Plitvička Jezera

The Lakes of Plitvitza - Plitvice Lakes National Park

Useful Information

photography — Plitvička Jezera, Croatia. Public Domain.

Location:	Close to the Bosnia-Hercegovina border. 140 km south of Zagreb.
Open:	Spring, Autumn daily 8-18, ticket office daily 8-14. Summer daily 7-20, ticket office daily 7-16. Winter daily 8-16, ticket office daily 8-12. [2010]
Fee:	NOV to MAR: Adults HRK 80, Children (7-18) HRK 40, Children (0-6) free. Groups (15+): Adults HRK 70, Children (7-18) HRK 35. APR to OCT: Adults HRK 110, Children (7-18) HRK 55, Children (0-6) free. Groups (15+): Adults HRK 100, Children (7-18) HRK 50. [2010]
Classification:	Rimstone Pool tufa caves.
Light:	none, bring torch
Dimension:	A=417 m to 1,280 m asl
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Nacionalni Park Plitvička Jezera, 53231 Plitvička Jezera, Tel: +385-53-751015, Fax: +385-53-751013, E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1777	first mentioned by the Otočac priest Dominik Vukasović.
08-APR-1949	proclaimed a national park.
1979	inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
1992	placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger because of the war.
1996	removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger.
JAN-1997	the Parliament of Croatia expanded the borders of the Park.

Description

The lakes of Plitvitza are a famous and well visited tourist destination. A wide valley with numerous subsequent green-blue lakes, connected by waterfalls and white water. This location is very famous, especially in Germany, because of a 1960s western movie. The movie Treasure of Silver Lake (Der Schatz im Silbersee) was a German/Yugoslavian co-production with Lex Barker, Herbert Lom, and Pierre Brice. The original book was written by Karl May, a popular German author of adventure stories in the 19th century.

And still many visitors think about silver lakes when they see this mystic and beautiful place. Today it is a nature reserve giving home to many rare animals including the famous last brown bears of western Europe. But we will concentrate on the geologic features of this park.

The area around this lakes is a bare karst area. The water in the lakes is karst water, very rich in dissolved limestone. When it resurges at the upper end of the valley it starts to loose carbon dioxide (CO₂), the gase which enables the water to solute the limestone. As soon as a little carbon dioxide is gone, the respective amount of limestone is deposited. Algae and moss helps in consuming carbon dioxide from the water for their photosynthesis. The limestone is deposited in the whole valley, but moss is able to hold the limestone and gets incrusted after some time, just to grow over the limestone again. This processes create a typical effect, the formation of huge barriers of limestone across the valley, which dam the water and form the lakes. The water flows over the dam depositing limestone on the top of it.

This process leads to famous deposits of sweet water limestone, also called tufa or travertine. The rims may encapsulate blisters of air which are called tufa caves, primary caves which are created with the surrounding rock.