Plitvice Lakes

The Plitvice Lakes (Croatian: Plitvicka jezera) is a most famous national park in Croatia. It is among the most beautiful sights in Europe. It is called "Pearl of Continental Croatia" and it is one of Croatia's most popular tourist attractions.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park consists of 16 lakes that are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of 636 m to 503 m over a distance of some eight km, aligned in a south-north direction. The largest and deepest (47m) lake is Kozjak with 81.5 hectares of area. Prošćan Lake is the second largest and stretches from the south to the north in a length of 2.5 kilometers. The lakes are separated by natural dams of travertine, which is deposited by the action of moss, algae and bacteria. The encrusted plants and bacteria accumulate on top of each other, forming travertine barriers which grow at the rate of about 1 cm per year. The Plitvice Lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. Rare fauna such as the European brown bear, wolf, eagle, owl, lynx and wild cat and can be found there, along with many more common species.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 in recognition of its "outstanding natural beauty, and the undisturbed production of travertine (tuff) through chemical and biological action".

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