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'Ada Ciganlija' (Serbian Cyrillic ''Ада Циганлија'', Serbian Latin: ''Ada Ciganlija'', ) is an island in the Sava river flowing through central Belgrade the capital city of Serbia. The island belongs to the Belgrade municipality of Čukarica.
It is located at the 4th kilometer from the Sava's confluence into the Danube near the central parts of Belgrade. It has an area of 8 square kilometres. The island is largely used as a multi-faceted recreation zone by the citizens of Belgrade; it is most famously dubbed as the Belgrade's Sea (beogradsko more) because of its long beach. Its name is derived from the Serbian word of Turkish origin 'ada' roughly meaning a river island and 'Ciganlija' an adjective form of Celtic word Tsiganlia, which later transformed in word 'Ciganlija'.Connection between word 'Ciganlija', and Cigan(Roma people) is totally false.
The island was proclaimed a national public good in 1821 by Prince Miloš Obrenović of Serbia by a royal decree, and is today managed by the municipal government via the Public Enterprise "Ada Ciganlija" (JP "Ada Ciganlija"), which maintains the grounds of the recreational areas and especially the beach and the Sava Lake. It is responsible for cleanliness, maintenance such as trimming of the underwater algae, public safety (life guards) etc. Even though the island is a public good, the island itself is not exclusively managed and owned by the city. There are numerous private entities who administer businesses and recreation facilities, as well as the golf course. Notably, many Serbian famous sports personalities have invested in this area.

Contents

Facilities and activities

The environment and wildlife

Transportation

Modification, development and challenges

Belgraders and Ada Ciganlija

See also

External links

Facilities and activities

The island has been conceptualized as Belgrade's focal point for mass sporting activity and recreation, and thus features a great number of appropriate facilities such as tennis courts, biking paths, both beach & concrete volleyball courts, soccer fields, Five-a-side football courts, skateboarding ramps, rollerskating paths, basketball courts, paint ball, baseball fields, bocce, aqua soccer, rugby fields, kayaking facilities, artificial rock climbing facility, chess facilities, water slides, artificial alpine skiing and snowboarding slopes, rowing facilities as well a bungee jumping platform, and a diving range.
Ada Ciganlija is also a vast park and a major forested area. The most famous, and for most Belgradian's the most important feature of Ada Cignalija is the long beach along the Island's southern edge facing the so called Sava Lake (Savsko Jezero), 4.2 kilometers long. Most citizens of Belgrade swarm to this beach seeking refreshment during the hot summer months. The number of bathers at one time often reaches 300,000 in the peak season.Water temperature is about 24°C during summer. It is by far the most popular public recreation zone in Belgrade. Besides the large adult swim area, there is also a closely supervised children's swimming area which is fenced off. There is also a special water skiing cable installed on one of the ends of the lake.
Ada Ciganlija features a tall sports observation tower and bleachers on multiple levels which is its most prominent structure as well and one of very few permanent solid structures. Ada Ciganlija has in the past been a host to a number of local and international water sporting events such as competitions in rowing and kayaking.
The very first golf course in Serbia has been built on this island in recent years along with a golf club house, a golfing store, golfing school and a practice range. This golf course is also the seat of the first and so far only Serbian golfing association.
The island is home to the "Rowing Sport Club" and several rowing societies like VK Partizan, VK Crvena Zvezda, and VK Grafičar. A sailing school and a club as well as all accompanying sailing facilities can be found on this island.
The northern edge of the island is lined with attached floating barges, or houses on the water owned by many Belgraders as a weekend refuge given this island's exceptionally quiet and green environment. Many city dwellers come to Ada to enjoy fishing excursions picniks and barbecues with their friends and families.

Ada Ciganlija features several tuck shops, over 70 restaurants, bars and cafés as well as a café-cinema. There is a nudist beach on the western edge of Ada, and a popular gay cruising area. From the Ada's beach, as most Belgradian's like to call this island, stunning views of central Belgrade can bee seen. Belgrade sunsets are particularly beautiful when viewed from this spot.
On of the island's most noted landmarks is the fountain, based on the famous Jet d'Eau (water-jet), situated in Lake Geneva. Belgrade one is also 140-metre-high and it was installed in 1996. The fountain is operating during the day all year round, except in case of frost and particularly strong wind. It also operates in the evening between spring and autumn and is lit by a set of lights.
During the summer months in the later hours, the island stages a spacial laser light spectacle for those still present at the beach.
This Island also has an artistic sculpture workshop located at the eastern end of the island in the direction of the city.
At the eastern edge of the island there is also a 6 ha lake rtificially enriched with rare specimens of river fish used mainly for recreational fishing. Before 1994, this area used to be a swamp/marshland.
Ada Ciganlija also has a children's theatre featuring scheduled performances. There is also a Robinson Crusoe Island entertainment feature which stages self-themed performances.

The environment and wildlife

Ada Ciganlija is a unique ecosystem and an oasis in the urban area.
The thick forest on this island is usually described as 'centenary' meaning it is very mature with fully grown and old tree varieties mainly oak, elm and wilow. This characteristic of Ada gives its visitors an illusion of being in complete wilderness because the noise of the city, whose central parts are in the immediate vicinity, is completely shut out by the thick forest. Most of the forest on the island is protected.
Areas of the island are populated by various members of the animal kingdom such as the fox, rabbit, deer as well as wild bore, and various amphibians, insects and birds. As the environmentalists warned that the island's biocoenosis has been changed to a certain extent, a new population of 60 rabbits and 100 pheasants was introduced into the island.
Ada Ciganlija supports threatened birds such as the Pygmy Cormorant Phalacrocorax pygmeus, which winters in Belgrade in large numbers: more than 3,000 birds, as the ongoing research by the League for Ornithological Action (www.ptica.org) shows. That represents 5% of the European wintering population of this species, thus making Belgrade city centre an internationally important bird area! Pygmy Cormorants roost at and by the lower end of the Ciganlija Island – at the very site of the proposed bridge over the Sava River. Its column is planned to cover the entire island roosting site, at the same time creating a new, collision threat to both birds wintering in the area and those migrating along the river Sava because of its 200 high pylon that will be surrounded by numerous guy wires.
Some parts of the island are entirely wild with very little or no human presence, making this island unique in the European urban contexts.
Due to its independent ecosystem Ada Ciganlija is privileged with a particular microclimate.

Transportation

Although there are man-made land routes leading to the island, they are seldom used due to poor accessibility to the city's public transport system and main roads. There are regular boat transfer services taking people from Belgrade's river banks onto the island.
There is also a small 'tourist train' (not running of train tracks) touring on the island.
There is also an impromptu recreational marina on the island's downstream end. There are plans to expand this marina and make it permanent.
Boating in the lake as well as car traffic on land is strictly forbidden. There is a large parking lot on the city's side of the river.

Modification, development and challenges

Although naturally Ada Ciganlija is indeed a river island, through years (starting from 1967), and in order to protect Ada's environment and create a drinking water reservoir for the city as well as protect the swimmers, the city authorities have linked two ends of the island to the land on the southern side of the island in the direction away from the city, so technically today, Ada Ciganlija is a peninsula with multiple attachments to the land (three to be exact). Thusly created lake is of strategic importance to Belgrade as a reservoir of drinking water and is under the regime of the most rigorous environmental protection. The dams upstream are equipped with tubes through which water flows into the Sava lake, passing through a filtering system installed in a smaller artificial 'buffer lake', clean water thus streams into the lake and is pumped back out using electrically powered pumps at the downstream end, back into the river.
City and state authorities of Serbia plan to build a new bridge over the Sava river which is to cross over the eastern tip of the Ada Ciganlija island. The bridge is set to be a Belgrade landmark due to its imposing structure (the bridge tower 'needle' will be 200 m tall), providing a direct land link to the island via the elevators as well as a planned light rail station that will stop mid-bridge to service passengers to and from the island. Many serious concerns were raised over building of this bridge crossing Ada for environmental and aestetic reasons. The construction of the bridge should start in late 2007.
Current challenges of the island involve its further planning and development in the context of protection of its environment as a unique oasis in Serbia's largest metropolitan area.

Belgraders and Ada Ciganlija

For many years many citizens of Belgrade have had an uneasy relationship with Ada. Ada Ciganlija was often regarded in a sense as a 'necessary evil' as the only 'resort' available to masses of economically disadvantaged people during the economic hardship and wars of the 90's of the last century (and arguably still today). Use of this recreation area has always been free of charge and more than often over-crowded and regarded as having poor hygiene, due to a long time of Ada Ciganlija not having any proper facilities or institutionalized care. In recent years the city authorities and private investors have worked hard to change this image and ensure that this zone is properly maintained, has the proper infrastructure and appropriate commercial and recreational content. According to future plans Ada Ciganlija is set to become a prime sporting and recreation facility for Belgrade.

See also

★ Sava

★ Belgrade

★ Serbia

External links

★ The island's official page (serbian only)

★ City of Belgrade's Ada Ciganlija Page (Serbian, English, German and French)

★ Picture gallery of Ada Ciganlija (Serbian only)

★ Belgrade Golf Club, school and association (Serbian and English)

★ Images of the new planned bridge over Ada - Belgrade's Land Development Agency

★ An interactive map of Ada - very detailed! (Serbian only)