Educational trails

The educational trail is built in the most beautiful part of the Jankovac Forest Park, next to the mountain lodge, Jankovac lakes and Skakavac waterfall. The stairs, pedestrian wooden bridges and handrails that were set up on the trail give visitors access to the most beautiful views of Jankovac. Along the trail there are instructive boards explaining some of the natural or cultural-historical attractions along the trail. The educational trail in Jankovac was named the Count’s Trail out of respect for Count Joseph pl. Jankovic, the first person to realize the aesthetic and landscape values ​​of the valley. The trail received the Green Flower Award of the Croatian National Tourist Board in 2006, being the best in the category of the original tourist destination of continental Croatia.

… … When I climbed these rocks, my soul could not feast enough on the view of the valley… I chose this place as my vantage point in the ages to come… … Josip noble Janković

Some people would not believe if they were told that one of the peaks of Papuk is called High Peak and that it reaches almost nine hundred meters! It would be incomprehensible for them that these peaks stand up from the plain like horsts, like the peaks of an extinct Miocene sea, and that a man hiking here trips on the petrified shells, stars, snails and algae. It does not come to their minds that the eruption of volcanic stones glimmer in the moonlight and the archaean gneisses, mica shales, Silurian deposits, quartz silite shine here. And they do not believe when you tell them and point out that on the geological map of Croatia this area of ​​Pozega is the reddest, which means that it is not a mollusk, but an eruptive granite stone, basalt.

– Matko Peić, “Skitnje”

At the site of Rupnica, there is a short educational trail, telling the story of the phenomenon of rocks – volcanic columns, and an interesting story about volcanoes of the world. In addition to visiting the first Croatian geological natural monument, the story of the dormant “Rupnica volcano” will be complemented by a visit to the abandoned quarry of Trešnjevica, one of the most beautiful geological sites in Croatia, where you can see a magmatic vein several hundred meters long that breaks through 300 million years older metamorphic Papuk rock.

In the northwestern part of the Park, in the area of ​​Đedovica, a short educational trail was set up, leading through the autochthonous beech and fir forest to the Old Oaks, a protected monument of nature. The giant oaks are about 500 years old and are one of the oldest living organisms in Slavonia. These stunning oaks are a perfect place for us to learn something about the flora and vegetation of Papuk Nature Park. Next to the oaks is the former Reitweg Equestrian Trail, where Count Jankovic and his entourage and other nobility used to travel. The vast and inaccessible Papuk area used to be raided by the notorious bandit Čaruga, and there are numerous legends about his incredible adventures.

Near Orahovica, above the village of Duzluk, on the slopes of Krndija, which descend towards the plain to the north, rise the ruins of a huge ancient town: the remains of towers, arches, parapets, loopholes and walls that are up to nine meters wide in some places. The town is called Ruzica… (Dubravko Horvatic, “The Grič cannon and other legends from our region”)

On a steep shade, surrounded by the freshness of the forests of Papuk, the town of Ružica stands proudly. The crown of Papuk. The witness of an untold time.

It is the first hill and mountain educational trail in Slavonia. It was modeled on educational trails in the US national parks. This trail, which in part follows the Šuler hiking trail, contains all the essential features that adorn Papuk Nature Park. Visitors can learn about the relief, hydrology, vegetation, flora and fauna, geology and history of this area by using instructive boards placed along the trail, and by expert guidance of the.nature park staff.

Above you, there is the old Velička ruin. In the abyss on the nippleworth, a Hungarian regret plunged. A landscape of tiny water frolics and a nightingale’s bath. Two spiders have joined together and are walking on the water. Two hymenopters cannot be separated in the air. Can you hear? You enjoy the cool forest shade of this deep murmur … Through defiant mountain trees that resist the thunder: oak, dogwood… The smell of a young crumbled acorns in the stiff nostril of a roe…
(Matko Peić, Skitnje)

Near Velika there is the floristically most interesting area of ​​Papuk Nature Park, consisting of Turjak, Pliš, Mališčak and Lapjak hills. Due to its exceptional floristic values, uniqueness and representativeness, a botanical educational path was set up there. The trail passes through a century-old forest of oak and black ash, within which open rocky areas and small limestone grasslands occur. Right here, on these small forest lawns, most of the endangered and protected plants found in the nature park grow. Not only this area is floristically valuable, it is also the first safe locality of the lizard species of Ablepharus kitaibelii in Croatia.

Papuk edges the Požega valley from the north. It is an eternal wall, which defends the “golden valley” of Pozega. During warm, sunny, summer days, cold breezes blow from Papuk’s valleys, diluting the atmosphere of the healthy Pozega area. Cold springs erupt all around, flowing into streams that revive the whole area from Papuk to Orljava. The tame villages under Papuk’s ribs leaned like white lambs on their guard.
(JULIJE KEMPF “On Papuk”, the Croatian Mountaineer 1901/3)