watch your steps especially if you are on the second level because there are some steep drops.
That a visit to this cave indeed may dangerous is illustrated in the picture above. The poor guy on the picture did not get out alive…
Opposite to the Dona Duka Cave is another cave, which appeared to be man-made.
Waypoints
Cave
1,370 ft
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