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Plitvička jezera is the oldest national park in Croatia, established in 1949. The Park occupies 16 connected cascading lakes in the Lika region, specifically between Mala Kapela and Lička Plješivice. The lakes were included in 1979 to UNESCO’s world heritage list. All the lakes are connected by waterfalls, and their variation in depth and size creates fantastic and diverse shades of blue and green shining on the surface. The lake Prošćansko jezero has the highest altitude of 640m, and the lake Novakovića Brod (503 m) the lowest. The Upper lakes (12) are surrounded by thick forest and hidden planes, while the lower lakes are set on the limestone nourishing only small plants. There are numerous caves in the lower region. All the lakes mouth into Korana River.
The Park’s size is 300 km², out of which the lakes occupy only 2 km². The rest are the thick forests, mountain and hiking tracks, lookouts and lakesides. The hotel accommodation is also available at the National Park (near the lake Kozjak) and there are many places to stay around the Park, foremost in village households. Sightseeing can take you up two days so it is advisable to develop an itinerary. Help yourself with lake maps, electrical trains that drive people around, boats that flow on the lake and professional guides.
Water temperature in summer reaches up to 25 centigrade, and the lakes are abundant with fish (recreational fishing is allowed on certain places). Thick beech, abies, and spruce forests hide bears, badgers, foxes and wolfs. There is over 126 bird species and large number of butterflies.
Plitvička jezera are among those natural oases resisting civilisation. Each year there is more and more visitors (almost million a year) but that does not have a negative impact on environment, because anyone who ever glances Plitvice, realises the true beauty of nature and the necessity of its preservation for future generations.
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