S till unknown to many, deso- late,hiddenbetweentheVršac, TamišandDanubeplainsinthe southeastofVojvodina,liesthe Deliblato Sands, the European Sahara and the con- tinent’s only desert, as it is dubbed. Located just an hour’s drive from Belgrade, this largest area of sand in Europe, which covers about 300km², is named after the nearby village of Deliblato, which was set- tled during the Turkish Ottoman period. This unique natural phenomenon is said to have formed during the last Ice Age, when powerful winds carried sand from the Danube and surrounding rivers and deposited it on this long, spacious plateau in the south of the Banat district. If your travels bring you to this wild re- gion of Serbia, you will undoubtedly hear that the Deliblato Sands are actually the bed of the former Pannonian Sea. The freezing Košava wind, which during winter hits this areas at speeds of up to sev- eral hundred kilometres per hour, still shapes this wild area in its own way today. However, man has also got involved in this dance. End- less dunes, which once made it seem like this desert is not located close to the undulating Balkans, but rather somewhere in Africa, were
forested in the 19th century, during the peri- od of Austro-Hungarian rule, due to a concern that the winds would carry the sand away and overcome the fertile Vojvodina plain. And so, the sand is still there, though it is mostly hid- den under grass, low vegetation and bushes. And although you won’t see the real Saha- ra if you decide to familiarise yourself with Deli- blato Sands, that shouldn’t discourage you from visiting in any way. That’s because you are await- ed here by one of the last corners of true wil- derness in Europe. It wasn’t without reason that this timeless plain was used to shoot cult films “Who’s Singin’OverThere”and“Battle of Kosovo”. Apparently so desolate, this sandy area is actually a home to around 900 plant species, in- cluding 20 types of orchid. There grow the Ba- nat steppe peony, Pančić wormwood, rindera umbellata, fritillaria gracilis and some other ra- re species that can only be found in Deliblato Sands and nowhere else in Serbia. Here you will have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with many rare creatures – de- sert ants, lion ants, Banat falcons, eastern impe- rial eagles, lesser spotted eagles, steppe gerbils and steppe skunks – because, apart from in this sandy area, they are rarely found in our country and Europe. Endangered and small in number, they found refuge precisely in this area, which
Don’t seek any trace of civilisation here, you are awaited only by the raw force of nature in all its beauty Ne tražite ovde nikakvog traga civilizacije, dočekaće vas samo sirova sila prirode u svoj svojoj lepoti
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