Z eroing down on any vacation spot is a tough task. An Aquarian in the truest sense, I always meander towards a place which is known for its water bodies. During one such search, the Plitvice waterfalls caught my attention. I was mesmerised, I was hooked, I couldn’t take my eyes and my mind off Nature’s exotic beauty, and tickets for Croatia were booked. After finalising the itinerary, I realised that most of my days revolved around waterfalls and boat rides. It appeared that in Croatia, chasing waterfalls, is the norm.

 

As I delved deeper into all that Croatia had to offer, I started getting warning signals. Not from the travel sites, not from blogs. But from my calf muscles, whom I heard whispering, “Croatia is scenic. But Scenic comes with a price. And the price here is steps. Lots of steps...” Not one to be deterred by any challenges, especially when it concerns my time-off, I dived headlong into my carefully planned vacation. Not one guidebook stated that Croatia is not for the fainthearted – or for the flat-footed.

 

As the days of my trip went by, one thing became very clear – I had packed my euros, booked picture-perfect stays, even chosen various hats and caps to make me look like a Vogue front page model (I wish!). But along with all this, it is necessary to pack endurance and a willingness to walk till the legs give way. For each day in Croatia, especially when you are on the waterfall trail, you will be left breathless – and not in the Instagrammable way. On my way to Split from Zagreb, I, along with my fellow travellers, stopped at the legendary Plitvice Lakes National Park, the one that had caught my attention and was the reason that I chose this country for my annual vacation.

 

This first stop on my watery pilgrimage, if I may call it that, is Croatia’s oldest and largest National Park. And arguably it is the most breathtaking. One does not realise the immensity of the National Park, till the time one looks at it from the most vantage point – from atop a mountain. Down below, 16 lakes cascade; forming small, medium, large and majestic waterfalls along the way that span over an area of 295 sq kms. Enthralled by the green and blue spectacle below where the crystal clear blue water dances amongst the green plants, foams, gurgles and falls, sometimes gently, often with a force, spraying a fine mist making the atmosphere ethereal, I could only marvel at Plitvice where nature orchestrated a symphony of colour and movement. But hark! Like we’ve read in our fairy tales, reaching the dreamy destination requires hard work. It is true in this case too. Covering all the fantastic spots requires serious hiking.

 

The authorities have taken great care to make the walking trails pleasurable. Like giant serpents, wooden boardwalks wind through the park, stretching over gurgling streams and brooks, criss crossing boulders with mossy patches, and then right under or alongside waterfalls that tumble down like liquid silk, forming rainbows and picturesque spots for pictures to be clicked. I, with my friends, and our guide, for six hours, walked on these sometimes narrow, sometimes broad, sometimes damp but always steady wooden planks. Crowded with tourists moving at glacial speed, with the gentle breeze and the cool mist rejuvenating any tired bones, this was one of the most pleasurable walks, where every break was meant for clicking pictures.

 

But believe me, no camera can do justice and capture the beauty that Nature had bestowed on this part of the world. John, an American backpacker, with whom I was exchanging notes, while walking, at one point of time, “At the end of this trail, I hope they give us a certificate for completing the course. It’s a spiritual cleanse, all right, but my shins!” The slight discomfort that most of us might have felt at the end of six hours of nonstop walking, with a small boat ride crossing from one part of the park to another, vanished the minute we reached the Veliki Slap, the Park’s tallest waterfall at 78 metres, that gushed down with force. One look at that roaring curtain of white – framed by the lush green forest and the echoes of water and birds – and the Health App flashing 15,000 steps was all but forgotten. It was worth every penny, every pain.

 

This is not to say that I haven’t seen taller or wider waterfalls, it’s the surroundings and the ambience that made this so memorable and noteworthy. For nowhere had I walked so close to a waterfall and felt one with Nature. If Plitvice is nature’s untouched canvas, Krka National Park, - about an hour’s drive from Split – is another gem on the Croatian landscape where you walk elbow-to-elbow with tourists from all over the world. At one point of time, I filled my empty bottle with the crystal clear water from one of the springs. Our guide had already apprised us that water from these places as well as from every fountain in towns and cities is drinkable! Remarkably different from Plitvice, Krka’s most famous waterfall, Skradinski Buk, is the one that appears in the ads where Croatian tourism is promoted. Viewed from a vantage point, Skradinski Buk is a series of gentle travertine terraces that creates an illusion of a staircase made of blue water laced with white foam.

 

Until recently, one could take a dip in these waterfalls. But now restrictions have been put up against this activity as it was seriously damaging the ecosystem. Unlike Plitvice that has two entrances, Krka has four. And depending on whether you want to hike up or walk down from a higher point, you can pick and choose your entry point. I wanted the easier route – from a high point to lower down and so I chose the Roski Slap entrance, from where I hiked through winding trails, and meandering footbridges and wooden boardwalks, down to Skradinski Buk that is clearly the highlight of Krka National Park. While majority walked downstream, there were a few brave ones who were huffing and puffing while they were hiking upstream.

 

Well, each to his own! Krka National Park is also famous for developing a hydroelectric power plant that was instrumental in providing electricity to the city of Sibenik. A museum and ruins of the first hydroelectric plant are also worth a visit. The third and last waterfall in my waterfall pilgrimage was technically not in Croatia. Situated in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kravice Waterfalls are just a short detour from southern part of Crotia. Situated in Mostar, this 25 metre waterfall tumbles in a perfect semicircle forming a natural pool that is swimmable and one can also hop onto a boat that will take you right at the point where the cascading water meets with the pool.

 

Even though accessible without a pilgrimage-scale trek, it is a steep hike. Going down easy, walking up – sheer torture. At the end of the day, the legs may tremble, the knees may rattle with every step, but still there is something deeply meditative about these walks along and amongst the waterfalls. The sound of cascading water, the lush green canopy overhead, and the intermittent rainbows caused by the flashes of river have a hypnotising effect. Blisters on the soles had their own tale to tell – of getting a reward that was far richer than the filtered perfection of social media. Hearing the water in its wildest form, or gurgling down gently over crevices and boulders, of catching your breath as the fine mist hit your face instantly rejuvenating you – it’s Nature taking over your very senses. ■