For years, people living near the Albanian-Greek border had little reason to suspect that an immense body of warm water lay concealed beneath the mountains around them. The landscape gave away only small hints. Steam drifted from fissures in the limestone. Mineral springs surfaced in scattered locations. Beneath those signs, though, an entirely separate world existed out of sight. Far below ground, in darkness untouched by daylight, a vast thermal lake had remained isolated for an unknown span of time. Its existence only became known after cave explorers followed clues hidden within the region's geology and descended into a system that had never been properly mapped. What they found has since been recognised as the largest underground thermal lake yet identified. It has since prompted renewed scientific interest in subterranean hydrology and questions about isolated ecosystems surviving deep underground environments observed.
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