Plitvice Lakes isthe most famous Croatian national park Plitvice. The area wasdeclared national park in 1949, and in 1979 it was inscribed on theUNESCO's World Heritage List. The park spreads over 29,842 hectares(22,308 ha of forests, 217 ha of waters, 6,957 ha of meadows withrural areas). The Plitvice Lakes are divided into Upper and LowerLakes. The Upper Lakes are: Proscanskojezero, Ciginovac, Okrugljak, Batinovac, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero,Vir, Galovac, Milino jezero, Gradinsko jezero, Burgeti andthe biggest one among Plitvice Lakes -Kozjak. These are the Lower Lakes:Milanovac, Gavanovac, Kaluderovacand NovakovicaBrod. More than three quarters of the park, about 14,000hectares, are covered with forests of beech, silver fir, Norwayspruce and Scots pine, and the rest are meadows and pastures withscattered hamlets. Because of the height range from around 400 m to1200 m, this area contains 11 forest units. There are also many rareplant species in the park, such as saxifrage, European yew, Europeanpeony. In the northwestern part of the park (the site called Corkovauvala), there is a unique rainforest, dominated by beech and fir,with very big specimens of trees. This rainforest was declaredspecial reservation of forest vegetation in 1965. When it comes tothe animal world, the most famous inhabitants are bears, wolves andotters. The brown bear is also the symbol of the park. Besides them,there are wild boars, skunks, squirrels, rabbits, foxes, etc. Thepark has registered 126 bird species, with around 70 nesting herepermanently. There are also brown trouts in the lakes. The highestwaterfall of the Plitvice Lakes is called Veliki slap, with waterfalling from 78 meters high. The Plitvice Lakes are visited byhundreds of thousands of visitors a year, and the individual ticketprices depend on the season (July, August - about 24 euros; April,May, June, September, October-about 15 euros, other months 7.5euros). Children, pupils and students have special discounts. Insidethe park there are numerous restaurants and facilities, cycle lanesand walking paths, and in the winter time you can enjoy in the skiresort Mukinje. You can find an accommodation in a hotel, privateapartments or camps. The park is open every day from 8 to 16 o'clock.

photo: NP Plitvička jezera, Solaris Beach Resort; video: NP Plitvička jezera, HTZ