Hiking in the desert in Serbia?
Yes but the desert is not natural. The desert in Pustinjac is the result of copper mining that takes place in the area. This is the reason why you have lots of trees and the Pek River Canyon nearby. A quick look at Google maps can give you an idea of why the area is a mixture of the Sahara and the Amazon rainforest very close together. In the end, hiking in the desert in Serbia is an interesting experience that we are going to show you here.
Table of Contents
The Hiking tour
A hiking tour on the Serbian Desert (Pustinjac) combined with Pek River Canyon. That was Emina’s proposal for the next adventure. No need to ask me twice, I took a quick look at both places and said “Let’s go!”.
This article describes our experience combining hiking and a little swimming in Pustinjac and the Pek river.
About the river Pek and Pustinjac
The Pek river rises on the right bank of the Danube river, located near the town of Veliko Gradište in the eastern part of Serbia. Pek continues southwards, moving towards Kučevo, curving eastwards towards the village of Debeli Lug, where a small branch, called Mali Pek, begins.
The Pustinjac sand is the result of years of gold and copper extraction in the region. A Chinese company called Zijin Cooper is occupying the site at this moment, mining copper in the area. A mix of company dust and deforestation is what you can see on the site. That’s why is recommended to cover up your face with a bandana or something similar.
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The desert in Serbia, Pustinjac
We headed towards a small parking lot where our walk would start. It was a very easy walk from there to Pustinjac. In the desert, we were walking around to check the view. Our tour guide warned us to cover our faces, the wind was blowing a bit strong that day.
Walking through the desert, you can easily see a large pipe above the sand from the extraction taking place. After walking around and taking some pictures, we headed towards the Pek river Canyon.
Hiking on the Canyon of the river Pek
Here is the highlight of our adventure! At first, we were told that we needed to swim a bit and that it would be nice to have a waterproof bag to protect our belongings. The tour guide told us that we would have to swim for 20-30 meters so we were mentally prepared for that.
Until now we were used to walking on mountains and trails close to rivers, but never through them. It was exciting to imagine how this experience will be different from the previous ones we have had so far.
We always recommend wearing proper hiking shoes. We could see their advantage in this hike. Lots of rocks inside the river and also on the banks, combined with some tree branches, it created a good challenge for us.
In many moments we had to walk slowly and pay close attention to where we are going to step, it is not possible to see inside the river, so you need to walk based on your feeling after using your feet to feel what’s around you.
The cool part for us was the moment where we had to swim. In some moments the river was deep enough to cover both of us. We didn’t have a waterproof backpack, but we didn’t have any problems because we only put things that could be wet in our normal backpacks. We asked our friend Vanja to put our cell phones and wallets in her waterproof bag.
Emina was recording us, but she didn’t expect the water to get deep so fast. At some points you have to be careful, my suggestion is to start swimming as soon as the water reaches above your hips.
More Hiking...
We could see the trail was not used much by other people, at some points the path was not clear. Many tree branches and plants were blocked the way. However nothing that makes you get lost, just follow the river 🙂
The Cave at the end
At the end of trail on the river, we had to go up to a place where we could see a small cave nearby. It was optional, but I was curious to see what was there. So, after a short 5 minutes walk, I arrived at the cave. I could see burnt tree branches that were a bonfire once, someone was preparing a Serbian barbecue.
Conclusion
This was our first experience mixing hiking in the desert in Serbia and swimming a bit through the Pek River Canyon. It was great!! At the end of the day we were happy and tired, enjoying the endorphin released after a full day being active in the nature.
See you all on the next adventure!!
