Why did you two become Postojna Cave tour guides?

Kevin: As a local, I used to hear all these stories about Postojna Cave, and my friends who worked here as part of their student jobs always had interesting things to say about it. They were always talking about this guide Frenk. If you were a Postojna Cave guide, you were a hotshot. This was an iconic job. If you worked at Postojna Cave, you were considered part intellectual, part a weirdo, a bit special, definitely not stupid, and also very knowledgeable. This is still the case. As cave guides, we have a wide range of skills: we have a vast general knowledge, we speak several foreign languages, each of us is an expert in a particular field. Most of us are voracious readers and many of us have travelled a good part of the world.

Roman: And the so-called barbecues are probably one of the oldest cave guide traditions that we are still keeping alive. They include the ritual of initiation, a baptism. The older generations prepare various challenges for the guides-to-be, thus properly preparing them for the tour guide job. The initiation is followed by a swearing-in ceremony, which includes a signature.

Kevin: If being a soldier, or even a fireman, is not your thing, then becoming a Postojna Cave tour guide is the easiest way to be a man in uniform (laughter).

Who can become a Postojna Cave tour guide?

Kevin: Even in the old books, you can read that back in the day a cave guide could be summoned whenever a visitor wanted to visit Postojna Cave – even in the middle of the night. Today, this is no longer the case, but it’s a fact that being a cave guide is something unusual.

Roman: There are very few cave guides in Slovenia. And of all the Slovenian cave guides, 2/3 of us are employed at Postojna Cave. All the rest happens on a non-professional basis. It’s one of the rarest professions.

Kevin: There is a very small percentage of people in the world who have permanent jobs as cave guides. This is a very unique thing. It is important to be well-spoken. If you are introverted, this is not a job for you, you have to cope with chaotic situations. You have to like the cave and the people. You can be a real cave expert, the ultimate cave specialist, but if you don’t like people, you’re not a good fit for this job. 

You’ve both visited many of the world’s caves. Why is Postojna Cave ‘the one’?

Kevin: Postojna Cave is beautiful in itself, but the one thing that I find most thrilling is the fact that it’s one of the symbols of Slovenia, our best-known attraction. As cave guides, we actually represent Slovenia and our culture. Because there’s always something going on here. The whole world is here, and as a cave guide, you are at the centre of it. I don’t know any more popular locations in Slovenia. It’s always in the thick of the action, there’s never a dull moment. The cave is beautiful and what makes it the best place for me is the visitors’ enthusiasm when you show them around the cave and then they are happy about it for a whole month, a whole year.

Roman: From a caver’s point of view, the thing that fascinates me most about Postojna Cave is that such a huge cavernous space can exist under the surface of the earth. This cave is one of the largest caves in the world. With huge chambers. When you tell a visitor that we discover 500 caves a year, they love this. But most of them are between 10 and 100 metres long, which is actually the same as the length of our cave train. We have six trains on the track at the same time, with a 2-minute gap between individual ones, and it works. The cave keeps opening up. This is the most surprising factor.

And you’ve been inside the cave thousands of times! Do you ever get tired of it?

Roman: If there’s one thing caving has given me is a love for caves. I think people notice that I am very passionate about it. Every week I choose a favourite stalactite or stalagmite and show it to the visitors, using a bit of a personal approach. During a cave train ride, I sometimes decide to look only at the ceiling, some other time only to the left, and sometimes only to the right. And each time I find a new perspective. But you work as a guide – and in each tour group I try to find someone who is really interested in what I’m explaining to the group. And then I spread love and interest to others through this person.

Kevin: We get this question a lot, but interestingly enough, not all of us are cavers. Some of us are, but it’s not essential, because our profession is so unique.

Roman: Being a Postojna Cave tour guide is a one-of-a-kind job because the cave itself is one-of-a-kind. Sure, some days are hard, but I live for the moments when a visitor is interested in what I have to say. That’s what makes it all worth it. Someone is so excited that they glow with exhilaration at the end of their cave tour and these are the ones that stick in your mind. These are the visitors that make the cave guide job worthwhile.