Park Info

Not earlier than in 1981 was a national park announced on the massif of Tara, a mountain in central Podrinje in western Serbia. Having in mind that the first initiative came down in 1950, it is not quite clear why it took thirty years for the Parliament of the Republic of Serbia to make such a decision. Mt. Tara has got a global importance regarding its natural riches, which has been a familiar fact since a famous Serbian botanist Dr. Josif Pancic discovered the spruce (lat. picea omorica Pancic) on Tara in 1875.

The largest part of Tara including Kaludjerske bare, Ravna Tara, Crni vrh and Zvijezda with a part of the Drina canyon, belongs to Tara National Park with total surface 19200 hectares. This region stretches to the south-west from Bajina Basta, a small town where the head-office of the Public Enterprise “NP Tara” which manages the Park is located. Tara National Park is a symbol of a research in progress, expected to give the results of the greatest importance. It is supposed that the trias limestones on northern slopes of Tara used to be a shore of a spacious lake left behind the Pannonia Sea in the Tertiary period. After the Ice Age water alleviated a severe climate, being a shelter to the toughest prehistoric species. As a result the Pancic’s spruce and the Pancic’s grasshopper have survived till today, as well as some other living fossils carrying genetic messages from the ancient past.