Vinatovača ( sr-cyr, Винатовача) is an old

beech Beech (''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia, and North America. Recent classifications recognize 10 to 13 species in two distinct subgenera, ''Engleriana'' and ''Fagus''. The ''Engle ...

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

in the central-east

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 ...

. It is the only

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

in Serbia, left undisturbed for several centuries. It is located in the municipality of

Despotovac Despotovac ( sr-cyr, Деспотовац) is a town and municipality located in the Pomoravlje District of central Serbia. It is 130 kilometers southeast of Belgrade. Its name stems from Despot, a title of Serbian medieval prince Stefan Lazarevi ...

and is placed under the state protection as the ''strict

natural reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

'', which covers an area of . Vinatovača is situated in the central

Kučaj mountains Kučaj ( sr, Кучај, ) is a mountain range in eastern Serbia. Its highest peak, ''Velika Tresta'' has an elevation of 1,284 meters above sea level. They belong to the Serbian extension of Carpathians, which separate the valleys of Great Morav ...

in the Upper Resava region, at an altitude between and . It is isolated and hard to reach which helped its preservation. It is believed that trees have not been cut in Vinatovača since c. 1650. Being under strict protection means not only that the trees that die of old age are not being cleared or removed, but even picking herbs or mushrooms is forbidden. It is considered as an example of what central and eastern Serbia's natural look is. Beech trees are up to tall and some specimens are estimated to be over 350 years old. The forest was one of the research locations in the "SERBHIWE" project of the

University of Belgrade The University of Belgrade ( sr, / ) is a public university in Serbia. It is the oldest and largest modern university in Serbia. Founded in 1808 as the Belgrade Higher School in revolutionary Serbia, by 1838 it merged with the Kragujevac-b ...

's Institute for Biological Research "Siniša Stanković". The scope of the project was to document habitats of wild honeybees in Serbia, in order to protect their

natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, living and non-living things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not Artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to the Earth or some parts of Earth. Th ...

and their

gene pool The gene pool is the set of all genes, or genetic information, in any population, usually of a particular species. Description A large gene pool indicates extensive genetic diversity, which is associated with robust populations that can surv ...

in order to preserve a dwindling population of domestic bees. Vinatovača proved to be a perfect habitat for the wild honeybees, which inhabit numerous hollow trunks. Several other localities rich in bees were documented, but Vinatovača was the largest. The rain forest is labeled as an "Eldorado" for biologists and geneticists, while

International Union of Forest Research Organizations The International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO) (french: Union Internationale des Instituts de Recherches Forestières, german: Internationaler Verband Forstlicher Forschungsanstalten, es, Unión Internacional de Institutos de ...

declared Vinatovača a "representative reserve" and a "European rarity".

References

External links

Photos of Vinatovačа
{{coord, 44.064985, N, 21.766722, E, region:RS_type, display=title,inline Protected areas of Serbia Forests of Serbia Nature reserves in Serbia Pomoravlje District Old-growth forests