Kožara ( Serbian

Cyrillic , bg, кирилица , mk, кирилица , russian: кириллица , sr, ћирилица, uk, кирилиця , fam1 = Egyptian hieroglyphs , fam2 = Proto-Sinaitic , fam3 = Phoenician , fam4 = G ...

: Кожара) is a river island (''ada'') in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

, located on the left bank of the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...

. It is part of the

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

City proper and belongs to the Belgrade's municipality of Palilula.

Location

Kožara is a triangularly shaped island, located in the

Banat Banat (, ; hu, Bánság; sr, Банат, Banat) is a geographical and historical region that straddles Central and Eastern Europe and which is currently divided among three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania (the counties of T ...

section of the municipality of Palilula between the Danube and the Jojkićev Dunavac canal, ending section of the

Vizelj The Vizelj ( sr, Визељ) is a short channeled river in north-central Serbia, the left tributary to the Danube. During its entire flow it runs through the suburban section of Belgrade, on the territory of municipality of Palilula. Course ...

stream in

Pančevački Rit Pančevački Rit ( sr-cyr, Панчевачки рит) is a small geographical area in south-western Banat, Serbia. It is situated between the rivers Danube and Tamiš, in Belgrade's municipality of Palilula. Features Its wetland was const ...

("Jojkić's Little Danube", named so after the former mayor of Belgrade, Đurica Jojkić).

Characteristics

The area of Kožara is around . The name means "leather island" in Serbian. The island is floodable, completely covered with forest and without permanent population. On the ''Jojkićev Dunavac's'' mouth into the Danube, across Kožara, a weekend-settlement of

Mika Alas Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

is located. There are several permanent elongated bogs on the island. It represents an

oasis In ecology, an oasis (; ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment'ksar''with its surrounding feeding source, the palm grove, within a relational and circulatory nomadic system.” The location of oases has been of critical imp ...

of undisturbed natural life even though it is only 600 meters away from the old core of Belgrade (the neighborhood of

Dorćol Dorćol ( sr-cyr, Дорћол; ) is an affluent urban neighborhood of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipality of Stari Grad. Located along the right bank of the Danube, Dorćol is oldest surviving neighborhood ...

, right across the Danube). Despite this, in 2005 Belgrade City government announced that Kožara is the most likely site of the future much enlarged semi-artificial island envisioned as the twin-island of the Veliko Ratno Ostrvo, also on the Danube, but some 800 meters to the southwest. Unlike Veliko Ratno Ostrvo which is protected by the law and any human interference is prohibited, future Kožara (probably with changed name; temporary name for the time being is Čaplja) is projected as the island- aqua park and major tourist attraction. However, as of August 2022 no work has begun on this project.

Protection

In June 2021, the city officially started the procedure of protecting the section of the Danube's left bank under the name of "Foreland on Danube's left bank at Belgrade", on roughly . Foreland refers to the land area between the embankment and the river, which is not protected from floods. The area will include Kožara, and the much wider marshland of Beljarica to the northwest. Parts will be in the second level of protection, where the activities and interventions to enhance and revitalize the area will be allowed, while the majority will be in the third level, where all potentially harmed activities will be forbidden.

References

Uninhabited islands of Serbia Neighborhoods of Belgrade Islands of the Danube River islands of Serbia Palilula, Belgrade {{BelgradeRS-geo-stub