Plitvic Jezera, Croatia

Plitvicka Jezera: 

the colour of the water was an unbeliveable blue/green & extremely clear.

21st August

We got up at 7am to buy tickets to catch the campsite bus into the park to arrive at entrance number two. We managed to get there luckily getting a seat on the over-subscribed service. The drop off was by the road with no indication of where the entrance was and we began to walk down a very steep incline to where we thought an entrance might be. Unfortunately, as we had no children tagging with us or elderly folk we found ourselves leading a convoy of people possibly the wrong way towards the lakes!

Some huge 'slaps' (which we think is Croatian for 'waterfalls')

As luck would have it we found the entrance, paid the £15 entrance fee ( to a UNESCO site!) and waited for the state style bus which comprised three old carriages, hooked up together and pulled by a giant tractor engine. It was standing room only and at times we could make out through the trees the blue and green lakes around us but nothing could prepare us for the number of waterfalls we saw that day. It was absolutely beautiful.
We chose the 4-6 hour walk which at time seemed hard to achieve given the number of people we had to negotiate on a very slim board walk that wound its way all around the park and down with the drops of the waterfall. The heat was really oppressive and it was extremely muggy. The waters were so clear - and you were not allowed to touch the water, let alone swim, something to do with a delicate chemical balance - although despite this several people were chancing their luck at getting caught.

Fish! So many fish... absolutely everywhere.

 You could make out the depth of the ponds yet still see huge shoals of trout and carp swimming around. Oddly, the only bird life in the park seemed to be ducks although the wildlife is supposed to be brimming - I think this may be something to do with an over zealous tourist board as they say that there are bears, wolves, owls, large birds of prey - well, we saw diddley squat except for the fish!
We would really like to visit this park again but perhaps when it is not so busy - or maybe when some sort of queuing system is devised for alighting the buses and boats used to traverse the park…believe me in August you have to fight for everything.

Rewards after a long, hot day.

Immediately after finishing the walk we splashed out on a Cornetto each and, of course, a beer for Paul. After waiting nearly two hours to catch a bus back to the camp site, as they were all so full, we headed back to the camp for a drink and a rest - we were exhausted but had had a thoroughly enjoyable day.