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The Northern
Velebit National Park was designated on 09th June 1999.,
while the Public Institution was founded on 16th September
2001, according to the Parliament's firman. The area was
designated a national park due to its richness of carst
phenomena, outstanding biodiversity and exquisitly beautiful
nature on a relatively small area.
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The
Park covers the surface of 109 km2, and inside there is
the Hajdučki & Rožanski Ledges Strict Reserve, famous
for its geomorphological phenomena - the pits. Until now,
there are more than 150 pits discovered, out of which the
most famous is Luke's pit, discovered in 1992.
It is forbidden to thread through the reserve (except passing
the Premužić's trail), and only scientific researches and
educational visits are allowed, according to the decission
of the eligible ministry or some other institution in charge.
As parts of the park, there are the Visibaba botanical reserve,
with a rich founding of the endemic Croatian Sibirrhaea
(Sibiraea altaiensis ssp. croatica), and the Zavižan-Balinovac-Velika
kosa botanical reserve, famous for its outstanding collection
of species of the mountain flora. Inside the reserve there
is a widely known Velebit Botany Garden, founded by the
pharmacology professor Fran Kušan in 1967.
The Park is criss-crossed with numerous mountaineering trails.
The most famous and widely known is the Premužić's trail,
named after its constructor, the BSc forestry Ante Premužić
who built it in the late 1933. The path runs through the
most beautiful and the most interesting parts of the park.
From the numerous peaks in the surroundings you can have
a magnificent view on the Adriatic Sea and its islands Pag,
Rab, Goli, Prvić i Krk, and on the continental side as well.
The Park's cultural value is present in a form of numerous
ruins of the so-called "summer lodges", which
witness of the ages passed and long forgotten, when Velebit
was inhabited by the numerous population of shepherds and
cattlers. On its coastal banks you can find many ruined
houses, lodges and stonewalls which once marked the specific
lifestyle of the local population who scattered all around
the globe in the days to come, leaving nothing but traces
of their presence on this remarquably beautiful and exquisit
land.
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