Vrtare Male

Vrtare Male is a small but scientifically significant pit cave located right next to Dramalj, a seaside village near Crikvenica on Croatia's Kvarner coast. This karst shaft plunges roughly 39 metres, with its lower section filled with water — and that submerged floor has yielded one of the region's most remarkable collections of Ice Age fossils.

How do you get there?

The cave sits in the karst terrain around Dramalj, part of a cluster of sinkholes that also includes the neighbouring caves Vrtare Vele and Vrtare Nove. This is classic Kvarner karst landscape: limestone hills riddled with pits and dolines. Because Vrtare Male is a protected natural monument and a vertical, partly flooded shaft, it isn't a show cave with walkways and lighting — access is essentially limited to trained speleologists with proper caving equipment.

What's inside the cave?

Vrtare Male was first explored in 1966 by a group of speleologists from the Velebit mountaineering and caving society. A turning point came in the mid-1990s, when Dragan Pelić, a photographer and speleologist from nearby Crikvenica, descended into the shaft and discovered a rare decapod crustacean specimen. The find was confirmed by Croatian speleologist Branko Jalžić, who went on to catalogue numerous fossil remains recovered from the flooded bottom of the cave.

The cave is also home to unusual eyeless, colourless freshwater shrimp — stygobionts endemic to the Dinaric karst, fully adapted to life in permanent underground darkness.

The most striking chapter of Vrtare Male's story, however, is its paleontology. In 2007, the Croatian Natural History Museum organised an expedition led by Branko Jalžić, which recovered the remains of Pleistocene megafauna from the submerged cave floor: a cave lion — one of the largest specimens ever found — a southern mammoth, a cave bear, Merck's rhinoceros, a steppe bison, wolves, and extinct relatives of the fallow deer and the horse. These finds were exhibited in 2009 and 2010 at the Crikvenica City Museum and the Croatian Natural History Museum. A follow-up expedition in 2011 extended the search to the neighbouring caves Vrtare Vele and Vrtare Nove, recovering a total of 184 Pleistocene fossils, now held by the Crikvenica City Museum.

Given the scientific importance of these discoveries, the cave has been formally protected since 2005, with a protected area of around 310 square metres. Vrtare Male is listed in Croatia's National Ecological Network and forms part of the EU's Natura 2000 network, and in 2009 it was officially declared a geological-paleontological natural monument.

When should you visit?

The Dramalj and Crikvenica area is best visited from late spring to early autumn, when the weather suits both a stay on the Adriatic coast and excursions inland across the karst hills. The cave itself, being a protected and hard-to-access site, has no real tourist season — its appeal lies with geology and natural history enthusiasts rather than travellers looking for a classic sightseeing stop.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit Vrtare Male cave? It isn't a show cave — it's a protected, partly flooded karst shaft accessible mainly to trained speleologists. There are no walkways or lighting for casual visitors.

What was found inside the cave? Expeditions in 2007 and 2011 recovered Pleistocene megafauna remains, including a cave lion, southern mammoth, cave bear, rhinoceros and steppe bison, along with rare eyeless freshwater shrimp living in the cave's waters.

Where exactly is Vrtare Male located? Near Dramalj, a seaside village close to Crikvenica on Croatia's Kvarner coast, next to the caves Vrtare Vele and Vrtare Nove.

Why is the cave protected? It has been protected since 2005 due to its unique fossil finds and endemic aquatic fauna, and since 2009 it has held the formal status of a geological-paleontological natural monument within the Natura 2000 network.