Great War Island, or How War Shaped Belgrade's Ada?! | Old Belgrade Stories

Great War Island is, one could say, a kind of oasis of our capital city. Something like Central Park in New York or Englischer Garten in Munich. Certainly not in terms of landscape design, but as a place where all the urban noise instantly ceases and gives way to silence and sounds of nature.

Among those sounds, the chirping of birds predominates, with more than 160 different species present on the island. Some of them nest and live here year-round, while others only winter or use Great War Island as a resting place on their way to warmer habitats in the south. Therefore, Great War Island has been declared a landscape of exceptional features and a kind of nature reserve. It is almost unbelievable that such a place is located less than a kilometer away from the asphalt "jungle" of Belgrade, and it is separated from it by just one river, or rather, not just one.

Great War Island is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, which are also responsible for its existence. For thousands of years, the Danube and Sava have been flowing in their beds, carrying vast amounts of river sediment that naturally accumulate on the riverbeds and shores, where the force of the main current weakens. At the point where they merge, which is Belgrade's "Ušće" (confluence), a significant amount of sediment accumulates along with a large volume of water, forming a submerged river shoal that eventually emerges above the water surface and becomes a river island, a so-called "ada," which over time grows and reaches the dimensions it has today.

However, the evolution of this island was not as straightforward. Like any river shoal, Great War Island changed its shape. During periods of high water, the rivers would erode and "detach" certain parts of the island, composed of fine loose sand and silt, and carry them downstream. On the other hand, during low-water season, sediment deposition would be more intensive, causing the island to "grow." This geomorphological development of the island and its unstable form lasted until World War II. And then things changed...

A few eyewitnesses remember that during the autumn of 1944, two German tugboats hit underwater mines in the area of Great War Island. Both ships sank relatively quickly, and just a month later, it was noticed that the island had become unusually stable until then.

What's going on?!

Sunken ships have become a kind of anchor for Great War Island - a significant obstacle in the path of river sediment, which greatly accelerated its deposition. With the increase in the island's mass, the slow-moving flat rivers no longer had enough power to erode its parts, and the island became stable. It is believed that the ships even diverted the main flow of the Danube, which used to flow through the channel where Little War Island is now located (which didn't exist at that time). As they didn't disrupt navigation and due to economic impracticality, the ships from the Danube were never removed. They still lie beneath War Island, lost in the sediment of the Danube and Sava rivers. Over time, on fertile soil and with an abundance of water, lush vegetation, grass, and trees began to grow, anchoring the sand and soil with their roots. The construction of the Đerdap Dam on the Danube in the 1960s probably also contributed to the stability of the island, as the creation of the Đerdap reservoir significantly reduced the flow velocity of the Danube through the Đerdap Gorge, and this decrease was felt upstream as well.

Thus, Great War Island finally took the position it holds to this day. During extremely high or low water levels, it continues to undergo morphological changes and evolve, almost imperceptibly.

Apart from Lido, the traditional and beloved beach of Zemun, today it is possible to explore the entire island privately, by taxi boats, or through organized tourist tours. Ecological walking tours, lasting for 2 hours and accompanied by a guide, are organized during July and August, every Tuesday and Friday, starting at 11 o'clock. The walking tour begins and ends at Lido, which can be reached by numerous taxi boats departing from the Zemun quay. During the summer months, throughout the bathing season, it is also possible to access the island via a pontoon bridge.