A bear hunt in Perućica, Europe’s oldest forest

“I know this bear. He knows me. We’ve met several times.” Dejan Elez, a law graduate turned ranger and mountain guide, points to a wooden post at the start of the trail into Perućica, its surface scored by large claws. He tells a story of a hunter who came to kill and whose face the bear “peeled off… like an orange,” and then leads a group south into a forest with stories that reach far beyond human memory.

Scientists estimate Perućica has grown without human interference for 20,000 years. The 1,434 hectares sit on steep, inaccessible canyon slopes in Republika Srpska and, alongside Białowieża, are among the last remnants of Europe’s primeval woodland. From a rocky viewpoint the canyon drops to a river fed by the 75-metre Skakavac waterfall; a planned climb of Maglić was abandoned after fresh snow, so the day’s direction is downward into the trees.

perućica, primeval forest, europe, białowieża, republika srpska, skakavac, maglić, dejan elez, bear, canyon