Founded in the Southeast Europe, Croatia, Plitvice Lakes National Park is the largest in the country extending over 296.85 square kilometers. It was founded in 1949 in the mountainous karst area at the border to Bosnia Herzegovina. The name Plitvice was designated due to the natural occurrence of lakes. Currently there are 16 lakes which are grouped into the 12 Upper Lakes and the four Lower Lakes. There have been shallow basins which were eventually filled with water constantly changing the limestone and landscape of the area. The travertine barriers decelerated and retained the flowing water.
Collectively the lakes cover about two km in area and the most significant part about these lakes is that there distinctive colours spreaded across a wide range from azure to green, grey or blue. This is due to the minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. Plitvice’s annual precipitation is about 1500 mm. The area of the Park extends across two political subdivisions or counties divided between Lika-Senj County and Karlovac County. There are also 19 small settlements within the park. The park is surrounded by various mountains. In the western side there is the Mala Kapela Mountain, eastern side is enclosed by Plješevica Mountain. There are also many caves associated with lakes like Golubnjača Cave, Šupljara Cave, Mračna Cave, Vila Jezerkinje Cave, the Čudinka pit-cave, Jama on Vršić, Rodića Cave at Sertić, Poljana and Mračna Cave etc. When talking about the lakes we find here, they originate from English White River and English Black River.
The park is also heavily forested with beech, spruce and fir trees giving a texture of Alpine and Mediterranean vegetation. There are around 1,267 different plants in the park. Also there are 55 different species of orchids found here. The National Park is home for a wide variety of animal and bird species with loads of rare fauna like European brown bear, wolf, eagle, owl, lynx, wild cat, and capercaillie etc. There are about 50 species of mammals, 321 different kinds of butterflies, 12 amphibian species. As for the birds, 157 species are discovered up to now. Recent findings list about 20 different kinds of bat species, among them the rare species of Plecotus.
Travellers' Guide
If you are planning to visit Plitvice Lakes National Park, buses between Zagreb and Zadar or Split will stop at the entrance to the National Park. There is also a camping site in the nearby town with fine facilities like clean toilets, a small shop, and a couple of dining places.
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