Bulls and wells of Svilaja

The weather this October was truly beautiful with mild temperatures and lots of sunshine. One day we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and visit a fairly remote place in the heart of Zagora- Svilaja mountain is one of the iconic mountains of Dalmatian hinterland but I visited only few times. It is easily accessed by car as the road Drniš – Vrlika takes one across the mountain but that is not a proper visit. One really has to walk to experience the mountains and nature.

Svilaja
Svilaja

The main reason for me going there was to finally visit one remote field with several interesting wells. The satellite images show 7 nicely positioned wells in the middle of nowhere. I simply had to see them in real life!

The wells
The wells

So, we boarded the Defender and headed to Ogorje Donje and up Svilaja. The dirt road was not in the best shape after all the rains we had during the summer, and we did not have the proper tires so we had to stop at one point and continue on foot.

Rocky hillside
Rocky hillside
A very rocky road
A very rocky road

Svilaja is a beautiful mountain but, like other mountains in the region, with not so many woods. Mostly rocky plains with some wooded areas.  It is only about 30 km in length and its highest peak is Bat at 1508 meters. It is also a very pleasant mountain for hiking and walking and abandoned stone huts prove that there was life here not so long ago. Actually, one can see several modern huts and houses that people still use. Some of them grow cabbage, some have cattle…

Cows on pasture
Cows on pasture

We also saw several signs for land mines warning of recent war activities in this area as Svilaja was right in the middle of unfortunate events. As we later learned, the signs are positioned much closer to the road than the actual mines are, just to warn the potential hikers of the dangerous zones.

Scenic landscape and dirt roads
Scenic landscape and dirt roads

And then we reached the wells.

The valley of the wells
The valley of the wells

The valley, or vrtača as this would be in Croatian, is quite spectacular and off the main road so not so easy to spot. It is also much. much bigger than I assumed looking at the satellite images! The descent is not so easy as the slopes are very rocky and one has to be careful. But once at the bottom, it is a huge and flat field.

One of the 7 wells
One of the 7 wells

The wells are quite interesting with sides made of nicely positioned blocks of stone. Some blocks look quite ancient but, as we later learned, the story goes that 7 families each built one for their cattle some 300 years ago. It was always puzzling why 7 and not one but I guess it is easier to manage one’s cattle by one’s well and not get in conflict. This is a rugged land and the people had little finesse in dealing with each other.

We spent some time next to the wells soaking up the serenity of this ancient place and then, as the clouds were slowly moving in, we decided to go back to the car.

Modern Svilaja cowboy
Modern Svilaja cowboy

On our way back, we saw quite a noisy bull being chased away. We immediately moved from its path as it did not look happy! Ante, the modern Svilaja cowboy, was chasing this young bull as he keeps bothering his bulls on a daily basis. And always gets his butt kicked. So it is not so smart to stay on its way when he is frustrated and angry going back to his herd…

Ante was happy to join us part of the way. It is not so often that he meets people up in the mountain. He is actually from Split but works with his cousin in the hillside for summer months.

Picturesque pastures of Svilaja
Picturesque pastures of Svilaja

We learned a lot from Ante: about the actual mine situation, history of the wells, local bull fighting, wolves… He was accompanied by his faithful dog that, according to him, is a proper menace to all the wolves of the mountain. And there are plenty of wolves!

We also saw Ante’s bulls – gorgeous animals all belonging to ancient and indigenous cattle species called buša.

Timeless image of Svilaja
Timeless image of Svilaja

Buša (busha) is also known as the Illyrian cattle and some scientists are saying that it has been in these areas from the Stone age. In the 19th Century, Busa from Croatia and Bosnia ( Austria-Hungarian Empire at the time) were crossed with an Austrian breed. This cross is larger than the original busa and it is exclusively grey in color while original busa is brown.

The bulls are not so big and up to 450 Kg in weight. There are only about 900 busas left in Croatia and it is somewhat protected with cattle breeders being subsidized for raising this very special cattle.

As the dusk was catching up with us, we decided to hurry up and say good bye to our new friends.

The dog did not want to let us go!
The dog did not want to let us go!
Dried flowers
Dried flowers

Svilaja is one of those regions well of the beaten path. Only few mountaineers, scarce dirt bike drivers, hunters… come up here. It really deserves more visitors for the hikes are great and easy.

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6 Comments

  1. Fine story as usual Alan, thanks for sharing it.
    Question: any real danger of mines or IED’s going of the beaten path ?
    Could not find details on http://www.summitpost.org/svilaja/173619, however lots of great pictures, as are yours !

  2. Thank you! There are mines but only on one section and they are clearly marked with signs well before the actual danger zone. You can also see abandoned concrete bunker entrances that tell where the war activities were taking place. I was not worried at any time.

  3. SJ Begonja says:

    Fascinating! Thanks for the info on why there are 7, as I was wondering why 7. I was thinking it was something to do with luck. But alas I was wrong.

  4. @ SJ – the mythology of the region, the ancient traditions and the pure mystical landscape makes us think of all sorts of things and reasons. 😉

  5. Hi SJ, I’ve got the answer:
    it’s seven because of those seven dwarfs 🙂
    Poz. Pim.

  6. antonija says:

    Dalmatia is beautiful, it’s true! Istra – not so much, in my opinion 😀 There is alot to see in other parts of Croatia too! 😉

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