Tara National Park: the back story

About Tara National Park: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Belgrade Editorial Team

Tara is a place of deep forests and deep history. A botanist found a new species of tree here in the 19th century, a medieval monastery in its foothills kept the Serbian written word alive, a great dam turned the Drina into a lake, and a group of young swimmers built a tiny house on a rock that is now one of the most famous sights in Serbia.

A plateau above the Drina

Tara is a high, forested mountain plateau in the far west of Serbia, wrapped on three sides by a great bend of the Drina river, which here runs through a deep canyon along the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its forests of spruce, fir, pine and beech are among the best preserved in Europe, and in 1981 about 250 square kilometres of the mountain were protected as Tara National Park.

A tree found nowhere else

In 1875, the botanist Josif Pančić, exploring near the village of Zaovine, identified a slender, elegant spruce that was new to science. The Serbian spruce, Picea omorika, grows naturally only in a small area along the middle Drina, clinging to steep limestone slopes, and is thought to be a survivor from before the last Ice Age. Today it is planted in parks and gardens all over the world, but the wild trees on Tara remain its true home.

Tara is a place of deep forests and deep history.

Bears, chamois and wild forests

Tara’s forests are home to brown bears, chamois, deer and many birds of prey, and the park is one of the most important refuges for wildlife in Serbia. Visitors rarely see the bears, but signs of them are everywhere, and walking the quiet forest roads at dawn, with mist rising from the valleys, is one of the great experiences of the park.

A lake in the canyon

In the 1960s, a hydroelectric dam was built on the Drina near Perućac, and in 1966 the water rose to form Lake Perućac, a long, emerald lake that fills the canyon below the cliffs of Tara. The viewpoint at Banjska Stena looks straight down onto it, and boat trips run along the canyon from the dam, between walls of rock and forest.

The scribes of Rača

In the foothills near Bajina Bašta stands Rača Monastery, founded in the late 13th century by King Stefan Dragutin. During centuries of Ottoman rule, its monks became famous as scribes, copying and preserving books by hand, and the monastery is honoured as one of the guardians of the Serbian written tradition. The quiet church in its wooded valley is well worth a visit on the way to the park.

The house on a rock

In 1968, a group of young men from Bajina Bašta who loved swimming in the Drina built a small wooden hut on a rock in the middle of the river, as a place to rest. Floods have swept it away more than once, but each time it has been rebuilt, and the House on the Drina has become one of the most photographed places in Serbia, appearing in magazines and travel lists around the world.

Our advice: base yourself at Kaluđerske Bare or Mitrovac in the park, or in Bajina Bašta below, and allow at least two days: one for the viewpoints and forest walks, one for the lake, Rača Monastery and the House on the Drina. Bring good shoes and food for the day, as shops are few, and never approach wildlife.

Tara through the years

Dates from the national park, monastery and local histories.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Tara National Park: the back story before you go.