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The only rival to the Colorado
River
"The jewel of
Europe", violent, clear and wild Tara is a huge water mass made from snow and rain.
 It belongs to the National park
‘Durmitor". It rises from the mountain range in the northern part of
the country and it flows 140km. It meets the Piva river and together
they make the Drina river, one of the longest and water-richest rivers in the Balkans. For centuries,
with its strength the Tara river has been hollowing out a soft limestone surface giving it
a sculptural form full of gorges, large rocks or chasms. Century-old earth erosion has
created 82km long canyon, the second largest canyon in the world after
the Grand Canyo of the Colorado. At some
places, it is up to 1300m deep. Its banks are steep, covered with a forest rising from the
canyon’s cold and depth.
 Only at some
places does the furious Tara give the impression of being a calm river. The rare places that
might be crossed are called fords. Near Bistrica, the Tara riverbed is so narrow that
local people used to jump across it when necessary. This unusual place is called Djavolje
lazi (Devil’s lanes).
Around the river, the vegetation is very dense: black pine, eastern
hornbeam, black ash, elm, linden, and in higher areas, above the rocks, one can see cork oaks,
hornbeams, maples, beeches. In the areas over than 1000m, fir and spruce forests can
be found. The black pine forests are of a special value. "Crna poda (Black
poda)" is the most valuable black pine forest with unusually high trees. Some trees
are almost 50m high and 400 years old.
Nowadays, the Tara canyon gathers all those who like adventure and
exciting contact with nature. Water attractions from the world’s famous amusement
parks are just a bad simulation
 of
the real excitement that is unavoidable while rafting along the Tara river. Besides
nature’s beauty, rafting almost along the
whole course will add to the excitement. The raft is made of logs and it is rowed by brave
and skilled people who used to transport timber in the lower course of the river in this
way.
One who gets up the courage will always remember the sun rising in the
canyon or the night when the only light was a narrow line of the star-studded sky and
swarm of fireflies. |
