The international cave diving expedition Njemica 2024 was organised by Caving department of CMC St. Michael from Šibenik and Caving society Meandar from Tučepi and the Public Institution “Biokovo Nature Park”, GeoPark Biokovo-Imotska jezera (Croatia). Sponsors to the expedition were The Speleological Commission of the Croatian Mountaineering Association, Croatian Speleological Federation, The Union Internationale de Spéléologie, Fédération Spéléologique Européenne, Aventure Verticale, Scurion and SAC Ekstrem from Makarska. The leader of the biospeleological research is the Society for Research and Conservation of Croatian Natural Diversity ADIPA.

The expedition was held in period from August 4th to August 15th. During the 12 days of the expedition, over 60 cavers from eight countries of the world — Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Bulgaria, France, England, Uruguay, and Germany, gathered with the aim of reaching a depth of more than 1,000 meters, which would have made Njemica cave join the elite group of the five Croatian pits deeper than one thousand meters.

The expedtion could be devided in two main parts. The first part was the pre-expedtion where expedition leaders formed a diving team, transport team and base camp team. In the first part of the cave had to be equiped with ropes, anchor points, hot spots – bivouacs, enough stored food and the transport of more than 250 kilogram of diving equipment to a depth of -934 meters. The second part of the expedition started when the diving team entered the pit and lasted till the last part of the equipment was transported to the surface.

Despite not reaching the magical limit of 1,000 meters, the Njemica cave remains the deepest cave in Biokovo, a mountain that still wisely hides all it’s secrets. The new depth of Njemica is -982 meters.

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