Tararps jättegrytor, Naturreservat

Welcome to visit a giant pot area from the Ice Age, with about ten giant pots, in a mountainous oak, pine and beech forest area. The northern parts of the reserve are dominated by deciduous swamp forests and open marshes.

Giant pot with a cracked side wall. Photographer: E. Wallsten/Länsstyrelsen

Blekinge

Outdoor life and accessibility

The nature reserve is easily accessible, with a small visitor parking lot along Tararpsvägen. From the parking lot you can via a dirt road and a marked path get around the giant pot area in the southern part of the reserve. The trail is just over 600 meters long. There is a picnic area with tables and benches on a rocky outcrop adjacent to the trail. The northern parts of the reserve, which are dominated by wetlands, have no paths.

There are no accessibility adaptations within the nature reserve. The dirt road in the south is relatively level, but hilly. The marked path leading through the giant potato area is hilly in places, passing through woodland and over rocky outcrops.

Istida giant potholes

In the southern parts of the nature reserve there are about ten large and small potholes in the bedrock. During the last two million years of glaciation, small cavities and irregularities in the bedrock have been excavated and enlarged by grinding rotating blocks, stones and gravel in flowing glacial river water. However, some of the original smaller pits may have been formed already during the Mesozoic geological era (252-66 million years ago), when the climate was tropically humid here and small weathering pits were formed by deep weathering of the bedrock. Oceans then moved in over the area and sedimentary sand, clay and limestone rocks protected the weathering pits for millions of years before the area became land again and the sedimentary rocks were worn away. The weathering pits then became visible again, and ice-rafted rock material of different sizes could get stuck in them in a swirling, rotating dance.

Tararp's giant pot field was designated a natural monument in 1966, to protect the pot formations. The larger of the nature reserve's giant pots are up to a couple of meters in diameter and about the same depth. Some of the smaller pots are surprisingly deep, relative to their diameter. One of the larger pots has cracked, so parts of the wall have disappeared and you can see what it looks like in cross-section from the side.

Throughout history, giant pots have captured people's imagination and there is a great deal of folklore associated with them. Coins and other offerings have been found in giant pots and they got their name, giant pots, from the belief that giants used to cook their food in the pits.

Forests on ancient outcrops

The nature reserve is located in the old outlying areas of Tararp village. The southern, mountainous parts of the reserve are characterized by oak, pine and beech-dominated forests and open rocky areas. The forests are largely multi-layered and diverse, with stand ages of up to 150 years. These lands have probably been forested for a very long time. A map from 1781 indicates that there was then 'Stor Boke Skog' around here.

The northern parts of the nature reserve are dominated by deciduous swamp forests and open marshlands, with elements of willow scrub. The field layer is abundant with missne. The wetland is affected by a drainage ditch to the south, down through the giant potato area.

The dirt road, which runs east-west through the southern parts of the reserve and then turns north to the east of the nature reserve, is partly a hollow road. It is shown on the map from 1781 and is called "Somar Wägen" (summer road). West of the wetland, where Tararpsvägen runs today, "Winter Wägen" ran north. The wetland's inflow from the north and original runoff to the west probably made it too wet to use the western road, the winter road, when the ground was not frozen. The summer road and the winter road joined a bit north of the nature reserve. Other cultural-historical remains within the reserve include a stone bridge, stone walls and fossil cairns on previously cultivated areas.