2026-11-18 · about 1 min read
A landscape built by water from both sides
The mountains flanking the Vjosa are largely limestone, and limestone is soluble: rainwater dissolves it slowly, opening sinkholes, caves and underground drains. That is why springs like the ones at Bënjë and Uji i Zi exist at all — surface rivers are only the visible half of the valley's hydrology.
AKT lists the Bënja thermal springs and the Këlcyrë spring among the area's attractions; the declaration's figure of over 1,100 animal species along the river corridor is a reminder that what happens underground resurfaces ecologically downstream.
Claims we keep out of the record
Cave counts, depths, prehistoric-use assertions and named grottoes circulate about these cliffs, but none appears in a primary source cited on this site, so none is printed here.
If a sourced inventory of the valley's caves is added to our records, this note is where it will be reflected.
Safety and bat protection
Wild caves are entered, where they are entered at all, with redundant light, head protection and caution about loose rock — and with the knowledge that caves shelter bat colonies that are sensitive to disturbance. Karst country rewards patience more than it rewards ambition.
Read next: where the water comes from
The springs this hydrology produces are in the Këlcyrë gorge note and Bënjë.