Photo: Stebunik · CC BY-SA 3.0
Photo: ZoranCvetkovic · CC BY-SA 3.0
Slano Kopovo is a saline lake and special nature reserve in the Banat, 5–7 km from Novi Bečej, on the floodplain between the Tisa and the Galacka. One of the last preserved salt marshes in Vojvodina, it is a Ramsar site and one of Serbia’s most important bird habitats.
How it formed
The lake is an old meander of the Tisa, cut off as the river shifted course and made salty by salt springs. Water returns in late autumn and stays through winter and early spring. In the warm, dry months it evaporates, leaving a cracked, whitish crust of salt several centimetres thick on the floor of the basin. Climate change and intensive farming have upset this cycle, and the lake is under threat.
History
The area became a special nature reserve in 2001.
Nature
Tens of thousands of common cranes stop here on the autumn migration, along with geese such as white-fronted, red-breasted and greylag. Whooper and Bewick’s swans and ducks come in winter, and the nesting birds are more typical of Pontic-Caspian salt steppes than of the Pannonian Plain. Glasswort and other salt-loving plants grow on the shore, and the globally threatened European ground squirrel lives here.
Gallery
Visit
Swimming
No reliable information
Tips
Visits must be announced to the reserve’s management, the Novi Bečej Hunting Association. You need a car: park near the main road on the north or south side and walk in, as driving on the dirt tracks around the lake is prohibited. Access is hard during and after rain, and boots are advisable in autumn and winter.
Autumn, with its cranes, and winter are the best times for birds, while dry summer months show off the salt crust. An unpaved circular path runs around the lake; walk it clockwise in the morning to keep the sun behind you, and bring a telescope. Ask the management about hides.
Nearby lakes
Show on map
Know Slano Kopovo well?
Suggest a beach, viewpoint, trail or amenity, or tell us if something has changed. We read every message.
Sources & data
- План управљања Специјални резерват природе Слано Копово 2011.–2020., Lovačko udruženje Novi Bečej (reserve manager), 2011
- Слано Копово – могући правци туристичког развоја, Гласник Српског географског друштва 88(4), 2008
- Ramsar Information Sheet: Slano Kopovo (site 1392), Ramsar Convention Secretariat (sheet compiled by the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, Novi Sad), 2003
- OpenStreetMap: Слано Копово (way 343266648), OpenStreetMap contributors
- Slano Kopovo Nature Reserve, Birdingplaces.eu
- Slano Kopovo: natural heritage of Serbia, Planplus
- Special Nature Reserve Slano Kopovo, Vojvodina Tourism
- Slano Kopovo soon open to tourists (2019), 021.rs