By Nicolas Bard

How would you look for a walk on the outskirts of the earth, in a spooky cave with crystal clear, running waters and inexperienced stalactites? In Drama there is a cave that hides secrets for many centuries and live in 37 different species of animals, away from the sunlight …

About 25 kilometers northwest of Drama And very close to the Angitis settlement lies the magnificent Angitis Springs Cave. It is located north of the Drama hydrological basin, and is surrounded by the Mountains of Falakro, Menikio, Pangaio and a symbol. So far it is considered the largest river cave in our country, about 15 kilometers long, of which 12.5 have been mapped.

The peculiarity of this cave lies in the fact that the Angitis River passes through it. In addition, its rich decoration includes huge and impressive white and red stalactites, and the lighting that has been placed highlights their beauty. The cave is visited since 2001 at 500 meters in length, with a total of more than 12 kilometers in length. Also, the exit of the river through the mountain is extremely impressive, and magnetizes the looks and flash of visitors. In the underground river of the cave, among others, the waters of the Kato Nevrokopi basin.

The section of the cave that has been explored reaches 7,800 meters, including a total of 10,200 meters of galleries. Thus, it is the largest cave in Greece, as the well -known section is 5,278 meters in line. It is also the second largest cave in Greece, with the first being the cave of Diros. This cave is also known as “Mara”. The etymology of this particular word comes from either Arabic, which means “small cave” or from the Hebrew, which means “water from the mountain”.

A very small part of the cave, at the exit of the river, was known since antiquity. In fact, many archaeological finds have been found in the area, as well as a mammoth tusk, which are kept today at the Archaeological Museum of Drama. The cave also found unique species of fish, such as Briana and Tylinari at a depth of 6,500 meters, as well as a unique species of translucent Austropotamobius torrentium at a depth of 7,100 meters and other rare, transparent fish. Finally, it is worth noting that six species of micro-feature found in the cave became known for the first time in the international scientific community.