River · Montenegro
Tara
Tara is the longest river of Montenegro, a small mountain country on the Balkan Peninsula. It springs from high ground in the north and races through a famous gorge. At the end it joins the Piva.
Picture credit: Mazbln (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Schleewoon (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Andrija12345678 (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Tara?
The river starts here: mountains of northern Montenegro.
It ends in the joins the Piva to form the Drina.
Countries on the river: Montenegro.
The story behind it
The Tara has sawn a canyon into the limestone that is one of the deepest in the world, with walls rising more than a thousand metres above the water. Sunlight reaches the bottom only for a few hours a day, and the river there is so clear and cold that people call it the tear of Europe. Rafts full of visitors bounce down the rapids in summer, guided past boulders and small waterfalls. Above them stands the Djurdjevica bridge, a slender arch of concrete built long ago across the gorge. Black pines cling to the cliffs, and bears, wolves and chamois live in the forests of the national park round about. Trout hide in the pools, and in spring, when the snow of Durmitor melts, the water turns loud, grey and dangerous.
Questions children ask
How long is the Tara?
The Tara is 143 kilometres long. Almost all of that lies in Montenegro, which makes it the country's longest river. Much of the course runs deep inside a narrow canyon.
Which country does the Tara flow through?
The Tara flows through Montenegro, in the north of the country. It comes from the high pastures near the Durmitor mountains and heads north-west. Its last kilometres touch the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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