Uvac

The Uvac ( sr-cyrl, Увац) is an international trans-boundary river, rising under Golija mountain and Pešter plateau, then flowing through southwestern Serbia and cross into eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina where, after 115 km, it finally meets the Lim river from the right, however, before it empties into the Lim, for a 10 kilometers Uvac forms the border between two countries. Also, while meandering through Serbia, Uvac loosely makes the northern border of the Raška region, too.

Upper course

The Uvac originates at the Pešter plateau from the Ozren and Ninaja mountains, as ''Rasanska reka'' (Cyrillic: ''Расанска река''). The stream curves around the Ninaja and Pometenik mountains, next to the villages of Tuzinje, Rasno, Dragojloviće and Gradac, where it meets ''Brnjička reka'' (Cyrillic: ''Брњичка река''), enters the Sjenica depression and continues on the western border of the plain while receiving the right tributary Vapa (Cyrillic: ''Вапа'') in the northern end.

''Vapa'' is 25 kilometers long and drains an area of 496 km². It passes next to the villages of Gornja Vapa, Donja Vapa, Čedovo and Krstac, where it empties from the right into the shorter river Uvac.

Lower course

The Uvac continues to the northwest, enters the Stari Vlah region where it flows in a deep, canyon-like valley, where it receives the ''Kladnica'' river from the right and generates much power, which is used for three powerful hydroelectric power stations, each one with big artificial lake: ''Bistrica'' with Lake Radoinja, '' Kokin Brod'' with Zlatar Lake (7,3 km², altitude 400 m, depth 40 m) and ''Sjenica'' with Lake Sjenica.

In the lowest part of its course, the Uvac flows between the Zlatar and Zlatibor mountains, next to the villages of Kokin Brod and Radoinja until it reaches the Bosnian border and Varda mountain, makes a sharp, elbow turn to the south and after a short flow next to the villages of Bjelušine and Uvac (both on Bosnian side), the Uvac empties into the Lim, north of the city of Priboj.

The Uvac drains an area of 1,596 km², belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin, and it is not navigable. Its average discharge at the mouth is 18 m³/s.

The river is famous for its gorge, ''Kanjon Uvca'', the thriving colony of reintroduced griffon vultures and the Uvac Special Nature Reserve, protected since 1971. The river meanders wildly: though long, the straight line from the river's source to its mouth is only .

References

Sources

* ''Mala Prosvetina Enciklopedija'', Third edition (1985); Prosveta;
* Jovan Đ. Marković (1990): ''Enciklopedijski geografski leksikon Jugoslavije''; Svjetlost-Sarajevo;

External links

Uvac Special Nature Reserve

Rivers of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Rivers of Serbia
Nature reserves in Serbia

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