Offroading in Croatia - Vransko jezero - Secret Dalmatia Blog

As the season ended, I got back to the list of places I still had to visit. Despite being small, Dalmatia hides many riches and amazing places, unexpected views, historic and natural heritage. One of the places I had in mind for a while was the canyon on the northern shore of Vransko jezero.

Vransko jezero is is the largest natural lake in Croatia ( 30.7 sq km / 11.9 sq mi ) and it is one of the most unique places in all of the country both for its nature and history. It is one of the last marshes in the region and home to numerous bird species. In the winter, over 100 000 birds come here from all over Europe. Fortunately, this winter is mild. So far. Nothing like this although there is plenty of time for snow:
https://secretcroatia.blog/2012/02/06/snow-in-dalmatia-vransko-jezero-lake/

So, it is good time to enjoy the great outdoors!
We jumped in our Hilux and went exploring. I knew that my regular SUV is not the best choice for the narrow dirt roads so never attempted to drive this road before. Neither should you.

The offroad part starts just half a mile after the turn to Kamenjak view point. It is clearly marked as Mednjača canyon and the folks from the park did a great job fixing it and clearing it. It is also the main communication for people from nearby Banjevci to their fields and olive orchards by the lake. They either walked this or used their tractors. Or they drove old cars that they did not care much about.

The road is filled with dramatic turns and great views once you get deep inside the canyon!

This particular canyon is also known for owls nesting in these high cliffs. But, as we will soon see, there are other birds nearby.

The drive is about 10 – 15 minutes long and the we got almost to the shores of the lake but, since it is a marsh, there is reed and easy to get in the water. By the lake, few of the locals built small huts where they keep the tools for their fields and olive groves. The views of the fields and groves, with reeds and lake in the distance are gorgeous!

Reed is also important as that is where majority of the birds hide and nest. And there is always someone watching…

The area was very quiet apart from the reeds moving and making that characteristic, light and pleasant sound. And then there were the shrieks of a common buzzard. This is our most common bird of pray and it can be seen perched on a tree or post. It feeds mainly on small mammals but it adapts well to a varied diet of birds, rabbit or other small mammals to medium mammals, snakes and lizards. It can also be seen walking over recently ploughed fields looking for worms and insects.
But this time we had a pleasure to see a couple flying not so high above us.

There are two ways to get to the main road and we decided to visit small harbor of Prosika instead of driving back to Vrana village. Prosika is where, back in 1770., a canal was dug out by the owners of Vrana feud, the Borelli family in order to start commercially exploiting the region.

The lake was covering a 10 times larger area before that event and afterwards, most of the former marsh became a fertile soil. This also helped eradicate malaria which was quite common in this area (and all over the coast)

We thought that we were alone but a large gray heron was hunting in the very canal. I managed to got only a nice photo of it sitting on a pine tree.

The entire area of Prosika is a lovely place to stop at any time of the year. It has been nicely restored and one can get information on the history of the place and the entire endavour from the signs along the trail.