Nowadays, The Plitvice Lakes lie on one of the most important traffic routes in Croatia. In this Devil's Garden, nature gave man a completely different garden: a garden of magnificent phenomena of karst hydrography. The gardener – the Karst - created many beautiful and interesting spots in Crotia but here – they say – it was especially successful. Only in 1949, were the Plitvice Lakes given a permanent status of a National Park. In 1979 - UNESCO put the Plitvice Lakes on the List of World's natural heritage.
In places, the forest, with its great trees, takes on jungle forms and in addition to this splendour of nature there is the corresponding variety of plant and animal life. Besides many species of birds and small game, there are does, bears, wolves, boars and wild cats in the park and in water there are also trouts.
The total surface of all lakes is approximately 2 km2. Around three quarters of that surface are two greatest islands: Kozjak - 81,5 ha and Prošće - 68 ha. These are also the lakes with the greatest depths: Kozjak 46 m, and Prošće 37 m. Many great and small waterfalls connect the lakes. The most of the water in the lakes comes from the river Crna rijeka and the river Bijela rijeka. The river Rječica flows into Kozjak and the lake's runlet is river Korana.
