Dutch speleologist and caver René van Vliet shows us a ΄varathro΄ (chasm)!

Entrance to 'Grava stu Bouzavieri' cave

On 29 April the Dutch speleologist and caver René van Vliet visited the 'Grava stu Bouzavieri' cave together with environmental specialist Yiannis Gasteratos. The cave, which is hidden in an olive grove in the village of Agii Deka, surpassed all his expectations.


Speleologist and caver René van Vliet examined the Grava stu Bouzavieri cave decoration.

The cave has a small entrance 1.5 metres below ground level and inside there is a narrow 7-metre long hole. The decoration of the main room in the cave is impressive and some parts of the walls have yellow powder-like crystals.


The ceiling is decorated in black, grey and yellow colours.

Inside the cave there are the remains of an old wooden bench and a rusty iron barrel, which are a serious threat to the flora and fauna of the cave.


Further down there are many large bones, probably from a donkey (photo: Yiannis Gasteratos).

At the end of the main room, there is an extraordinary but dangerous 'varathro' (chasm) with dry walls and stones that break off easily. The descent is difficult but the ascent is even harder. The chasm leads to the right under the floor of the cave. There is a passage leading to the left-hand side of the chasm at the end of which there are two large spaces - a tall space above the passage (the first floor) and a huge, deep space below floor level.


   The speleologist walked the passage from the right-hand side of the chasm to the left-hand side where it ends in two huge, deep chasms.

Some Corfu cave crickets (Dolichopoda steriotisi) were spotted in the cave but no bats.

More information about the caves of Corfu can be found on the Speleo Corfu website.

René van Vliet would like to thank all those who assisted him. "I was able to visit the cave thanks to the kind help of Yiannis Gasteratos, Theodoros Skalitis, Ioannis Loukas, CanyonZone, Rodcle  and Aventure Verticale."