Drina
The Drina is a long river in the Balkans, which forms a large portion of the border between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. It is the longest tributary of the Sava River and the longest karst river in the Dinaric Alps which belongs to the Danube River drainage basin.
The Drina originates from the confluence of the rivers Tara and Piva, in the glen between the slopes of the Maglić, Hum and Pivska Planina mountains, between the villages of Šćepan Polje, Montenegro and Hum, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Etymology
Its name is derived from the Roman name of the river which in turn is derived from Greek which is derived from the native name of Illyrian origin.Hydrological characteristics
The Drina is a very fast and cold alpine river, with a very high 175:346 meandering ratio, and relatively clean water, which has particularly intensive green coloration, a usual characteristic of most alpine rivers running through a karstic and flysch terrain made of limestone, underlying the area in which the river carved its bed.Its average depth is, the deepest being at Tijesno. On average, the Drina is wide, but it ranges from only at Tijesno to up to at Bajina Bašta and Ljubovija.
The drainage basin covers 19,570 square km, branching into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania. The Drina belongs to the Black Sea drainage basin.
Before it was regulated by several power stations, the Drina used to flood its valley. The most disastrous flood occurred in 1896, which destroyed the town of Ljubovija.
Origin
The Drina originates at the point of confluence of the rivers Tara and Piva, between the slopes of the Maglić, Hum and Pivska Planina mountains, and the villages of Šćepan Polje and Hum. At its origin, it flows west, then makes a long curve to the northeast, around the Maluša Mountain. From here it is northbound, in terms of general direction, for the rest of its journey toward the Sava. Here, in its headwaters, the Drina receives the Sutjeska River from the left.Length
The Drina is formed by the confluence of the Tara and the Piva rivers, both of which flow from Montenegro and converge on the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at Hum and Šćepan Polje villages. The total length of the Tara river is, of which are in Montenegro, while the final are in Bosnia and Herzegovina along which form the border between the two countries in several places. The Drina flows through Bosnia and Herzegovina northward for, of which is along the border of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and finally spills out into the Sava river near Bosanska Rača village in northeastern Bosnia and Herzegovina. Measured from the source of the Tara, its longer headwater, the Drina is long.Tributaries
Major left tributaries: Sutjeska, Bjelava, Bistrica, Kolunska rijeka, Osanica, Prača, Žepa, Drinjača, Kamenica, Sapna and Janja.Major right tributaries: Ćehotina, Janjina, Lim, Rzav, Kukal, Rogačica, Trešnjica, Ljuboviđa, Jadar and Lešnica.
Navigation
The river is no longer navigable, but along with the Tara it represents the main kayaking and rafting attraction in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.However, during history, small boat traffic on the Drina was quite developed. The earliest written sources of the Drina boats date from the early 17th century. Traversing through this area in the second half of the 17th century, Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi noted that people in the Drina valley cut tall oak trees and used their trunks to make boats, by hollowing them with primitive tools and controlled fire. This type of boat is called monoxyl or dugout canoe. He wrote that there were thousands of such boats at Zvornik, which navigated all the way to Belgrade, downstream the Drina and the Sava. Upstream from Zvornik, the boats did not navigate. Also, Foča has been the cradle of rafting, which was a peculiar side-effect of the development of industrial forestry and increased forest exploitation in the 19th century. Local loggers are known to have transported downed trees downstream, from as far upstream as the Upper Tara river around Mojkovac in Montenegro, all the way downstream to the mills in Foča, by creating rafts from a number of trunks and riding them navigating rapids and whitewater along the Tara canyon and Drina. rafts from explanation of local forests in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina since ancient times, known in the second half of the 19th century, when logs of felled forest, exploited by the Austro-Hungarians, were lowered along the Tara and Drina, all the way to the sawmill in Foča.
Geographical characteristic
Major settlements
On its path northward to the Semberija region on the Bosnian side, and Mačva on the Serbian, both part of a wider area of Posavina, where it meets with the Sava, the Drina river passes through Podrinje and number of settlements situated within the region: Foča, Ustikolina, Goražde, Ustiprača, Međeđa, Višegrad, Perućac, Bratunac, Ljubovija, Zvornik and Mali Zvornik, Loznica.Border river
The Drina flows between the mountains of Zvijezda and Sušica and it is flooded by the artificial Lake Perućac on the northern slopes of the Tara mountain, created by the Bajina Bašta power plant. The villages of Prohići and Osatica are located on the lake, as well as the ruins of the medieval town of Đurđevac. The river is dammed at the village of Perućac, where a strong well springs out from the Tara mountain, flowing into the Drina as a waterfall. In addition, the waters of Drina are used for several fish ponds for the rainbow trout spawning.The river continues to the villages of Peći, Dobrak, Skelani and Zaugline, reaching the town of Bajina Bašta. At the villages of Donja Crvica and Rogačica, the Drina makes a large turn, completely changing its direction from the northeast to the northwest. This distinct geographical feature forms the Osat and Ludmer regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are separated by the river from the Azbukovica part of the Podrinje region of Serbia.
Course
Upper Drina
From its point of origin, at Šćepan Polje and Hum, the Drina, after initial a couple of hundred meters of running westward around the Maluša mountain, starts its northward general direction flow for the rest of its journey toward the Sava. Here it flows through the villages of Kosman, Prijedjel, Dučeli, Čelikovo Polje, Kopilovi, Trbušće, Brod na Drini, until it reach a town of Foča. In this section the Drina receiving waters of the rivers of Sutjeska, Bjelava and Bistrica, from the left, while in Foča it gets replenished with a significant amount of waters from the Ćehotina, which flows from the right.Downstream from Foča, the Drina enters a wide valley, the -long Suhi Dol-Biserovina area between the southernmost slopes of the Jahorina mountains from the north and the Kovač mountains from the south. The villages of Zlatari, Jošanica, Ustikolina, Cvilin, Zebina Šuma, Osanica, Kolovarice, Vranići, Mravinjac, Biljin, Vitkovići and Zupčići are located in the valley, as well as the town of Goražde. The river receives the Kolunska Rijeka and the Osanica as tributaries from the left.
The Drina continues in the northern general direction, flowing close to the villages of Žuželo, Odžak, Kopači and Ustiprača, entering the long Međeđa gorge, carved between the Vučevica mountains from the south and the southern slopes of the Devetak mountains from the north. The narrowest part of the Međeđa gorge is Tijesno, the -long section of the gorge where the river is at its narrowest, but also at its deepest. In this section, it receives the Prača river from the left, and the Janjina and Lim rivers from the right. The villages of Trbosilje, Međeđa and Orahovci are located in the gorge, which is for the most part flooded by the artificial Višegrad lake, created by the Višegrad hydroelectric power plant.
Middle Drina
At the town of Višegrad, the Drina receives the Rzav River from the right and turns northwest at the Suva Gora mountain into the Klotjevac gorge. The gorge is long and up to 1 km deep, carved between the mountains of Bokšanica and Zvijezda. The villages of Sase, Resnik, Đurevići and Gornje Štitarevo lie in the gorge and the Kukal river flows into the Drina from the right. At the Slap village, the Drina receives the Žepa river from the right and turns sharply to the west, becoming a border river between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia near the village of Jagoštica.Flowing on the western slopes of the mountainous Azbukovica, the Drina passes next to the villages of Gvozdac, Okletac, Strmovo, Bačevci, Donje Košlje, Drlače, Vrhpolje, Donja Bukovica, Boljevići, Fakovići, Tegare, Sikirići and Voljevica, before it reaches the towns of Ljubovija in Serbia, the centre of the Azbukovica region, and Bratunac, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the centre of the Ludmer region. Here the Drina receives the right tributary of Ljuboviđa and continues between the mountains of Jagodnja and Boranja, and Glogova. After the ruins of the medieval town of Mikuljak and the villages of Mičići, Uzovnica, Crnča, Voljevci, Krasanovići, Dubravice, Polom and Zelinje, the Drina is flooded again, this time by the artificial Zvornik Lake, created by damming for the exploitation by the Zvornik Hydroelectric Power Station. The villages of Amajic, Culine, Sopotnik, Drinjača and Djevanje are located on the lake. This is also where the Drinjača river flows into the Drina from the left, flowing from the Bosnian region of Gornji Birač.
Lower Drina
After the dual town of Zvornik -Mali Zvornik, the Drina flows between the Bosnian mountain of Majevica and the Serbian mountain of Gučevo, and enters the Lower Podrinje region. For the rest of its flow after the village of Kozluk, it has no major settlements on the Bosnian side. On the Serbian side, the Drina passes next to the villages of Brasina and Rečane, the ruins of the medieval town of Koviljkin grad, the spa and town of Banja Koviljača, the industrial town and center of the Podrinje region, Loznica, and its largest suburb, Lozničko Polje.The Drina enters the confluence region of its course, the southern Pannonian plain, including the Serbian regions of Jadar and Iverak. This is where the rivers spills in many arms and flows, creating the largest flood plain in former Yugoslavia, which the river divides in half. The east side, Mačva, is in Serbia, and the west side, Semberija, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Drina spills over and meanders, forming shallows, islands and sandbars, before emptying into the Sava river between the Serbian village of Crna Bara and the Bosnian Bosanska Rača. The variability of the water flow and low altitude resulted in several course changes during history. The Drina previously flowed into the Sava river near Šabac, to the east of the present mouth.