At eastmost part of Croatia, north and south of the Zagreb-Lipovac highway, lies Spačva forest – the last remains of ancient Slavonian jungle. The forest’s name comes from the homonym river that runs through it. The forest is also cut through by streams of river Bosut and its confluences Studva, Virovi, Lubanj, Berava and Biđ. It outspreads over 40 000 ha and makes 1/5 of all Pedunculate (English) Oak forest in Croatia while is also among the biggest integral Pedunculate Oak forests in Europe!
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| river Studva |
Around this time last year, we went on a trip to Spačva to see for ourselves “what they got there”. Of course, the forest was not our only destination that day, but more ‘bout the other ones some other time.
What we have had in mind was a drive throughout the forest to see as much of it as possible (we picked up the south part of the forest, but unfortunately we saw less than planned due to the “flying” reasons (see below)). Although Spačva is cut through by dirt roads (good ones) and in theory is accessible to visitors, at the spot where we’ve entered the forest (south of Lipovac) a “no traffic” sign stands. Do I have to say that we’ve completely ignored it? But, in our defense, there wasn’t any sign at the spot where we’ve exit the forest, there’s even a wooden “entrance” with the village name written on it. At the end, it turned out that local people drive throughout the forest practically on daily basis so we failed to understand whether people are legally or illegally driving around. Famous Croatian contradictoriness.
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| the swamp |
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| river Studva |
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| a well |
So the two of us “set a course” through the forest. The nature is really beautiful there. What green color palette, from light green to completely dark one. From pure green to one crossing into blue. Uncountable species of field flowers. Harmony of nature in every possible way. We’ve also seen beautiful specimens of animal life like a doe (that was, unfortunately, too far away for any normal photo but was staring at us for quite some time till we decided it has been enough of watching and drove away), doe with a fawn standing in the middle of the road (but those two run away faster than we could turn on our cameras) and rather rare black stork that was so obliging and have done some nice posing for us.
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| black stork |
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| black stork |
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| flying black stork |
Unfortunately, besides lovely little animals, the forest was swarming with different beetles of all sizes, colors and shapes that would completely “lose their minds” when they would “smell” fresh warmblooded beings, meaning us. And what was even worse, bloodsucking beasts aka mosquitoes were present in such a large number, that we could talk billions! It was practically impossible to step out of the car. Most of the photographing was done this way: rub up with anti-mosquito wipe – lower the window – spray autan/off out of the car – click-click! – raise the window – death to mosquitoes in the car! – gangway! (through beasties). The usage of autan/off/dipterol (and who knows what else, there were many different bottles) could have been measured in hectoliters, and we’ve also used the entire package (large one) of some anti-mosquito wipes. Horrifying!
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| lil' canal and lil' bridge |
Besides driving around, we’ve also planned to visit castle Zvjezdan – a Wasserburg (water-castle) deep inside Spačva, by the banks of Studva. But, we gave up the idea: too many mosquitos, too much vegetation and too much mud for a normal approach.
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| river Studva by sport-fishing center |
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| Studva - detail |
While we were still searching for a possible path to the castle, we run into a sport-fishing center on Studva riverside.
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| river Studva by sport-fishing center |
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| sport-fishing center |
A nice, amiable group was gathered here and we were offered right away with some drinks and waffles and also instructed that the best way to reach castle Zvjezdan is by boat. They’ve even offered us a transport. But, due to the “flying” menace, we declined. The most interesting thing was that mosquitoes didn’t seem to care much for a “local food” – I mean, those people sit there all day long without being bitten (a bite or two I do not count)! And we were surrounded by a whole swarm the moment we stepped out of the car! Long sleeves (during high temperature), long pants, constant spraying with autan all over and around… didn’t help much. They were flying into our hair, eyes, mouth (if you opened them, for example, to say something) – T E R R O R!!! So we have, rather quickly, thanked our hosts for their hospitality and run away into the safeness of our car. And, as a natural follow-up, by the first possible way, out of Spačva in the direction of village Soljani.
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| Studva |
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| "exit" to village Soljani |
Conclusion: Spačva is a magnificent part of East Croatia as it once was. Definitely worth a visit to enjoy the wonderful span of green and beauty of the nature. It soothes the mind, really (when there’s no mosquitoes, of course :-D). BUT, avoid the period of mosquitoes, especially after the rain. If there hasn’t been for that flying pests, this trip would have been a completely different story (but we have no regrets! ;-) ).
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