There are two entrances to the lakes and we chose to do the lower lakes. There are several routes that can be taken, but the main one is what we did, where you walk along the boardwalks for several kilometers, then take a boat along the largest lake. A bus brings you back near to the entrance again, and you walk the rest of the way. All included in your entrance ticket. I found it absolutely fine for my dodgy knees and hips as there were few steps and the paths were mostly just sloping, which is much easier.
This is the main waterfall called Veliki Slap, which is 78 metres high and the tallest waterfall in all of Croatia. Its name means Great Waterfall in Croatian. Isn't it just glorious?
You can see how the lakes are connected with water gushing through the vegetation from one pool to another.
A wildflower in the Dianthus family, very possibly Dianthus hyssopifolius.
A very old worn butterfly which is one of the Blues - I think it is a Chequered Blue (Scolitantides orion), which is a lifer for me! I saw very few butterflies whilst away so I am excited to have found a new to me species.
Back to the lakes and you can see the paths in many of the photos. It looks busy and yes there were loads of people, but it never seemed too crowded as we were walking around, which made it a much more pleasant experience.
Honestly, the colour of the water was just incredible!
At the end of our initial walk we came to a clearing which had a cafe and some gift shops. This is where we had to queue up for the boat to take us on the next leg of the journey, along the lake. The wait was awful though, many boats came but there was a long line ahead of us. Then as we got close to the front no more boats came for ages! Just like when you wait forever for a bus then three come at once, it was a bit like that and very annoying!
Whilst waiting for the boat Keith took this pic of what I think is a Balkan Green Lizard (Lacerta trilineata). It was quite a big one and came close to our queue of people!
When we finally boarded the boat it took us to the other end of the main lake at the lower falls. We then had to wait yet again for another boat to take us across the lake to the area which was near to entrance no. 2 and the upper lakes.
We then had to walk up a bit to a 'bus stop' where we waited for a rather strange bus like vehicle which took us back the length of the lake, and dropped us off at a point where we had to walk back to entrance no. 1, only about a kilometre I should think.
The path was a different one to the one we took earlier on and as we got higher, the views were amazing.
Looking back down over some of the small falls.
And then we got to the end of the journey! It is a truly remarkable place to visit, and left me wishing we had the time to do the upper lakes the next day, but we had plans to move on. Another time, hopefully!
P.S. This will be my last post for a little while as we are off in the Moho to Catalonia in Spain next week for a fortnight. After three long trips covering vast distances we are just staying (relatively) close to home and doing a bit of birding, a bit of walking around coastal towns and villages, and hopefully a LOT of chilling on the beach or by a pool. 😁
P.P.S. We had more rain! Three thunderstorms brought rain three times and there are even patches where the tougher grass in the lawn is starting to grow! The ground still needs tons more rain though, as the temps are still around 26-30c.
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