Croatia: Plitvice Lakes National Park

Once upon a time, Nicole saw a picture of turquoise water, myriad waterfalls, and tall trees and fell in love with Plitvice Lakes, a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site. And she dreamed of someday going to Croatia to see them.

Here is what she wrote on Instagram on our 127th day of travel:

“Easily winning in the category of most beautiful outdoor destination in the last 127 days of world travel: Plitvice Lakes in Croatia! Natural wood walkways meandering through a series of turquoise lakes with limestone bottoms spilling over into myriad waterfalls. Then, to top it off, entirely surrounded by trees with their most brilliantly colored fall leaves! Even the pictures don’t capture the full impact of this beauty!”

In October, we started our journey to Plitvice by going the the riverside town of Rastoke. The ingenious residents build their home right over the river, diverting it to run under their homes to power mills. Today it is a wonder to behold!

Plitvice was proclaimed Croatia’s first National Park in 1949. It is the largest of eight national parks. In 1979 it was also included in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage sites — I’m surprised it took that long as this area should be declared one of the wonders of the world!

The first view you get of the lakes is the park’s highest waterfall, where we took our family jumping picture.

It really is a lesson in science and the natural beauty that is created over many centuries. The sixteen lakes cascades from one to the other down a long valley.

Science lesson from the visitors guide: “The Park represents a phenomenon of karst hydrography… an ongoing biodynamic process of tufa formation under specific ecological and hydrological conditions. Tufa or travertine is a porous carbonate rock formed by the sedimentation of calcium carbonate from water. It builds barriers, sills and other forms in karst rivers and streams. The travertine formation process is especially prominent in the Plitvice Lakes waterfalls and is constant, happening even while visitors are enjoying their walk through the park.”

Here are some pictures of underwater vegetation that has started to calcify right before your eyes!

“With this travertine development magnificent waterfalls are created. Over time the water changes its course, leaving some barriers dry but stimulating tufa growth in other places. This phenomenon creates the feeling that the Plitvice Lakes are never the same from one day to the next.” (Visitors guide)

“The broader zone of the national park hides rich forest and meadow habitats with many diverse species of plants and animals. The forest communities are predominantly make of of beech and fir… To date, 1267 different species of plants including 75 endemic plants and 55 different species of orchis, have been recorded in the park, gives a good overall picture of the richness of the flora. Studies to date in the park area have recorded 321 species of butterflies, 161 species of birds and 21 species of bats, indicating the richness of the animal world here. Of the carnivores, the most attractive inhabitants of the Plitvice forest is the brown bear.”

At each new curve in the pathway, we exclaimed, “Oh my goodness! This is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!” And at the next curve along the pathway, we would again sigh and exclaim, “No no wait… THIS is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen!” And this went on for hours!

Plitvice Lakes, Croatia — the most beautiful natural destination we have yet seen on Our World Edventure!