Croatia

The exquisite Plitvička Lakes National Park would probably be right at the top of any list of the most beautiful in Europe. Limestone mountains are dissected by deep canyons filled with turquoise lakes and pools, all cloaked in forests. Waterfalls cascade down cliffs draped in greenery. Fortunately National Park staff in Croatia have overseen a very careful development of Plitvička over the past decades. Slatted paths have been built that allow us to walk through the most beautiful canyons, alongside waterfalls, around and even across lakes. And everywhere shining green forest frames the turquoise and blue.

Extensive stands of Beech, Fir and Spruce cloak the slopes rising from the glittering canyons. These are home to Wild Boar and Red Squirrels, Fire Salamanders and Balkan Green Lizards, Black Woodpecker and Goshawk. Siberian Iris and Grass-leaved Iris flower by the waterside and back under the trees are Lily-of-the-Valley and Herb Paris. White-letter Hairstreaks and various Fritillaries visit bramble as we admire Helleborines, Orchids and no less than three lily species, Lilium bosniacum, Lilium carniolicum and deep wine-red Lilium (martagon) cattaniae. Hawfinch and Collared Flycatcher are quite common in this verdant landscape.

For the second part of our tour we’ll head to the coastal ranges of the Dinaric Alps, protected in the Northern Velebit National Park. The Velebit is famed for its endemic plants, and especially for its beautiful Silver Fir forests. In places such as the remarkable Velika Plana there are significant stands of undisturbed old-growth forest and a walk through these is a delight, the huge trunks draped in lichens and mosses, the ferny understory rich in fungi. There is a very rich mammal fauna and though this is not a dedicated mammal tour we’ve still a very good chance of seeing Brown Bear. Wild Cat and Pine Marten are sometimes seen. White-backed Woodpecker is tolerably common in the old growth and both Capercaillie and Hazel Grouse are likely, Wrynecks and Crested Tits are common.

Amongst the subalpine meadows Balkan Copper, Apollo and Assmann’s Fritillary float above rocky slopes adorned with Pedicularis brachyodonta, Aquilegia kitaibelii and delicate Primula kitaibeliana. The Croatian subspecies of Sibiraea laevigata is a tertiary relict here, this species is also found in Central Asia and China, quite a disjunct distribution! Rocks are festooned with Campanula fenestrellata and superlative clumps of Edraianthus graminifolius. The Velebit is remarkable for another reason. On one side of the range you drop rapidly to the Adriatic. So just an hour from temperate forests and alpine slopes we can be sunning ourselves by the sea with Hoopoes, Red-backed Shrikes and Eastern Subalpine Warblers, and a strikingly different flora!