Lake Vlasina

Lake Vlasina, 12 kilometers long and 35 meters deep, is located on the Vlasina plateau, at 1,213 meters above sea level. It is an artificial lake created after the construction of a dam in the 1950s, on the site where there used to be a large bogland. Every minute, two cubic meters of best quality water from the rivers flow into the lake - Vlasina, Vrla, Jerma, Božička river, Lisinska river, Strvna, Čemerčica, with about their 110 tributaries, making the lake is rich in various fish species, mostly catfish, carp, perch and trout. There are two islands on the lake - Stratoria (which was there even before the construction of the lake) and Dugi del (which used to be a peninsula). However, the biggest attraction are the ""floating islands"" - parts of the mainland that change their position and ""float"" on the lake unattached to the bottom. The lake is surrounded by the mountains Čemernik and Vardenik. The whole area is dotted with vast meadows, pastures, forests and streams, between which there are small settlements. The flora of Vlasina (956 species) is characterized by the presence of characteristic peat plants, some of which are endemic. The rich the avifauna consists of 125 registered species. The mammals are represented by 27 species: some of which are rare and endangered species – lesser mole-rat, wolves and others. Before the construction of the lake, it was a swamp that looked like an endless lush meadow in which horses, sheep and even the enemy army used to disappear. Thus, in the First World War, an entire Bulgarian cavalry regiment disappeared in the mud. Such a mystical decline of the army and cattle was the reason to invent the legend of an unusual giant water monster. According to the myth of the water monster, which disappeared after the construction of the earth dam, the lake was ruled by a monster that looked like a giant horse. Nobody knows when the story was invented, but all of the older people knew ""with certainty"" the place where this monster was. They say that it came out to the shores and devoured horses and herds of cattle. The inhabitants even undertook real crusades to destroy the monster. It was rumored that the incredible monster had lived there for centuries, presumably arriving from another planet, or that God had sent it to punish the evil. However, most people thought that it was a giant proto-animal. It was said that it had the magical power to quickly pick up the cattle that graze around the lake, eat it, and satisfy its hunger for several days. People believed that the appearance of the monster - in this version - a bull, heralded victories. The legend has it that the water bull appeared several times - always when the Serbs expelled the opponents from their country. During the liberation of Serbia from the Turks, the bull appeared. On the eve of the First and Second World Wars, it roared so hard that everything shook, and the water seemed to be boiling.