This short hike of less than 1 km takes you to the Ochipala Cave.
We noticed the sign for the Ochipala (Ochipalska) Cave one day earlier, when doing some sightseeing in the area. However, it was getting late and we knew from experience that it would not be easy to find the cave. So I went back the next day and parked near the sign next to the road saying “Ochipala Cave 0.3 km”.
You would think that finding the cave within 300 m would be not that hard. However, this was the first and also the last signpost to the cave. I spend an hour walking around and looking for the cave before I gave up.
As a last shot I asked some locals when I was back at the asphalt road. They did not speak English but with my limited Macedonian vocabulary I told them that I was looking for the cave. The father told his son Daniel to go with me and so he did join me (initially quite reluctantly I think). We tried to talk a bit using Google Translate and I hope he started to enjoy it a little bit more.
It turned out I had come within 5 meters of the info panel for the cave when I was looking for it by myself! In my defense, it was completely overgrown! As expected by experience, the signpost at the asphalt road stating that the cave was 300 m away was wrong, the cave was almost 1 km from the asphalt road.
Even with the help of a local it was difficult to find the Ochipala Cave, but after quite some climbing around we finally found the cave. Look for the obvious rock formation in the picture!
The cave was pretty small and a bit disappointing after all the effort. But it was a nice adventure trying to find the Ochipala Cave.
The Ochipala cave has a narrow and high entrance and is home to bats, birds, insects, etc According to its shape and characteristics, this cave is geologically quite young, probably no older than 20-40 thousand years. It is interesting due to its location because in this part of Macedonia caves are a real rarity.
When we were back at the car, Daniel took me to another cave, or more something like a tunnel, next to the main road to Delchevo. I don’t know if this was man-made or natural, but it was full with hundreds of bats.
You could walk there from the start of the hike to the Ochipala Cave or if you go by car, park at the beginning of the dirt road where the 100 m trail to the tunnel starts. If you know is this is a natural cave or a man-made tunnel, please let me know!
You could combine a visit to the Ochipala Cave and the tunnel with:
- The village Grad with the Gradishte Fortress and the Konjska Dupka Cave
- Church of St Archangel Michael in the village Dramche
- Kiselica Cave
- Church of St Petka (12th century) near Selnik (The church is probably closed and therefore not worth the effort; we were told that the caretaker of the church lives in Delchevo). It should be possible to get to the Church of St Petka by foot from the Kiselica Cave; However, we went there by car via the asphalt road.
The GPS tack has been cleaned from all my fruitless attempts to find the cave and inverted to take you directly to the cave from the asphalt road. You can view and download the GPS track to the Ochipala Cave here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ochipala-cave-237576408 and the GPS track for the tunnel here: https://www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/ochipala-tunnel-237704354
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