Dunavski Rafting

DANUBE CANOEING TROUGH DJERDAP

We departed on Thursday, 16.07.2009, with two cars and two canoes. On the highway from Novi Sad, we were gradually increasing the speed and checking the new roof racks and load straps. Everything worked perfectly. First stop was Viminacium, roman city and military camp, which is located close to Kostolac.

After this, we stopped next to the fortress in Ram with a beautiful view on a very wide part of the Danube. We continued our journey to the lake “Srebrno Jezero“ (Silver Lake) close to the town called “Veliko Gradiste“ (The water was about 25 degrees, lunch for 4 people was about 40 euros).

Following was the walk in Golubac and its fortress, which represents the beginning of the Djerdap Canyon. We arrived to the summer house which is located 4 km downstream from Dobra (1017 km away from Suline, 155 km away from Belgrade).

The house is right on the river bank, and the access ramp for lowering canoes in the water is great (in this area this is not a problem). The level of the water was 1 meter lower than average and locals told us this is because the river is unusually in Belgrade, so the dam is overflowing.

On Friday morning we went to Donji Milanovac to drop off one car and come back with the other. We started our canoeing from Dobra. Unlike the Danube next to Novi Sad, the water is faster close to the Djerdap Canyon when the water level is lower because the flow is closer to the previous river-bed.

After 1 km we saw the ruins of the old bridge on the Romanian side which looks like Stonehenge in the middle of the Danube.

We stopped occasionally to have a swim, we saw fishermen’s houses and rocks above the whirlpools. We went to Lepenski Vir and had a drink next to the museum which is in reconstruction.

Then we entered the Boletinska River and ate at an isolated sand beach 30m away from the intersection with the Danube.

After the last curve of “Gospodjin vir“ we entered the basin of Donji Milanovac. Here, the wind was blowing on our backs so we occasionally sailed using a towel.

Here the Danube is very wide (3-4 km) and we canoed 8 km to the beach of Donji Milanovac (located 992 km away from Sulina).

We left our canoes at this beach and went for a swim a few kilometers downstream to Porecka River. After the swim, we went back to spend the night in our summer house in Dobra.

On Saturday we put the canoes on the cars and went downstream to Donje Golubinje, where there is a spring called “Dobra Voda“ (Good Water).

This is a very inclined path, but the only available place where we can put our canoes in the water. We started canoeing with the wind on our face which made our journey more difficult.

We got to the boiling pot “Kazan“ which is located 979 km away from the Suline. This was the most beautiful part of our journey.

We went for a swim in the field called “Hajducka vodenica“ from where we could see the head of a Romanian Duke engraved on the rock. Soon after this, we arrived to the Panel of Trajan (“Trajanova tabla“).

We took a nice swim next to this ancient Roman Panel, which can be observed in the pictures. After the Panel of Trajan the wind increased and this made it harder to canoe down the river.

With constant rowing, we achieved an average speed of 3 or 4 kilometers an hour. However, the wind stopped after 45 minutes of struggle and we managed to arrive to Tekije (956 km away from Sulina). We went back to our summer house in Dobra. This was our best and last day of canoeing during this trip.

On Sunday we went for a hike to Somrda (the peak above the Lepenski Vir). The forest is dense and we collected mushrooms and wild blackberries. From this peak, we saw the Canyon “Gospodjin Vir“. After Somrda we went back to our summer house, packed and started our trip back to Novi Sad. We had lunch at the restaurant “Kod Tometa“ which is right next to the Danube, between Dobra and Golubac. We continued our journey through the main highway, and arrived to Novi Sad around 8 pm.