Stepin Lug or Gaj is a park-forest and, for the most part, non-residential suburban settlement of Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. It is located in Belgrade's municipalities of Voždovac and Zvezdara. It is part of the forest complex Stepin Lug-Baba Velka-Torlak-Jajinci, which is the largest wooden area in Belgrade.
Stepin Lug or formerly known as Titov Gaj or just Gaj, is a memorial complex, a park-wood with an area of, out of which has been protected and maintained. Stepin Lug can be divided into several areas:
Stepin Lug, in the northern section of the wood. Bounded by the small street of the Zavojnička reka, it is located in the municipality of Zvezdara. It occupies the small hill of Stražarska kosa and two smaller sub-areas of Baba Velka and Dugo bilo.
Gaj or formerly Titov Gaj, in the central section. It occupies the area of the hill of Golo brdo, between the creeks of Bubanj Potok and Kamena voda.
Lipovica, in the northern section, the least forested area of Stepin Lug, along the Kružni put. It should not bee confused with the much more popular recreational area of Lipovica in the municipality of Barajevo.
Plantlife
The area has a 13 distinct tree communities, but the number of the separate species is three times larger as many species were planted later even though they are not autohtonous, including both conifers and deciduous trees. They include: Evergreen trees:
In March 2015, an area of had been reforested with the white ash and red oak, one hectare and 2,000 seedlings each.
Wildlife
The wildlife comprises hares, roes, pheasants. and wild hogs.
Characteristics
Important historical features are the vicinity of the Torlak hill and its importance in the battles for Belgrade in the World War I and the memorial-house of vojvoda Stepa Stepanović, one of the main army-leaders of the Serbian army. On 23 May 1972 the wooded complex Torlak-Baba Velka was declared a park under the name "Titov Gaj", celebrating Yugoslav Communist president Josip Broz Tito's 80th birthday. Stepin Lug has a hiking and jogging path. While it was called Titov Gaj, a mountain hut was built especially for him. He never visited the hut and it burned in the fire in the early 2010s. Also in the early 2010s, Stepin Lug was mentioned as a possible location of the Belgrade Zoo, if the old one is to be moved out of the Kalemegdan.
