Chasing Waterfalls
- Location: Plitvice National Park, Croatia
- Aug 13, 2015
- 5 min read
After spending the previous day fawning over the beauty of Krka National Park, we couldn’t wait to visit Plitvice National Park, known for its incredible number of waterfalls!
NACIONALNI PARK PLITVIČKA JEZERA
Plitvice Lakes National Park is made up of a large network of waterfalls and karstic lakes, which almost all shine with their turquoise-blue waters. It really was quite breathtaking to see such an astoundingly clear lake that was also so vividly colorful. And it seemed as though every where you turned there were waterfalls – miniature to large – coming out of the woodwork, tumbling over boulders, and gushing over cliff faces. Later I discovered that there are a total of 16 lakes that all flow into each other via this network of waterfalls, from the Upper Lakes to the Lower Lakes.
Once arriving at the National Park, we squeezed our rental car into a small space in the parking lot (which was absolutely over-flowing with vehicles), bought our entrance tickets and headed down the hill to the boat dock. From there we jumped onto the little ferry that scuttled us across the main lake, Jezero Kozjak, to the dock of the Upper Lakes. We allowed most of the large crowd of visitors to pass by, hoping it would allow us a chance to begin our hike and snap some photos in peace. This tactic only worked for about 20 minutes, unfortunately, before we caught up with the bustling crowd and then were joined by more people who had only recently disembarked the ferry. Whilst being squished between this person and that, our group was completely separated. My husband had disappeared into the crowds on the tiny boardwalk and I was suddenly left alone. Having grown up in a National Park, this wasn’t very concerning to me (it’s not like you can wander off the boardwalk here and get lost or end up in any sort of peril…well, you’d have to be pretty thick to do so, anyway), but I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to enjoy it with him.
I spent the next couple of hours searching for Brad and his friend, who I was sure he’d taken off with. But I made sure to also stop, take the time to enjoy the scenery and snap a couple of photos, while continuing to marvel at all of the waterfalls surrounding me. The boardwalk separated into multiple different paths at certain points, and at times I would even find stretches of boardwalk with no one on it. It was absolutely wonderful to have those moments of peace and silence to revel in the beauty of this place.
Before heading to the top of the trails where a bus that will connect you from the Upper Lakes to the Lower Lakes (on opposite ends from where you catch the ferries) departs, I finally found my husband and his friend. Together we headed back to the end of the trail to catch the bus – but only after I made them backtrack down the trail I had just been on to enjoy the views of the largest lake I had seen from the trailhead, which had waterfalls gushing into and all around it.
The bus (which was made up of 3 separate large compartments, attached to each other like train cars, and which made the most insane twists and turns to get us from one part of the park to the other), let us out on a cliff overlooking a large portion of the Lower Lakes. Side note: I was so glad we decided to take the bus between the two points, instead of hiking back down to the ferries, as the bus lets you off at the top of the cliff at the Lower Lakes, where as the ferry lets you off at the bottom…and then to see everything, you’d have to climb UP the cliff trail to the bus stop. Climbing a cliff in near 100º heat? As someone who is super susceptible to heat exhaustion and heat stroke (which did put me in the ER at the end of our trip), let me be the first to say: No. Thanks. However, hiking along the boardwalks by the water, plus keeping water bottles in hand (and backpack), made the heat less atrocious than it could have been. The only thing that would have made it better: being able to take a dip in those beautiful turquoise waters! (Which, by the by, is absolutely not allowed in Plitvice.)
If possible, the water at the Lower Lakes section of the park was even MORE beautiful than at the Upper Lakes! We walked along the edge of the boardwalk and stopped constantly to admire the clarity and colors of the water, and all of the things we could see in its depths – like the hundreds of little fish and even a sunken canoe!
We had seen on the little map (which doubled as our entry ticket) that the tallest waterfalls in the park were on this end of the park, so we headed in that direction to see what all the fuss was about.
These waterfalls are known as “Great Waterfall”, or Veliki Slap in Croatian. The pictures, unfortunately, do not do the size of these waterfalls justice. They were 78 meters (approx. 255ft) high, which, for the falls in this park, was rather tall. In the Summer, as happens to most bodies of water, the falls have dwindled down to probably a 1/3rd of the misty magnitude they boast in the early Spring. A beautiful sight nonetheless.
From Veliki Slap we began our hike to the boat dock to catch a ferry back to the Park entrance. On the return trek we continued to come across more of the amazing sights that Plitvice has to offer; verdant foliage, bountiful schools of thriving fish, many unique landscapes (including a cave network that was used in a movie at one point in time), the most vibrant lakes I’ve ever seen in my life, and many incredible & ethereal waterfalls.
Just like Krka, Plitvice was like entering another world; one that had been removed from our own reality and placed somewhere the harsh environments and conflict of our modern globalization can not touch or taint. As always, these places are an incredible experience, one that reminds us why it is so important to protect and preserve such amazing natural wonders. They provide a safe environment for the plants and animals (of which it has many) that call this oasis home, as well as a tranquil and awe-inspiring retreat for people from all over the world. It’s a place that the people of Croatia can pridefully claim is their own, and that brings visitors from across the globe to share and revel in the experience that is Plitvička Jezera. ♥M.
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