The word Katafiki means refuge in Greek, and this cave was one of
the important hideouts in Greece. It was a refuge to man for very
long, especially during the revolution. Although it is not as rich
in archaeological remains as nearby Alepotrypa, numerous remains of
prehistoric man were found, like human bones and blackened pottery
shards. Outstanding are the ancient footprints, the human bones and
the clay pot remains found here.
Katafygi has formed in marble limestone, and so the cave walls
sometimes look a little bit like a Greek temple. The layers are
slightly inclined, which gives the bay in front of the cave
entrance its typical face. The cave opens right above the sea, with
a nice view and a sort of marble courtyard in front, formed by a
single layer of marble.
The main entrance is about 500m south of Agios Dimitrios (3.5 km
south of Agios Nikolaos). The lower level of the cave is connects
the Drakos spring (which lies 450m southwest) to the sea. The main
cave goes southwest beneath the taygetos and ends in an loam filled
siphon. The upper level goes parallel to the coastline.
The System has different branches in three levels. The upper
branch and main entrance are "inactive vados" (dry, the forming of
the cave is complete), the part and the end of the cave "active
vados" (sometimes under water, completition of the cave is not done
yet). The lower level and the Drakos spring are "phreatic"
(completly filled with water).
The cave has only very few speleothems but those are really nice
including several rimstone pools, dogtoth spars, helictites and
botryoidal stalactites. Other sights are the troglobionts found in
the cave and a kind of sandbox, where visitors build all sorts of
sculpures of the sand.
The cave system was originally surveyed by the Petrocheilous for
about one kilometer length. After decades of research and many
diving efforts, the cave and the nearby Drakos Spring were
connected. This results in a total length of 3500m and makes the
cave the fourth longest cave in Greece [2005].
Please be very careful when visiting this place. When entering
the cave bring a good flashlight and appropriate clothes. Going
further than a hundert meters is not recommended! Also watch for
the arrows which show the way back!
To get there you can park your car next to the road, there are a
few parking bays. The entrance to the trail down is next to the
street (see waypoint)
There is also the possibility to go down through the apartment
village next to the road but please remind that this is private
property!
When you visit the cave you will see many broken stalagmits. Remind
the "Leave no trace"! If you venture deeper in the cave please
don't break the last remaining stalagmites so that other visitors
have the chance to see this wonderful things too.
Cave Classification
- Karst cave
- River cave
- Horizontal cave
- Cave system
- Secondary cave
- Large cave (< 5000m)
The katafygi cave is only one of many cave systems in the
taygetos mountains or the coastline in the mani. One hour south of
this cave there is the famous cave of Diros which is the largest
cave system in greece (>15km length). It is also worth a visit
but not freely accessible for it is a touristic highlight in the
mani and you will be charged for
To log this cache you must answer the following
questions:
- When was the first recorded exploration of the cave?
- What is the official name of the cave system?
- What is the average temperature inside the cave?
Log entries WITHOUT log permission will be deleted. Please
be fair even if you want to log the cache immediatly during your
holiday: Answer the question and wait for log permission.
Thanks
Please post also a picture of yourself or your GPS outside the
cave. If you are not afraid of entering the cave you can also take
a picture of yourself with the "white table" (which is about 20-30m
inside the cave).
