A quiet night at the Guesthouse Bubalo , we are out in the bush here , but the owners told us the shortcut to Plitvice Lakes - only 14klms this way , otherwise 28klms the other . We chose the shorter , but as we drove down the lane we did wonder if it was the smarter choice . The road was narrow , we had to wait for a shepherd to move his flock of sheep , and his 3 dogs off the road for us to pass . I wish we'd taken a photo of him , his face has a huge story to tell that we won't hear . The road continued and didn't't get any better , it was all undulations and corners - blind ones at that - until we got into an area that had a lot of chalet type houses - guess it snows here . They also had huge stockpiles of timber to burn for winter .
We were a bit excited as we drove into the carpark at Entrance 1 at Plitvice Lakes National Park - we've been looking forward to coming here for quite some time now . The lakes cover a reasonable area and in some rather mountainous country . The area has a lot of limestone and has many deep holes appearing randomly through the forest . Here's a map view of the park .
Entering the park , we didn't have to walk far to get the first views of some of the waterfalls . The one at the top right is actually fed from a river , the lower ones are fed from the lakes upriver .
Wooden walkways are the way to traverse this area , it's a rustic way of doing it , but the alternative would spoil it . This one is currently being renewed .
Then we start the descent down into the gorge , more old timber hand rails - OH&S doesn't seem to figure too highly here .
Another view point of some lower lakes . They at at different levels due to the limestone forming banks & walls , holding the water back , until some time in the future when they breaking the water flows into the next one .
It's best to get here early to avoid the crowds , bus loads of people start arriving about 9:30am .
Small waterfalls form around the limestone walls/ banks . There is very green foliage everywhere here .
Around another corner and more falls appear .
I mentioned people - we stopped and had some lunch while watching the queue for the electric boat ride up the lake to diminish a bit . It was a wise move , as the queue shortened , more & more people kept walking in and getting off the boats from the other way . We only had to wait half an hour or so !
This is the picnic area where we had lunch - it's now full and overflowing with people .
Getting off the boat at P2 , we continued our wander around the boardwalks through more greenery and water .
These tree's were hanging on pretty well . Forests of Fir trees and Birch trees lined the lakes , and it's very dark when you venture in .
Some of the falls are 18m high , giving you an idea of how high the limestones walls? banks are .
We finally got to a point where we had to decide which way to walk , there was Station 3 up further where you can get a train ( truck with trailers decked out to carry people )back to Station 1, or you can walk back to P2 and get the boat across to P1 and then the train back to Station 1 . Either way there was still a 1.1klm walk back to the carpark at Entry 1 . Entry 2 to the park would be better for when your day is done and the car is parked there , otherwise it's walk .
The views were excellent , the wind had dropped making these reflections seem impossible .
This was part of the track through the forest , the camera has lightened it up quite a bit though , it was darker in there than it appears .
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