Visočica or Visochitsa ( bg, Височица) is a river that passes through easternmost
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 ...
and westernmost
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, a right tributary of the
Temštica
Temštica ( sr, Темштица) or Temska is a river in Serbia, a right tributary of the river Nišava. The Temštica itself is not very long (23 km), but receives a much longer tributary, the Visočica (Височица), flowing from Bulg ...
. It belongs to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...
drainage basin. The name is a derivative of the Visok mountain (1588 m) in Serbia through which it passes; the word is Slavic, derived from ''visoko'' ("high"), in the feminine form.
Course
The river begins at a height of 1640 m in the
Berovo mountain, part of the
Balkan Mountains
The Balkan mountain range (, , known locally also as Stara planina) is a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe. The range is conventionally taken to begin at the peak of Vrashka Chuka on the border betw ...
, immediately east of the Serbia–Bulgaria border. The first kilometres are in river canyons (''klisuri''), and in the Bulgarian part (16,7 km long) the river receives several streams, the Kuratska, Krivi Potok, Gubeshka and Renovshtitsa. Near the village of
Komshtitsa it creates a sharp angle and turns west, flowing into the
Visok Valley, and after a few kilometres enters Serbia.
The river enters Serbia near the village of
Donji Krivodol. The Serbian part is ca. 54 km long. The river receives several streams and mountainous streamlets, of which the most notable are Rosomačka and Dojkinačka, ca. 40 km long. In this part, the river flows in a large basin, by several villages (
Rsovci,
Pakleštica,
Velika Lukanja
Velika Lukanja is a village in the municipality of Pirot, Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of th ...
,
Zavoj). Beneath Zavoj, at the place of Mrtvi Most, the Visočica flows into Temštica. In Serbia, the river forms the centre of the
Visok
Visok (Cyrillic: Висок) is a region in eastern Serbia and westernmost Bulgaria that lies between the main ranges of the Balkan Mountains and Vidlič Mountain. It is located from Pirot, and about from Belgrade.
Geography
The Visok regi ...
region.
A lavine in 1963 created the
Zavoj Lake
Zavoj Lake (Serbian language, Serbian: Завојско језеро, ''Zavojsko jezero'') is an artificial lake in eastern Serbia, on the Visočica River. It was created in 1963 after a major landslide which dammed the river and the natural dam w ...
.
References
Sources
*
External links
{{commons category, Visočica River
International rivers of Europe
Rivers of Serbia
Rivers of Bulgaria
Pirot District
Bulgaria–Serbia border
Landforms of Sofia Province