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Title: The Most Popular Tourist Attraction in Croatia
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URL Source: http://twistedsifter.com/2009/12/pl ... e-lakes-national-park-croatia/
Published: Oct 24, 2010
Author: Twisted Sifter
Post Date: 2010-10-24 17:40:06 by James Deffenbach
Keywords: None
Views: 818
Comments: 55
. All of the Croatian people I have met through my years have always talked about the natural beauty of their homeland. I always nodded in agreement because it struck me that most people shared the same sentiment, regardless of their origin. This says to me, that natural beauty and splendor are everywhere. Our planet is a wonderful place and there are countless gems like the Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia, for us to appreciate and preserve. . . The Plitvice Lakes National Park was granted UNESCO World Heritage status in 1979. The beauty of the National Park lies in its sixteen lakes, inter-connected by a series of waterfalls, and set in deep woodland populated by deer, bears, wolves, boars and rare bird species. . . The National Park covers a total area of 300 square kilometers (116 sq. miles), whilst the lakes join together over a distance of eight kilometers (5 miles). . . The sixteen lakes are separated into an upper and lower cluster formed by runoff from the mountains, descending from an altitude of 636 meters (2,087 ft) to 503 meters (1,650 feet) over a distance of some eight km (5 miles), aligned in a south-north direction. 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 change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight. . . There’s also quite an altitude difference - the highest point is at 1,280 meters (4,200 ft), the lowest at 380 meters (1,247 ft) - although the total height difference between the lakes themselves is only 135 meters (443 ft). Veliki Slap is the largest waterfall, at 70 meters (230 ft) tall. . . Brief History The Plitvice Lakes had become a major tourist attraction in the late 19th century. The first hotel was built there in 1896, and as early as 1893 it already had a conservation committee - the predecessor of today’s national park authority. 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 in 1979 in recognition of its “outstanding natural beauty, and the undisturbed production of travertine (tuff) through chemical and biological action”. 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 were civilian deaths (three children) from a Yugoslav Army shell in September 1991[4]. It was retaken by the Croatian Army in August 1995 during Operation Storm, which ended the Croatian war. - Source: Wikipedia . . . . .
Photograph by Jack Brauer 
Photograph by Roman Bonnefoy 
Photograph by Henning Schroder 
Photograph by Roybb95
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#53. To: James Deffenbach (#0)
Beautiful photos.
#55. To: Armadillo (#53)
When you win the lotto here is another place that you might like to visit. Whenever I come across images of places like Iguazu Falls, my urge to drop everything and travel this beautiful planet overwhelms my senses. There is so much to experience in this world, it’s a little saddening to know how many people never get to explore the world beyond their immediate surroundings. Thankfully there’s pictures and the power of human imagination to take us to places we may never see in real life. 1. Iguazu Falls aka Iguassu Falls or Iguaçu Falls, are waterfalls of the Iguazu River located on the border of the Brazilian state of Paraná and the Argentine province of Misiones. The falls divide the river into the upper and lower Iguazu. 2. The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the Iguazu River. 3. The first European to find the falls was the Spanish Conquistador Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca in 1541, after whom one of the falls in the Argentine side is named. The falls were rediscovered by Boselli at the end of the nineteenth century, and one of the Argentine falls is named after him. 4. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 meters (269 ft) in height, though the majority are about 64 metres (210 ft). The Devil’s Throat (Garganta del Diablo in Spanish or Garganta do Diabo in Portuguese), a U-shaped, 82-meter-high (269 ft) , 150-meter-wide and 700-meter-long (490 by 2,300 feet) cataract, is the most impressive of all, marking the border between Argentina and Brazil. Two thirds of the falls are within Argentine territory. 5. About 900 meters (0.56 miles) of the 2.7-kilometer length (1.67 miles) does not have water flowing over it. The edge of the basalt cap recedes only 3 mm (0.1 in) per year. The water of the lower Iguazu collects in a canyon that drains into the Paraná River at Argentina, shortly downstream from the Itaipu dam. 6. Iguazu currently has the greatest average annual flow of any waterfall in the world. The water falling over Iguazu in peak flow has a surface area of about 40 Ha (1.3 million ft²) whilst Victoria in peak flow has a surface area of over 55 ha (1.8 million ft²). By comparison, Niagara has a surface area of under 18.3 ha (600,000 ft²). (Appears to be an error in the figures--if Iguazu actually has the greatest average annual flow, they must have mixed up the figures for it and Victoria because 1.8 million feet is a good bit more than 1.3 million). 7. Taller than Niagara Falls and twice as wide, Iguazu Falls are the result of a volcanic eruption which left a large crack in the earth. During the rainy season of November - March, the rate of flow of water going over the falls may reach 450,000 cubic feet (12,750 cubic m) per second. 8. The best times to see Iguazu Falls are in the spring and fall. Summer is intensely tropically hot and humid, and in winter the water level is considerably lower. 9. The area is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. 10. On her first sight of the tremendous falls, Eleanor Roosevelt exclaimed: “Poor Niagara!” . . .
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When I think of natural beauty, Croatia never comes to mind.
Maybe someday, after I win the Lotto, I can visit.
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