September 25, 2021 - Osijek celebrated International Drava River Day on Friday, with many events that both entertained and educated locals on the importance of the Drava ecosystem.
The city of Osijek, Public Institution for Environmental Protection of Osijek-Baranja County, Osijek Tourist Board, Osijek-Baranja Tourist Board, Osijek-Baranja County's Development Agency are few of the ten organizers of Osijek's International Drava River Day commemoration program that was held on Friday.
International Drava River Day is marked on September 24, and as TCN wrote earlier this week, it was also celebrated in the city of Varaždin. The most diverse fish in Croatia live in the Drava river, and last week, UNESCO declared Mura-Drava-Danube Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.
Perhaps that is the reason why, as Akademija Art informs, this year's program in Osijek (the biggest city in the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia) is on a much higher level than usual.
From cruising on the left side of the Drava river, watching 5,000 rowing regattas to professional lectures on the Drava river by Dr. Mirna Habuda Stanić, citizens of Osijek had loads of interesting Drava-related things to see and do on Friday. Additionally, making carp fish on a stick (the specialty of the Slavonian cuisine) demonstration and the traditional Fiš Paprikaš (fish stew) topped off the event.
The celebration also opened a new chance for photographers in the area, as the Public Institution for Environmental Protection of Osijek-Baranja County holds a contest for their upcoming calendar. This is a good direction, as the commemoration program aims to promote the richness of cultural heritage and tradition in cooperation with the local population.
„It's important to mark all-natural values of our county for which we must take care of, as well as educating citizens on environmental protection, starting from the smallest ones,“ said Osijek-Baranja county deputy chief Josip Miletić, as quoted by Akademija Art.
The busy program also made time for the presentation of the Amazon of Europe Project with the idea of preserving the aforementioned biodiversity of the UNESCO-protected Mura-Drava-Danube Transboundary Biosphere Reserve.
„Despite numerous man-made changes in the past, this stunning river landscape hosts an amazing biological diversity and is a hotspot of rare natural habitats such as large floodplain forests, river islands, gravel and sandbanks, side branches, and oxbows", says the Amazon of Europe website.
Learn more about Osijek in our TC guide.
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