Visit Jaskinia Koralowa (Coral Cave), Sokole Mountains, Poland

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Jaskinia Koralowa (Coral Cave) is a cave in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland. It is located on the Pustelnica hill in the Sokole Góry reserve in the town of Olsztyn in the Silesian Voivodeship , in the Częstochowa district. It is one of the most interesting caves in the Jura, it is quite long and has varied corridors. Its name comes from the coral dripstones that used to appear there – unfortunately, they were destroyed by spar seekers. From the car park at the Sokole Góry nature reserve, a tourist trail and an educational path lead to the cave. The cave's entrance is located in a crater under a beech tree and is fenced with poles. Visiting the cave is prohibited, and requires specialist equipment and skills in using it. The horizontal, triangular opening of the cave has a diameter of 1.5 m, under it there is a well 20 m deep, at its bottom the Entrance Hall 14 m wide and up to 5 m high. In its ceiling there are whirlpools, the floor is covered with limestone rubble mixed with clay and rotten branches and tree trunks that fell through the well. In the western wall of the Entrance Hall and in the ceiling there are several meters long corridors and the Hall above the Threshold. From the northern part of the Entrance Hall there is a passage to the Gothic Hall. Its lowest place was formerly a ponor, now there is a 9 m deep well excavated by cavers here. At a height of 2 m in the Gothic Hall there is a terrace leading to the War – its upper floor. Next to a small window called the Eye of the Needle there is a very narrow passage to a small hall with stalactites. At the ceiling of the Gothic Hall, a 20 m long corridor begins , ending above a 6 m high threshold, which is the beginning of the MGG Hall, with a bottom covered with large rocks. Between them, there is a 5 m long well leading to the final parts of the War. This part of the cave is difficult to access, which is why such forms of calcite dripstones as dripstone ribs , stalactites and woolly dripstones have been preserved in it . In the final part of the MGG hall, there is a small chamber, 4 m long, 2 m wide and 0.8 m high, with numerous dripstones, including spherulitic stalactites. From the western end of the Gothic Hall, a corridor with smoothed walls, called the Pipe or Inclined Corridor, runs steeply up. It leads to the upper chamber, called the Zawałskowa Hall. Kazimierz Kowalski wrote about it: "elongated towards the NW, extensive, although quite low. The ceiling is uneven, with traces of falling boulders, the bottom covered with rock blocks. Right at the entrance, a blind branch rises to the right, ending with a chimney. This chimney, blocked by boulders, must connect with the surface through cracks, because you can feel the air current entering the cave, while the rest of it has completely calm air. Tree roots are also visible here. Under the branch, a cone of rubble, sand and clay. The most beautiful part of the cave is the final corridor (Coral Corridor – JZ), quite low, running NW from the end of the hall. In its ceiling, you can see hanging black tree roots, here and there connected by a soft and porous, necrotic dripstone. At the bottom, stalagmites and shells also made of white dripstone. In several places, characteristic dripstones in the shape of corals can be found...”

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