Carska Bara () is the largest individual bog in Serbia, in the municipality of Zrenjanin. Along with the neighboring pond of Stari Begej (old arm of the Begej river) it forms the Special nature reserve "Carska Bara" ().
Location
Carska Bara is 17 kilometers south of the town of Zrenjanin, in the west-central part of the Serbian section of Banat, near the mouth of the river Begej into the Tisa. The southern border is bounded by the final, navigable section of the Begej before it empties into the Tisa (followed by the Belgrade-Zrenjanin road), while to the north are the vast Ečka fishponds, the largest in Serbia and second largest in Europe. Entire bog belongs to the municipality of Zrenjanin.
Settlements and human history
Even though it is in the triangle of large cities Belgrade-Novi Sad-Zrenjanin (largest cities in Serbia, Vojvodina and Serbian Banat, respectively), all settlements in the vicinity of Carska bara are smaller ones, ranging from 1,500 to 6,000 inhabitants. The closest settlements are Perlez, in southern corner, on the Begej, and Belo Blato, east of the bog, on the southern shore of Ečka fishpond. In the north are the villages of Lukino Selo, Ečka and Stajićevo, while Knićanin is southwest of it. Town of Titel is right across the bridge on the Tisa. Gallery of the painting colony of "Ečka" is located on the northern tip of the bog.
Human history in the area surrounding Carska bara goes back to 4,000 years BC, with uncovered mounds near Mužlja (Batka) and Titel (Kalvarija). According to legend, the bog (carska bara, Serbian for "imperial bog"), was named after Attila, king of the Huns, but other sources claim that the bog was named that way because of the Austrian emperors which used to hunt in the area. Count László Lukács owned some land in the area, and often invited members of the Austrian royal family to hunt. Among them were princes Rudolf and Franz Ferdinand.
Geography
The entire, physically connected wetland of Carska Bara covers an area of and the entire system consists of three ponds (Carska, Perleska and Tiganjica) connected by the long canal of Old Begej (Stari Begej), a former distributary of the Begej river. It extends along the Begej (approximately from its ). Until 1964, the Old Begej was regular part of the Bega river, navigable, naturally flowing river. That year, the digging of a new Bega canal began, which became part of the cast Danube–Tisa–Danube Canal system. Former river became an oxbow lake, named Old Begej and in time became muddy and marshy.
Wetland consists of many smaller bodies of water: rivers, canals, lakes and ponds, covered with reed beds, willow thickets and rushes and it is known for its color diversity. The central, lake section is known for its blue, clear water, while the surrounding salt marshes have white and yellow waters, all within green woods. Previously, Carska Bara consisted of smaller and larger swamps, but in time it basically turned into a complex of Begej's meanders which are naturally getting shortened and narrowed and the bog gets more and more inclined compared to the river bed.
The Begej river is deep in this area, while the bog itself is only deep.
Biology
Flora
Some areas of water are covered in pond algae. Many rare and autochthonous plants live in the wetland, but also many imported ones. Some representatives of the water plants include water fern, European white water lily, Nuphar lutea, lax-flowered orchid and water farina. Meadow plants are represented by Plumbago, Achillea, wormwood, mallow and meadow sage, and marsh plants by flowering rush, yellow flag iris, water mannagrass, common sweet flag, bulrush, reed, etc.
Altogether, there are some 500 plant species registered in the reserve, including rare or protected species, like yellow pheasant's eye, St John's wort, Orchis and buttercup. The colonies of old willow groves are preserved, so as the forests of the black poplar and narrow-leafed ash. There are rare specimens of pedunculate oak. Once abundant, the oak was heavily cut, but its number began to grow after the area was protected in 1955.
The main invasive species is the water caltrop. It anchors to the bottom of the ponds with its spikes and grows extremely fast, draining large amounts of oxygen from the water. The avoid the massive dying of the fish, the plant is being regularly cut from the bottom.