Cheile Nerei-Beușnița

Cheile Nerei-Beușnița National Park was declared in 1990 in south-western Romania, in the south-western Carpathians, Caraș-Severin county, and protects some 366 km². Its name refers to the gorges of the Nera river and to the Beușnița waterfall.

The landscape is defined by water and limestone: torrential streams have cut deep defiles into the rock, leaving gorges with vertical walls, steep slopes, caves and dolines. Lake Ochiul Beiului, of an intense turquoise, and the Beușnița falls, which pour over moss-covered tufa formations, are its most recognisable images. Its southerly position and the shelter of the valleys allow sub-Mediterranean flora and fauna to occur, including Hermann's tortoise.

Its beech forest is of European importance: Cheile Nerei-Beușnița preserves one of the largest primeval forests still standing in temperate Europe. Very close by, and with similar characteristics, lies the Izvoarele Nerei sector, where trees more than 350 years old are abundant and one individual has been dated at 477. Both were added in July 2017 to the World Heritage List within the serial property of the ancient and primeval beech forests of Europe.