This village spa is first mentioned in 1967, when the journalist of “Narodne Novine” newspaper mr Sevdelin Andrejević went to check the amazing stories of the healing warm water on 25km from Nis. Remembering the event later, he told his colleague ”Back in that time the whole surrounding was empty, no houses in the vicinity, grown into thorns and nettles. From what I’ve seen it’s a swamp, but according to the story it’s a spa..” When he returned to office back in 1967, this journalist wrote a report called “A spa or a swamp?”, placing his dillema in front of many readers.
It’s free to say that Kravlje spa and the nearby Topilo were made as the result of citizen initiative. The folks were financing the construction of the high-voltage duct so the place was connected with electricity since 1989, they capped their water supply sources and initiated the asphalt road construction.
The spa and the picnic site are found in the colorful canyon of Toponica river, on a small, flat surface with a few healing water springs. The canyon itself has a lot of endemic species, like the famous „ramondae serbica“ or „phoneix“, flower which can be revived by a few drops of water even when completely dry. This flower was studied by NASA for its unbelievable survival abilities. There is a couple of eagles, constantly nesting on the cliffs, and the clean Toponica river, great for fishing and bathing. The Kravlje spa has an exquisite development potential which should be additionally promoted and improved in order to start the sustainable development of the local community and finally end the dillema “a spa or a swamp ? Thank to the still strong standing citizen activism, there was a project started – „Kravljanska inicijativa“ with a goal to additionally promote the Kravlje spa and improve its capacities. The project was started with a natural and touristic potentials popularisation campaign of this village spa, and later on a modern picnic mobiliar was built in order to enrich the offer and increase the number of young visitors.
Srpski