Nature
Zaovine lake & the omorika forests
Tara · Šumadija & Western Serbia
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Nature
- COUNTRY
- Serbia
- REGION
- Tara · Šumadija & Western Serbia
- DURATION
- 2–3 days
ABOUT THIS ATTRACTION
Zaovine is the park’s secret lake: at 900 m, ringed by spruce and beech, made when a 1975 landslide dammed the Beli Rzav — the dam is now reinforced, the lake is deep and cold, and the forests around hold the world’s greatest stands of pančićeva omorika, the relict spruce found in the wild almost only here.
HISTORY & BACKGROUND
The story behind it
Pančić discovered the spruce in 1877 on this very slope — the botanical sensation of the century (a living Tertiary relict, a genus otherwise extinct in Europe). The 1975 landslide dammed the river; the lake was kept, and the omorika stands were the reason the park was proclaimed.
WHAT TO SEE
What to see here
The lake and its rings of spruce — the park’s botanical heart.
The omorika stands (signed trail from the dam).
The fishermen’s piers — the lake holds trout and grayling.
GOOD TO KNOW
Facts & Curiosities
Pančićeva omorika (Picea omorika) grows in the wild almost only on Tara — a Tertiary relict, “the living fossil conifer”.
The lake was born of a landslide in 1975 — nature made the dam; engineers only reinforced it.
The omorika seedlings sold at the park gates are grown from these forests — the mountain’s export.
Zaovine is the coldest swimming in the park — 18° even in August.
MAP & LOCATION
Zaovine lake & the omorika forests
Zaovine lake & the omorika forests, Tara, Šumadija & Western Serbia, Serbia
43.8870, 19.4460
THINGS TO DO
Things to do nearby
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Kaluđerske Bare’s mountain restaurants — grill, trout and the mountain honey
Bajina Bašta’s riverside kafanas on the Drina — fish from the river
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Kaluđerske Bare hotels and villas for the classic stay; village rooms in Perućac for the canyon side
Camping ZIP near Bajina Bašta (May–November) — the park’s verified campsite
ITINERARIES
Day-by-day routes
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
PART OF
Keep exploring
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