Nature
Mamutowa Cave in the Kluczwody Valley near Wierzchowie owes its name to a mammoth tusk found inside. Its huge arch-shaped opening can be seen from the steep south-western slopes of the Berdo hill in the Olkusz Upland.
Behind the arch-shaped portal opens a spacious entrance chamber, from which a few narrow passages lead off. The cave is 105 metres long in total. On the walls before the entrance there are large scouring potholes — traces of flowing water that shaped the cave in Late Jurassic limestones. In 1992 a small side chamber with dripstone formations was discovered at the end of one of the passages.
In the north-eastern passage the walls bear characteristic polish — probably traces of Pleistocene animals rubbing against them, thousands of years ago. It is finds like these, together with the mammoth tusk, that earned the cave its place in the palaeontological literature of the region.
The cave is not developed as a tourist route — you enter at your own risk, with a torch, on wet and slippery ground. The easiest approach is along the red trail through the Kluczwody Valley from Wierzchowie; the entrance is clearly visible from below and well marked.
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