The cave complex at Pemonia in Apokoronas has been the subject of intensive exploration in the last few years. Starting in 2022 and 2023, a Greek-only expedition of 40 speleologists from 12 different clubs took part in initial explorations, which were followed by a main expedition in 2024, assembling 35 speleologists from 8 countries.

A full report of the 2024 expedition, in English and Greek, has been published and can be found on Google Drive (link below). The preamble to the report describes the location of the caves as follows:

“‘Gourgouthakas’ (LOC1) and ‘Liontari’ (LOC21) caves are located in the area of Atzines or Atzinolakas, on the northern side of the Lefka Mountains in the Chania Prefecture of Crete, approximately 2 km east of the summit Agio Pneuma (2262 m). Its entrance is at an elevation of 1550 m, while the wider area falls within the boundaries of the community of Pemonia, with access through the community of Melidoni. Both communities belong to the Municipal Unit of Fres, within the Municipality of Apokoronas.

“The wider area of Atzinolakas is of great speleological interest since, apart from ‘Gourgouthakas’ and ‘Liontari’ there is a multitude of other caves, such as the significant ‘Mavro Skiadi’ (-342 m)—one of the deepest vertical pits in the country, the ‘Keramos II’ (-390 m) with code LOC81, as well as Keramos (-156 m) with code LO23. Besides, more than 1500 caves have been recorded in the White Mountains – a remarkably high number relative to the mountain’s area.”

The 2025 expedition
This year another international expedition took place in the first two weeks of August, the initial results of which were presented last week to a large audience including the mayor of Apokoronas Haralambos Koukianakis in the precinct of the Church of the Dormition of Virgin at Pemonia. The following digest of the data presented at the event was published by Haniotika Nea on 15^th August:

Speleological exploration reveals the secrets of the Madara
Following their investigation of the caves of Gourgouthakas, Liontari and LCO81 in the Madara mountain range, speleologists who took part in this year’s expedition estimate that one of the biggest cave complexes in the country could be revealed by further exploration.

Presenting the results of the 14-day exploration of these caves near Pemonia, Apokoronas, the speleologist and doctor of Geology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Markos Vaxevanopoulous said:

“We found particular fissures at both Liontari and Gourgouthakas. There is a continuity from Liontari to Gourgouthakas which indicates the interconnection of the system. If the area is worked on it will become a gigantic ‘tree’, one of the biggest and deepest cave complexes. We could attract other teams to the site, so that it becomes a living speleological laboratory.”

Forty speleologists took part in the expedition, from Greece, the US, Croatia, Sheffield University in the UK, Serbia, Bosnia, Bulgaria and Ukraine. Explaining why Crete has such a large number of caves, Dr Vaxevanopoulous said, “Crete consists mainly (85%) of limestone and there is intense tectonic activity. It is the part of Greece which is nearest to the African Plate and Lefka Ori is rising at a very fast pace. This upward movement creates large perpendicular structures.”

The basic facts revealed by the expedition are as follows:

Liontari cave
– It is called “Liontari” because its entrance resembles a sculpture of a lion.
– The air which comes out of it is at a temperature of 6 degrees Celsius, which is why the speleologists have another name for it – the “fridge”.
– The entrance is very narrow for 40 to 50 metres.
– After 500 metres the cave takes the form of a gorge and there a camp was set up for 2-3 researchers, with a tent, stove and cooking utensils. A telephone line for communication was rigged up at this level.
– At a lower level there is a “river” with lots of water, which quadruples in volume when it rains. For this reason, when there was a little rain a few days ago, the researchers left the cave.
– The speleologists reached a depth of 750 metres; the aim next year is to go even deeper.

The cave of Gourgouthakas
– On its discovery in the 70s, there was not enough room for a person to enter, but a strong draught came out of it.
– A French expedition at the beginning of the 90s widened the entrance so that a person could enter.
– The first few metres are very narrow, and between 250 and 300 metres it closes sharply to form a “meander”.
– Afterwards the cave opens out greatly to form an enormous cavern.
– The camp was set up at 650 metres. This year it could comfortably accommodate 8 people, with a phone line and wi-fi for internet. Down to that point there was no water in the period in August when the descent was made.

– After the campsite a “gorge” begins with a constant stream of water. A chemical analysis of the water showed that it contains a little magnesium and calcium carbonate.
– The cave has large and impressive fissures and after 400 metres the rock consists of limestone slabs.
– Many microorganisms were found in Gourgouthakas. Quite a few of these were found to be endemic, i.e. they live only in the cave and nowhere else in the world.
– Water: 2,000 litres of water were brought into the cave from outside, plus there was a tank of 400 litres inside. 1600 litres were consumed for drinking water and cooking.
– Weather: the weather conditions were monitored so that the caves could be evacuated in the case of rain.

– A dive was carried out at 1,100 metres, for which intensive preparations had been carried out and equipment carried down. There was an unexpected development as two of the air bottles had leaks, with the result that the diver had only 10 minutes to carry out his dive.
“Vasilis (the diver) went in and we were anxious, but he came out again exactly on time. He went forward 80 metres and to a depth of 29 metres, That means that Gourgouthaka has a depth of 1,129 metres … and more. Dives to such a depth are rare anywhere in the world,” Dr Vaxevanopoulos said.

LOC81
At the same time team members from the UK explored the cave LOC81, which was pictured and mapped down to 405 metres.

Dr Vaxevanopoulous also reported on the safety measures observed by the team:
“We laid tremendous emphasis on safety. Everything was double and triple secured, as you can imagine what any accident would be like at that depth. These people (the cave explorers) literally give their lives.”

Thanks from the village
“Very many thanks to the speleologists who have brought attention to our caves, because there is no other way anyone could go down there,” said Maria Vatsaki, president of the Cultural Association of Pemonia, who supported the expedition along with the villagers.

“Thanks to the speleologists, we too are learning about parts of our locality which we could not know otherwise,” she said, adding that “we want to highlight such activities for our area. Not for the State itself to come and try and impose pylons on us when there are the means and the technology to remove even the ones which are there.”
(Haniotika Nea, 15/08/25)

A NeaTV video of the presentation of the results of the 2025 expedition can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohqkGXELsB4
The full report of the 2024 expedition can be found here: https://drive.google.com/.