"Waterfalls of Sopotnica" Natural Monument
The Sopotnica waterfalls are located in southwest Serbia, in the area of the village bearing the same name, close to Prijepolje and on the western slopes of the Jadovnik Mountain. In the spring part of the river Sopotnica, at a length of about 500 m, mighty deposits of tuff are placed in the form of flatted fan-like terraces. The terraces are arranged in six levels, and are separated from each other by sections of different slopes and heights. Between the first, the lowest, and the other terrace, there is also the largest, 20 meters high, waterfall. Waterfalls of Sopotnica are considered the richest water in Serbia.
The Government of the Republic of Serbia, on the basis of the Study of Conservation developed by the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia in 2005, adopted the Decree and proclaimed the Monument of Nature – Waterfalls of Sopotnica protected natural good of category I and of exceptional significance.
Sava Simić PhD, Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia
"Cerje Cave" Natural Monument
The Cerje Cave Natural Monument is located near the city of Niš in eastern Serbia. The Cerje cave is a complex underground karst system developed along a canal in several levels, with diverse cave ornaments and complex diversity of the cave fauna. A special value of the cave represent rare cave ornaments – helictites which, contrary to the physical laws and gravity, are formed and stretched in all directions due to the influence of specific crystalisation processes. New discoveries at the Cerje Cave Natural Monument found the connection of the cave to the Kravljanska pit. With the newly-discovered canals, the length of the Cerje cave system is 7.149 m, which makes it the second longest cave in Serbia.
On the basis of the Study of Conservation of the Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia, the Government of the Republic of Serbia passed a decree on the Conservation of the Cerje Cave Natural Monument in 1998, protecting the cave as a natural good of exceptional importance of the I category.
Dragan Nešić, PhD, Institute for Nature Conservation of Serbia.
Artistic realisation: Miroslav Nikolić.
