“SCENIC BEAUTY”
INTRODUCTION
We are on the way to introduce you guys to the beauty of this world. This world is really beautiful. It is really difficult for someone to explore and see the beauty of the world. Some areas of the world are really amazing but these are not easily reachable. But today’s destination is not only beautiful but easily accessible as well. We are going to take you guys to another destination and a country with marvelous beauty. Today our destination is Plitvice Lakes National Park which is located in Croatia. This is a real scenic beauty in the world. Scenery is beautiful, wildlife is diversified, flora and fauna is just great. In short you will find each and everything which attracts you as tourist. It is called Plitvice Lakes National Park and is situated in central Croatia. The park was found in 1949. The location of the park is basically in the mountainous karst area. This park is one of the World Heritage Sites declared by UNESCO in 1979. This park, as its name shows is famous worldwide for its lakes.
The total area of the park is 296.85 sq.km. It would be matter of bit surprise for you guys that there are currently 16 lakes which are interconnected and are arranged in cascades. Although the beauty of the park is its sixteen interconnected lakes but it is not the only beautiful thing of the area. There are number of waterfalls, a heavily populated forest with number of species animals and plants.
HISTORY
It has been history that such kinds of areas remain hidden from the human eye for many years but this is not the case with Plitvice Lakes. In all times of history this area received human influence. The reason is that the area is located along a busy transport route. the history of the area is thousands of years long like in the 4th century the area was incorporated as province of Roman Empire. In 6th century Avars and Croats settled here and ultimately Croats took control of the region. The tourism history of the area is not longer than 1861 when first accommodation for travelers was settled. Then in 1888 the Plitvice lakes area was arranged for tourist purposes when the Princess of Belgium and wife of Prince of Austria were visiting the area.
FLORA & FAUNA
The park is the most significant area of Croatia regarding plant and animal diversity. The less industrial development has protected the area from pollution and so preserved the beauty of the park.
There are hundreds of kinds of plants as the park is heavily forested. The park has a wide variety of plant communities. It is said that about 1300 species of plants have been found so far in the park. Out of this 75 plants are endemic. This diversity of plants and flowers give a great interplay of colours with changes in the season and enhances the beauty of the area.
Plitvice Lakes Park is the home of great number of animal and bird species. There are some species of animals which are rare like European brown bear, wolf, eagle, owl, lynx and wild cat. Other than these rare species, numbers of common species are also found in the park. This park is the home of brown bears and wolves which is almost last in Europe. There are about 321 kinds of butterflies and this is the 40 percent of the total population of butterflies. There are number of reptile species as well like Viviparous Lizard, European Green Lizard, Dice snake etc.
Alongwith animals there are about 157 species found in the park. A rare kind of bats which is named Plecotus is also found in the park. Other than animal and bird species there are number of fish. Brown trout is known as the original fish which belongs to the park.
WHAT TO SEE?
If you want to know that what will you see and find interesting then I suggest you to visit and see by yourself that how beautiful the place is. Lakes are awesome, waterfalls are just at the best of the beauty, the colours of plants and flowers are eye catching. The best activity that you can do there is walk and hiking and looking at the beautiful surroundings. You can take a boat tour of the lakes. A train is also found there which takes you on a specific route which brings you back to the entrance of the park.
If you are having problem in deciding whether to visit park or not then just look at the photos of this beautiful park. You will take a minute to decide that you are visiting the park. This is really a must see place.