Orava River

The Orava is a right-bank tributary of the Váh in northern Slovakia and the main river of the historical region of the same name. From the Orava Reservoir dam to its mouth it is 60.3 km long; the basin covers 1,991.8 km² and the mean flow at the mouth is 34.4 m³/s. The Orava is formed by two branches: the Biela Orava, rising in the Oravská Magura, and the Čierna Orava, which flows in from Poland. A small part of the basin, 358 km², lies in Poland — one of the few Polish areas that drain to the Black Sea. At the confluence with the Váh the Orava is wider, but its mean flow is slightly lower: 35.6 m³/s against the Váh's 40.9 m³/s.

The course: from source to mouth

The Biela Orava (37 km), conventionally taken as the upper course of the river, rises at about 1,080 m below the Paráč summit in the Oravská Magura. The Čierna Orava begins in the Polish village of Podwilk and flows through Jabłonka. The two branches used to meet near the village of Ústie; today they flow into the Orava Reservoir, Slovakia's largest both in area (35 km²) and volume (375.5 million m³), up to 38 m deep at the dam. Below the dam the river flows as the Orava, mostly south-west, through Tvrdošín and Nižná. In the north the bedrock is flysch, lower down limestone klippen, among which the Orava and Oravica have carved a picturesque valley.

Beyond Tvrdošín the river turns south-east and makes great loops. In Oravský Podzámok it undercuts the rock on which Orava Castle stands, then flows through Dolný Kubín and Párnica and, in a gorge between the Veľká and Malá Fatra near Kraľovany, joins the Váh at 430.7 m. The largest tributary below the dam is the Oravica; others include the Zázrivka, Jasenovský potok, Istebnianka and Bystrička.

What to see along the river

• Lake Orava and Slanica Island — the «Island of Art», the hilltop of the drowned village of Slanica above the water.
• Wooden Gothic Church of All Saints, Tvrdošín — close to the riverbank in Tvrdošín.
• Orava Castle — a castle on a 112 m rock right above the river, once the seat of the whole Orava region.
• Hviezdoslav Museum and Čaplovič Library, Dolný Kubín — in the town on both banks of the Orava.

The river and people

The river's name was first recorded in 1267 as «Arva», in connection with Orava Castle; the Slovak form «Orava» appears in 1314. Linguists still debate its origin: some link it to an Indo-European root meaning «swift», others to a Celtic word meaning «fast water». As early as the 16th century, during the Wallachian colonisation, the Orava Basin was largely deforested, and in downpours the river threatened homes and fields. The first dam project was drawn up in 1870, work began on 24 July 1941 and the reservoir went into operation in 1954. The villages of Slanica, Osada, Hámre, Ľavkovo, Ústie, the lower part of Bobrov and two thirds of Námestovo were flooded, which is why Námestovo has no historic centre. Dolný Kubín, the largest town on the river, is linked with the poet Pavol Országh Hviezdoslav.

Nature and safety

In 1997 the entire course of the Orava was declared the «Rieka Orava» protected area of 441.7 ha with the fourth degree of protection, safeguarding well-preserved river ecosystems — a biocorridor of supra-regional importance with rare species. The shores and islands of the reservoir are among Slovakia's most important sites for waterbirds. The Orava carries most water in March and April during snowmelt and least in January and February. During the flood of 19 June 1958 the flow reached 2,300 m³/s, but the Orava dam held back the flood wave from the upper Orava. Below the dam the level changes with water releases. Emergency numbers: 112, in the mountains HZS 18 300.

Nearby: peaks, trails, huts

From Oravský Podzámok the trail Oravský Podzámok, station – Javorová climbs into the hills, from Dolný Kubín Dolný Kubín – Hut on Kubínska hoľa, from Nižná Nižná – Ostražica, and from the mouth at Kraľovany Kraľovany – Stoh.

Photos: Dennis G. Jarvis, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons; TibX, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; Oto Zapletal, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; Train 01, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.