Photo ©2004 by Jack Brauer. check his site

Here we are in our third post about the most wonderful places on earth which beauty is due to the presence of water. The "Plitvice Lakes" (Plitvička Jezera) is a national park in Croatia which area contains a chain of sixteen wonderfully coloured lakes separated one from each other by fairy-tale waterfalls and the surrounding forest which is also another natural treasure, a hold for many rare animals and plants. The Plitvice Lakes lie in a basin of karstic rock and are separated by natural dams of travertine, which is deposited by the action of moss, algae and bacteria. The encrusted plants and bacteria accumulate on top of each other, forming travertine barriers which grow at the rate of about 1 cm per year and create the wonderful lakes and the waterfalls between them.
The lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colours change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.


©B.Mongineaux




In this last picture you can see how amazingly transparent is the water, so that you can see not only the numerous fishes but even the bottom of the lakes.



The pictures are taken from these 2 galleries: 1,2 where you can see many other images of this Croatian emerald wonder