Plitvice Lakes (Plitvička jezera) are situated in the central part of Croatia, in the eastern part of the Lika - Senj County. This national park lies on the halfway between Zagreb and Zadar. The main town of the municipality is Korenica. So, to be more precise, the lakes are located in the southeastern part of Europe. The Croatian territory on which the lakes are positioned is characterized by transition from flat land to mountain area. There’s something quite interesting for this area. If you travel from Zagreb to Plitvice, you are about to change two types of climate - continental one, which is typical for the capital and the mountain climate as you approach the lakes. If you continue your trip to Zadar, you will enter the area of Mediterranean climate.Du ring the Croatian War of Independence many neighboring territories were mined. In this way the Croatian military forces were trying to stop the enemies. Even nowadays there are some suspicions that this area is mine contaminated, but it hasn’t been proven. Our advice to you would be that you stick to the safe area and avoid going into unknown fields and such. Now, we shall turn back hundred years ago and put an emphasis on the scientists who pointed out the need of protection for the territory of the Plitvice Lakes as really valuable monument of nature. The lakes were explored by botanicians, biologists, geographers, geologists and other experts. The first legal protection of the Plitvice Lakes was realized for a short time in year 1928/1929 under the then Financial Code.

Based on the action ruling the National Parks, passed in 1948, the Parliament of the National Republic of Croatia passed on its regular session in April 1949 a Code on declaring the Plitvice Lakes a Natural Park - as the area of a special natural beauty. The last change took place in 1997 when enlargement of Park borders towards its belonging drainage basin of 266 km2 was legalized. The organization of the United Nations, in fact its UNESCO office noticed the exceptional natural uniqueness of this National park and enrolled the Plitvice Lakes in 1979 on the list of World's cultural and natural inheritance. So, let’s talk about the very lakes. The lakes are situated on the Plitvice plateau, between the mountains of Lička Plješevica, Mala Kapela and Medveđak. Regarding these sixteen lakes there is a division into upper and lower lakes. This separation has been caused by runoff which originates from the mountains. The water which exits from the lowest lake forms the Korana River. The lakes are characterized by their distinctiveness in color - the colors range from azure to green, gray or blue. These variations in colors depend on the amount of minerals or organisms in the water, and the angle of sunlight also plays an important role. There are 12 Upper and 4 Lower Lakes. The Plitvice Lakes national park is covered with forests. The most common are beech, spruce and fir trees and, of course, we must not forget to mention typical Alpine and Mediterranean vegetation. This park is a paradise for various bird species. Here you can see some rare animal examples such as wolf, lynx, brown bear and alike. This area has been settled in turn by Illyrians, Thracians, Celts, Japods, Romans, Avars, Slavs and Turks. In the 16th century the area fell to the Ottomans before being retaken by the Austrian Empire in the same century. The Austrians incorporated it into their Military Frontier and, in addition to the native Croats, the Serbs who had fled Ottoman repression settled there. The Plitvice Lakes had become a major tourist attraction in the late 19th century. In 1949 the communist government of Yugoslavia nationalized the lakes and made them a national park. The park was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

One of the many beautiful waterfalls in Plitvice Lakes

The park soon became one of Yugoslavia's most popular tourist attractions. However, in March 1991 it became the scene of the Plitvice Lakes incident - the first armed confrontation of the Croatian War of Independence that resulted in fatalities. The park was held by forces of the Republic of Serbian Krajina during the conflict and suffered some damage in the process, with hotels and other facilities being used as barracks. At auto-camp Grabovac there was massacre of civilians (three children) by the Yugoslav Army in September of 1991. It was retaken by the Croatian Army in August 1995 during Operation Storm, which ended the Croatian war. The war led UNESCO to add the park to its List of World Heritage in Danger. Due to the economic importance of the park, the Croatian government made it a priority for its de-mining efforts and in December 1998 UNESCO recognized the park's newly mine-free status by removing it from the list of endangered sites. The Plitvice Lakes are today one of Croatia's biggest tourist attractions. In 2000, the national park was expanded by a further 102 km². So, we have mentioned that there is division into Upper and Lower Lakes. Let’s just say something about the Upper Lakes:

Prošćansko Lake: This place is an intersection of the Black and White river. The deepest point of the lake is 37 m, and the lake is situated approximately 640 m above the sea level. So, the lake is very wide and deep and this is an explanation for the dark green color of the lake.
Ciganovac Lake: In English the term for this would be Gypsy’s Lake. According to the legend some Gypsy drowned in this lake while he was on the fishing. This lake receives water from Prošćansko Lake via a canal, which has been dug out. The lake is situated at the height of 620m above the sea level and its deepest point is in the middle of the lake and is located at 11 m.
Okrugljak Lake: This Lake got its name after its round shape. Namely, this name, when translated into English, would denote something round. This lake is placed 613m above the sea level and its deepest point of the lake is at 15m.
Batinovac Lake: This lake is situated 610m above the sea level and its deepest point is at 5m.The lake is surrounded by high beech trees, while a cleverly made path goes along the series of small waterfalls on which travertine creations made by travertine - forming - plants and mosses can be seen.
Big Lake: Despite its name the surface of this lake amounts 0,02 m2. It is situated 607 m above the sea level and its deepest point is at 8 m.
Small Lake: This Lake is situated at approximately 600 m above the level of the sea and its deepest pint is at 10 m. It’s characterized by low vegetation and many small waterfalls are to found here.
Vir Lake: This Lake got its name after the whirling of water which is very common feature within this area. This lake is situated 598m above the sea level and its deepest point is at 4m.
Galovac Lake: The Lake is located 582m above the sea level and its deepest point is at 24m. This is the third biggest lake of the Plitvice.
Galovački buk was once the most important and prominent fall of the Upper lakes, but unfortunately the most of the waterfall dried up.
Milino Lake: This Lake was name after a man called Mile Marić, who drowned in this lake. This lake is located 564m above the sea level and its depth is only 1m.
Gradinsko Lake: This Lake is situated approximately 553m above the sea level and its deepest point is at 10m in the most western section. The lake is unique for its color - namely the color oscillates from light green to white in shallow parts and then to dark green in deeper parts.
Burgeti or Bukovi: This Lake is situated at 534 m above the level of the sea and its deepest point is at 2 m. We talk here about a chain of small and shallow lakes which are separated from each other by travertine barriers. This part is covered with low vegetation. - a chain of small shallow lakes separated by travertine barriers, and covered by low vegetation. The name comes from agitated water flow in small scars which make noise or "boil". Here the remains of the small building are to be found and this building is connected with the usage of Plitvice water for production of electricity.
The Kozjak Lake: When translated into English the name of this lake would be the Goat Lake. So, the lake got its name after 30 goats that drowned in it while crossing it. The lake is situated 534m above the sea level and its deepest point has 46m, while the length of the lake amounts 2350 m. The particularity of this lake is Stefanija's island. This island has the shape of an ellipse and it is situate at the enlargement of the very lake. Stefanija’s island is comprised of dolomite rocks and is covered with low vegetation, beach and hazel nut trees. The Island was named after princess Stefanija who visited the Plitvice Lakes in 1888.

One can find some very interesting formations which dictate the flow of the streams in Plitvice Lakes

The Lower Lakes:

Milanovac Lake: There are two legends in regard to the origin of the name of this lake. One says that it was name after a shepherd Mile who drowned in it, while the other one states that it got its name after a man called Mile who owned a mill at the lake. This lake is the biggest one amongst the Lower Lakes. It is located 532m above the sea. The main feature of the lake is variety in color spectrum. The color goes from bluish to greenish and this depends on daily light or brightness of the sky. A great number of caves and semi - caves are to be found here.
Gavanovac Lake: According to the legend, some treasure disappeared in this lake. The lake is situated at 514m above the level of the sea. There are assumptions that water flows out from the bottom of the lake to sub terrain in unknown direction, but this assumption has not yet been proved scientifically.
Kaluđerovo Lake: This Lake got its name after a type of priest, a monk who used to live within this area. The lake is placed at approximately 500 m above the level of the sea and its depth is around 13 m.
Novakovića Brod Lake: It is the last of the Plitvice Lakes, situated 503m above the sea level and its depth is 3 m. At the end of this lake there are a large number of waterfalls that form the depression known under the name Sastavci.

At the end, we shall mention and say something about the biggest attractions in the first Croatian national park:

Cave Park: This Park, as its name says, is comprised of a number of semi - caves and cave canals.
Milan's cave is a travertine creation, that is approximately 10m long under the north side of Kozjak waterfalls, but today's access to it is neglected and very inconvenient for majority of the Plitvice visitors. If you’re interested in visiting this area, don’t forget to bring along your own lamps and batteries.
Milka Trnina's cave is situated in the vicinity of the waterfall which bears the same name. It’s a really narrow cave, only 2 m wide. There are some of stalactites and stalagmites inside.
Blue cave: There are only bats living on the ceiling of this cave.
Šupljara cave: The interior of this cave is poorly decorated, although according to its entrance, you expect to see much more.
Lower Kaluđerova cave: This is in fact a semi - cave.
Upper Kaluđerova cave: This is in fact just remaining of a large cave space. The path goes through the 17 m long tunnel, which has no decorations.
Kostrelčeva cave: This cave is situated beneath the road which goes along the Plitvica stream waterfall. The cave is about 30m long with one side channel and quite a big hall, on the top of which a small hole is located, from where the light penetrates and the water leaks. It is filled with small stalactite shapes in the form of small pipes and travertine forms with traces of plants and mosses.
Little cave Koranska: This cave is situated on the left side of the Korana flow and contains some large stalactite and stalagmite forms at the end of the channel.
Black cave: This cave is also located on the left side of the Korana flow, at its third fall. This cave is in fact an obliquely placed canal. Today its entrance is covered by water and now it is not possible to pass through.
Golubnjača cave: This cave has two big entrances. It dominates over the right shore of the Korana That is a network of several canyons through which 230 stairs have been carved, and not appropriate concrete bridge was placed there. For some time, the cave was electrified, there was a special guide for this cave and the entrance was protected by gates.

There are few more speleological interesting caves in the Korana canyon that have been formed in limestone: Big cave, Dark cave and Small Dark cave while Travertine cave is located about 10m under the asphalt road. The visitors are not being taken into these caves, because the soil layers contain paleontological and archaeological remains. There is a long cave close here within this area, which contains a bone remains of extinct cave bear. There are about ten speleological phenomena - caves, cavities and icicles located around the village Jezerce. The most prominent one is Čudinka cavity, which is about 200m deep and an interesting icicle is just close to it.