KLIMATIA 

ANTHROPOGRAVA CAVE

The Anthropograva cave is located in Klimatia, north of the hill Loukios, at an altitude of 270 metres. The cave is close to the road that leads to the Monastery of Agia Triada.

The entrance of the Anthropograva cave is 4 metres wide and approximately 2.50 metres high. Behind the entrance there is a descending corridor 7 metres long, 11 metres wide and 3 metres high. At the beginning of this descending corridor a 27 metres long and 20 metres width chamber opens up. The height reaches 2 to 0.5 metres. There are two large boulders in here which reach the roof of the cave.

Left-hand side of the cave:

The entire cave has a slope from left to right and a number of boulders rolled from left to right. The Anthropograva cave can be divided into a left and a right part. The left part of the cave up to the wall is full of small columns and stalagmites. In the center lots of boulders are located. The entire left part of the cave has a low ceiling. Up to 20 metres long the height varies from 1.5 to 0.8 metres. Further on it continues another 18 metres with a maximum height of 0.5 metre. Here it is very difficult to crawl between boulders, stalagmites and small columns. These obstacles make it difficult to determine the exact length of the left part of the cave. 

Right-hand side of the cave and the second level:

The right-hand side of the cave is the main chamber. Measured from the centre of the corridor it is 25 metres long and 21 metres wide. The height reaches 6.5 metres and on the far right there are large stalagmites. The largest of these is 2.50 metres high and resembles the Tower of Pisa. The wallls are the most richly decorated part of the cave. At this there are two sinks with a vertical drop of 4.5 metres which lead to a second, lower level in the cave. Τhe left part of the second level is connected to the right part of the left-hand side of the cave (the first level). In fact, it is a descending chamber with a very low ceiling, separated by rows of fallen rock dividing the cave into two levels.

Present and main entrance of the cave:

Speleologists have a great interest in the cave because the present entrance is not the main one - it was created by a roof fall. The rock separating it from the surface was not thick and so the wall collapsed and an entrance opened. The main entrance must have been located in the centre of the left-hand section judging the depressions in the ground above and to the left of the present cave entrance. The old entrance can be opened for tourist visits to the cave. 

Dimensions:

The cave covers an area of 1,390 square metres. The total surface of the cave is about 500 square metres.

Folklore and oral tradition:

There are stories about pirates and it is often said that the cave was used as a shelter.

It is said that during World World II the village was empty and a woman who was left behind told the Germans (out or revenge) that the villagers hid in the cave. The Germans killed all including the woman, with a flamethrower. 

Study of the cave:

The cave was studied and mapped in 1969. Research revealed pieces of archaic pottery, a Byzantine coin and sickles.

Flora & Fauna:

During a visit to the cave in 2017 and 2018 lots of cave crickets were spotted, none during the visit on August 28, 2019. Find more information about the cave cricket on Corfu here. Also a common toad (Bufo bufo spinosus) was spotted inside the cave (2017, 2018) and a dormouse (Glis glis) (2018).

During a visit to the cave in February 2019 about 250 possible Greater horseshoe bats were spotted on the bottom of the first floor of the cave. During a visit to the cave in August 2019, a few bats were spotted in the left hand side of the cave.

Cave record Hellenic Speleological Society ΑΣΜ ΕΣΕ 562. 

Literature:

Russo di C., Rampini M. & Cobolli M. The cave crickets of Greece: a contribution to the study of Southern Balkan Rhaphidophoridae diversity (Orthoptera), with the description of a new species of Troglophilus Krauss, 1879.  Biodiversity Journal, 2014, 5 (3): p. 397 - 420.

Θεοδώρου Γ. σε συνεργασία με Ρουσιάκη Σ., Κίρδη Σ., Λαμπροπούλου Γ., Υψηλάντη Ε., Δημητρακόπουλου Λ. και Πλέσσια Π., (2000) - Παρατηρήσεις σε σπήλαια της βόρειας Κέρκυρας, Δελτίο της Ελληνικής Σπηλαιολογικής Εταιρείας, τόμος 22, τεύχ. 1: σ. 71 - 84.   

Ιωάννου Ι. (1972) - Σπήλαιον Ανθροπόγραβα Κλιματιάς Κέρκυρας, Δελτίο της Ελληνικής Σπηλαιολογικής Εταιρείας, τόμος 11, τεύχ. 5 - 6: σ. 112 - 115. 

Μπουνιάς Ιωάννης, Κερκυραϊκά Ιστορία - Λαογραφία, τόμος Α΄, Αθήνα 1954, σ. 63.

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