Lakes of Kosanin

The lakes of Kosanin are two lakes, the great and the small one, in ellipse shape, aproximatelly 900 meters high above the sea level. The lakes are located on Jelak, in a valley on the north side of Crepuljnik. Lakes are named after recognized serbian botanic Nedeljko Kosanin, born in this region. These lakes are the part of Studenica watershed. The road leading to these lakes is the main road to Pridvorica , approximately 25 km far away from Ivnjica, where the road is turning to east and continues narrowing into a path 6km long through the forest 6 km, that only pedestrians can use. There is Pridvorica monastery, just near the lake, on the road leading to Studenica monastery. The lakes of Kosanin are 31km far from Ivanjica.

Nedeljko Kosanin , 13.October 1874., Cecina, Golija – 22. March 1934., Gratz, Austria, was a botanic, an academic and the professor of Faculty of Natural sciences and Mathematics in Belgrade. He attended elementary school in Pridvorica, Gymnasium in Uzice and Belgrade, and graduated natural sciences on Visoka Skola in Belgrade. He pursued his phd degree in Laipzig in 1905. During 1906. he realized his thorough research of Daicko lake and hydro-biological survey on Daicko lake published in The Magazine of Serbian Royal Academy of Sciences in 1908.

There is a legend of Pridvorica monastery that says that the monastery was built at the same time when the monstery Studenica was built, near the royal capital of Raska, and that is how the monastery was named.

There is one very interesting phenomenon regarding this lake, during rainy days the water level is desreasing while during sunny days it is rising. The legend says that lake faries were gathering and dancing around the lakes and every root in the bigger lake is represeting one of them. So-called fairy circuit is an imprint of a circuit in the grass, made of special colour, quite different than the rest of vegetation around the lake of Kosanin. When the fairy circle is noticed on the ground, that is a sort of mark that the night before, on that very spot, mountain fairies were gathering and dancing until the first morning hours and sunbeams. According to the legend, if it happens that a young careless man or a girl accidentally step into this mark, fairies would took their reason away and life liquids would pour out of their bodies in a short time after that. If it happens that a cow or a sheep step into the fairy circle, their milk would be drained or.

The bigger lake is covered with vegetation and only the smaller parts of the lake are under the water, with its coastal area covered with forest. The lake of Kosanin ,the bigger one, is located in east-west direction. It is aproximately 180 long and 100m wide. There is a mild slope on the west side, creating an impression that it consists of two parts. In the area surrounding the lake are mostly growing forests of beech , silver fir and spruces  while on its south side are pines. The bigger lake area is basically covered with one specific vegetation formation, since the lake peat is already the habitat for Carex paniculata. This plant is forming rather big and high roots that seem like some kind of seats. In the early spring, the roots seem like flawless seats becouse of dried leaves from the previous season and year falling down accumulating and forming the seats shape. During the period while the lake peat is green, the roots are close to each other and in certain areas the lake seems like a meadow. Lake peat is made of moss also. On the greater number of roots there are birch or spruces, that are functioning like parasites in this shape of ecosystem.

On the west side of the lake, just behind one little curve, there is a small lake. The smaller lake of Kosanin is a water area that is evaporating quite fastly. Considering the fact that the small lake is few meters higher

than the big one, lake waters are pouring down the side channel directly into the big lake, 30 meters far from the small one. The smaller lake is 90 m long with total area of 29 m2 and it is in elongated shape with its depth of about 7 m.

According to the fact that frogs are living only in the upper parts of the lake, Mr B. Matijevic and Mr M. Gajic derived the conclusion that the waters in down parts of the lake peat of Kosanin lake are quite salty.