Special formations of Bukk mountains are the caves. From all the more than 3500 caves of Hungary nearly 1100 can be found here. Here you can find the deepest cave of the country called Istvan-lapai (its depth is 253 metres); that is also the longest cave of Bukk with its six and a half kilometres length. Caves were formed by the work of water in the mountains built by limestone. Most of them developed as the effects of the seeping rain, but some of them are formed by the spouting hot water (Miskolctapolca). As the rain falling at the platean through the burstings and gullies it seeps at the depth, and through many centuries and thousand years it creates wide and narrow channels in the stone. The water running through the cave-systems comes into the daylight again as abovnding spring waters at the edges of the mountain. (Spring-Szalajka, Spring-Szikla, Spring-Garadna, Spring-Vorosko etc.)
The caves of Bukk are usually storeyed cave-systems. Since the area of the mountain is still rising nowadays, the water running through the caves is making newer and newer lower channels, while on the upper channels that are getting dryer the formation of dripstone can be possible as the results of the rain seeping through rocks. The big caves with wide entries situated at the sides of the valleys are the connections between the outside wored and the old cave-systems. On connection with these the archeological, prehistorical memories are the determinant in the first place. Here were found those archeological finds (the worlds eldest whistle, bone ornaments, arrow heads) that were the reasons of the starting of the first hungarian cave and cavemen researchs initiated by Otto Herman and Ied by Ottokar Kadic. The culture of our ancestors lived at Istallos-ko and Pes-ko are called aurignacian culture because of the similar finds found in France. At the same time when our ancestors lived another culture had been blossoming called Seleta at the other side of the mountain, near Lillafured (for example Cave-Seleta.)
On the basis of the laws of environmental protection all the hungarian caves are protected („ex lege”) without any special command. Protection including the entrances of caves, channels, the stones surrounding caves, all inner formations and living world. From the caves found in Bukk 54 caves are situated in extremely protected areas where it is forbidden to leave the signed route that is why their visit is only possible according to prearrangerments with the competents of the National Park. This authority also carries out the correct location and supervision of caves.
Important warning! Caving is just allowed with the supervision of an experienced leader and appropriate equipments because of the possible dangers in caves and limitations. Dont try to climb in caves seem to be easy alone!
