The Most Popular Tourist Attraction in Croatia
By Twisted Sifter on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 filed under NATURE.
Photograph by Jack Brauer
All of the Croatian people I have met through my years have alwaystalked about the natural beauty of their homeland. I always nodded inagreement because it struck me that most people shared the samesentiment, regardless of their origin. This says to me, that naturalbeauty and splendor are everywhere. Our planet is a wonderful place andthere are countless gems like the Plitvice Lakes National Park inCroatia, for us to appreciate and preserve.
The Plitvice Lakes National Park was granted UNESCO WorldHeritage status in 1979. The beauty of the National Park lies in itssixteen lakes, inter-connected by a series of waterfalls, and set indeep woodland populated by deer, bears, wolves, boars and rare birdspecies
Photograph by Roman Bonnefoy
The National Park covers a total area of 300 squarekilometers (116 sq. miles), whilst the lakes join together over adistance of eight kilometers (5 miles).
The sixteen lakes are separated into an upper and lowercluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from analtitude of 636 meters (2,087 ft) to 503 meters (1,650 feet) over adistance of some eight km (5 miles), aligned in a south-northdirection. The lakes collectively cover an area of about two square km,with the water exiting from the lowest lake to form the Korana River.
The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours,ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colours changeconstantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in thewater and the angle of sunlight.
There’s also quite an altitude difference - the highestpoint is at 1,280 meters (4,200 ft), the lowest at 380 meters (1,247ft) - although the total height difference between the lakes themselvesis only 135 meters (443 ft). Veliki Slap is the largest waterfall, at 70 meters (230 ft) tall.
Photograph by Henning Schroder
Brief History
The Plitvice Lakes had become a major tourist attraction in the late19th century. The first hotel was built there in 1896, and as early as1893 it already had a conservation committee - the predecessor oftoday’s national park authority. In 1949 the communist government ofYugoslavia nationalized the lakes and made them a national park. Thepark was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 inrecognition of its “outstanding natural beauty, and the undisturbedproduction of travertine (tuff) through chemical and biological action”.
The park soon became one of Yugoslavia’s most popular touristattractions. However, in March 1991 it became the scene of the PlitviceLakes incident - the first armed confrontation of the Croatian War ofIndependence that resulted in fatalities. The park was held by forcesof the Republic of Serbian Krajina during the conflict and sufferedsome damage in the process, with hotels and other facilities being usedas barracks. At auto-camp Grabovac there were civilian deaths (threechildren) from a Yugoslav Army shell in September 1991[4]. It wasretaken by the Croatian Army in August 1995 during Operation Storm,which ended the Croatian war.
- Source: Wikipedia
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Photograph by Roybb95
SOURCES
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plitvice_Lakes_National_Park
- http://www.visit-croatia.co.uk/plitvicelakes/
There are unattributed photos in this post as a source could notbe found. If you see an image that is yours and would like properaccrediation please contact me. I will gladly provide links to theoriginal source or remove the image in its entirety.
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