The Belenici plateau with the nearby villages of Kijev Do and Golubinac is located above the Vjetrenica cave in the municipality of Ravno.
Belenici puddle
”As far as I know and what generations have told me, the Belenici puddle has never dried up in history. Never. In 1917, my late grandmother told me, Austria was still there, the First World War, the hosts from the houses, and since my grandfather was not there (he was somewhere on the battlefield), she went to clean the puddle, so they splashed for days. She told me how when you stand at its bottom, how it is surrounded by circular walls, you can’t see anything above, except the sky, it is so deep,” states Tomislav Prkut, a top storyteller who knows the secrets of the area.
”The puddle was a lifesaver in those times, even cattle came from the surrounding areas. In 1950, when there was a drought, it did not dry up. The people then stood up to protect their cattle. That puddle was made in a place where some underground water always comes. The people who built it probably knew that they also built this field above that puddle, to the right above were their vineyards in the area called Mrke ploce. When the heaviest snow falls and it is 60 centimeters, it melts there in two days.”
”Then, after the war, some people kept cattle here, they came, took the levers and crowbars, and turned those steps so that the cattle could water themselves. Our cattle used to go down the stairs to drink water, only for the horses it was poured so that they wouldn’t slip on the wet stairs,” explains Prkut, adding that nearby in the rainier part of the year, behind the Curcija houses, a stream flows that fills the wells dug at the foot.
Time of drought
”Up above the puddle, on Dren’s stream, which also occasionally flows, there are three wells, the lower and middle wells were used by cattle, only they would dry up in times of drought, like now. On the upper one, whose opening is narrow, there was a glass from which passers-by could grab water and drink. All from the same glass,” Prkut adds.
”Our guide Tomo and researcher Vukorep, who were sitting in the front, noted that something “sneaked” into the dense thicket. We got out of the vehicle, heard the fall of stones down the slope, and then a voice. At first, I thought it was a fox, maybe a jackal or a wolf. As soon as the voice became a few octaves louder, Tomo, who remained in the vehicle, called out: “Get in, get in.” With a heavy heart, I tossed myself between curiosity and invitation and got back in the car,” he further adds.
They were surprised by a bear
It would turn out that it was actually a bear.
”I know that it was said that there were bears in that area, however, as we almost passed a gator with wild boars, I didn’t even think that it would be possible to walk there,” Prkut concluded, Avaz writes.
E.Dz.
