Křivé jezero

Křivé jezero ("Curved Lake") is an oxbow lake left behind by the Dyje River, tucked between the river's current channel and the old Mlýnský náhon mill race on the eastern edge of the Nové Mlýny reservoirs in South Moravia. It sits just south of the village of Nové Mlýny and about 2 km east of Milovice, in the Břeclav district. The lake itself is modest — barely half a hectare, at an elevation of around 163 m — but it anchors one of the best-preserved pockets of floodplain forest left along the Dyje.

What exactly is this place?

Křivé jezero formed the way most oxbow lakes do: the Dyje River once looped through a wide meander here, and over time the current cut a straighter path, stranding the old bend as a separate body of water. Left to its own devices, that abandoned channel slowly silts up and turns into wetland — which is exactly what has happened around Křivé jezero. The lake is surrounded by a nature reserve holding onto fragments of hard and soft floodplain forest, regularly flooded meadows, and a scatter of smaller pools formed by the same meandering history.

Why is it protected?

The area was declared a National Nature Reserve (Národní přírodní rezervace) back in 1973, covering 116.4 hectares on the right bank of the Dyje floodplain, spanning the cadastral territories of Milovice and Nové Mlýny at elevations of 163–165 m. It's one of the few stretches of South Moravia where the original floodplain forest — a landscape that once ran the length of the Dyje valley before drainage and farming took over most of it — survives largely intact. That rarity earned the site recognition as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, and it sits within the wider Pálava Protected Landscape Area, one of the most ecologically significant regions in the Czech Republic.

What's actually there to see?

The signature feature is the pollard willows scattered through the reserve — trees that locals once regularly cut back for firewood and basket-making material, leaving them with the gnarled, hollow-trunked shapes now considered a symbol of the South Moravian floodplain landscape. Those hollow trunks double as habitat for cavity-nesting birds and insects. Beyond the main lake, the reserve holds several smaller pools and backwaters left by the river's old course, which reconnect with the main Dyje channel during high water and keep the whole area's wetland character shifting through the seasons.

How do you get there, and when?

The reserve borders a popular walking route between Milovice and Nové Mlýny, making it an easy add-on to a day spent around the Nové Mlýny reservoirs or exploring the Pálava region more broadly. Because it's a strict nature reserve, access is generally limited to marked paths — worth checking before you go, so you don't stray into a protected zone. Spring and early summer are the best times to visit, when the seasonal flooding of the meadows is most visible and the wetland's bird and insect life is at its most active.

Frequently asked questions

What is Křivé jezero? It's an oxbow lake — an abandoned river bend — left behind by the Dyje River, located near the Nové Mlýny reservoirs in South Moravia.

When was the area protected, and how large is it? It became a National Nature Reserve in 1973, covering 116.4 hectares of floodplain forest and meadow.

What makes it ecologically significant? A surviving fragment of original floodplain forest, several oxbow pools, and the region's characteristic pollard willows, which serve as both a landscape symbol and wildlife habitat.

Does it have any international recognition? Yes — it's listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.