Pletvar to Kozjak Peak and Duova Cave

See https://mymacedoniablog.wordpress.com/ for more info about sightseeing and hiking in Macedonia

Warning: There is a steep part about 5 km into the hike with a lot of gravel and loose stones which especially during the descent on the way back may be tricky. Good shoes and hiking sticks are recommended. Also the path to the caves is very steep and is much safer with hiking sticks. With steep I mean grade 40-50%. This was for me the reason to rate this hike as “very difficult” to make people aware of this.

This hike is a bit over 12 km km with 900 m ascent, starts in the village Pletvar and takes you to the Kozjak Peak (1747 m) and two caves, among which the Duova Cave with a spring inside.

There is plenty of parking space on the field where the hike starts. You will pass a Second World War Monument right after the start of the hike. The first part is on a small forest trail.

After 2.5 km there is a small Chapel dedicated to St George and a spring.

The trail is pretty easy going, there was high grass in August 2023 and fields with ferns but it was not too overgrown and easy to follow.

You can clearly see the white marble mines near Prilep in the distance.

As mentioned in the warning, after about 5 km there is a steep part that may be a bit challenging on the way down due to loose gravel.

The last part to the Kozjak peak is also quite some climbing but easier to walk.

The Kozjak Peak is easily recognized because of the large disco ball on top of it!

I knew about the existence of the two caves just below the peak and I thought I had loaded the GPS track to the caves on my Garmin GPS, but apparently I had not. Although I could see one of the caves from the peak, it was unclear to me how to get there, as there was a steep ravine. Luckily I had a signal on my phone and could find Radojko’s trail to the caves (https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/duova-pesterakozjak-33910622#). Because it still was difficult to find the caves, I became a premium Wikiloc member on top of the Kozjak peak in order to be able to use the Wikiloc app to navigate to the caves!

With the Wikiloc navigation it was easy to find the caves, but still challenging to get to them because of the steep descent and the steep slopes below.

The first cave is rather shallow and there’s not much to explore. There was some broken pottery/ceramics, as well as a curious frog.

In contrast, the second cave which is called Duova Peshtera (cave) is large with interesting structures. There is lot of broken pottery in the cave, but some of the ceramics are still almost intact. I have no idea if these ceramics are old and why they exactly have been left in the cave. But the Duova Voda spring in the back of the cave may be the answer. The ceramics may have been used to collect water from the spring? I’ve contacted the museum in Prilep by email about the ceramics but never heard back from them.

On Wikipedia the following can be read about the cave (translated with Google)

https://mk.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D1%83%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0

“Duovata Peshtera is located on the south-eastern side, immediately below the Kozjak peak of the Babuna mountain. It is located on the right side of a karst dry land, immediately below the Kozjak peak at an altitude of 1670 meters. It is formed in calcite marbles. It is distinguished by a total length of 81 meters, and the basins in the form of balls stand out from the few decorations. The cave was investigated by PSK Zlatovrv from Prilep on April 9, 2006.

Inside the cave there is a spring called Duova Voda, whose waters the surrounding population believes to be healing, which is why there is a custom to visit the spring on Dukhovden/Duovden (meaning “Pentecost”, the day of the descent of the Holy Spirit), which is why the water itself and the cave are called Duova. In the immediate vicinity of the spring there are several clay vessels and bottles, and in the spring itself there are also a large number of coins.”

Note that the cave is deep and that you need a good flashlight/headlight if you want to reach the spring at the end of the cave. Also, be careful because it is very slippery in the cave which I found out the hard way…I slipped while trying to making a picture, made a weird movement while trying to find my balance and teared a hamstring. The way back to Pletvar therefore was quite painful but this marvelous cave was worth it!

After the cave you can of course descent via the same trail back to Pletvar, or do the last 3 km via another trail for some more variation. I can recommend the latter option as it passes the Studenec Spring/Fountain (Cesma Studenec) and the Church of St Cosmas and Damian from 1862 on your way back to Pletvar. The church was closed. This trail was in good condition as well.

This was a very enjoyable hike to a peak with good views and one very cool cave with a spring. It gets 4.5 out of 5 stars.