Kornati National Park

Of the 152 Kornati Islands, 89 have been specially protected as part of the Croatian and World Heritage and proclaimed a national park. The sea world of the Kornati Islands abounds in fish and is an ideal place for fishing, diving and other watersports.
Famous for their uniqueness and beauty, the Kornati Islands are practically uninhabited. Only in the warmer parts of the year they become a temporary home for fishermen and farmers and as such are the perfect destination for those fond of vacationing in complete silence and tranquility.

Two-thirds of the surface (32.5 sq. km) belongs to just one island, the central island in the archipelago - Kornat, which extends 25 km in length but is at no point wider than 2.4 km. The remaining one hundred islands have the total surface area of only 18.5 sq. km. This fact alone is sufficient to demonstrate the fragmented nature and indentedness of the Kornati archipelago. It should be pointed out, however, that the National Park includes not only the land mass but also the sea. In fact, more than three-fourths of the National Park area is accounted for by the sea (the total area of the National Park is 224 sq. km). The Kornati is thus also a marine national park and Croatia is one of the countries which have adopted and implemented international recommendations (Second World Conference on National Parks, 1972) regarding the protection of valuable coastal and marine environments. The first decision to protect the Kornati archipelago was made by the Croatian Government in 1967. The decision covered all four series of islands, but the protection included only the landscape (islands) and not the sea. Subsequent explorations of the sea and the seabed confirmed the natural importance and value of the marine zone and it became clear that the region met the criteria for the establishment of a national park. Therefore, a law was passed to that effect in 1980. The National Park included the Donji Kornati series of islands and the southeastern part of the neighboring Dugi otok (Telascica bay), with the adjoining sea (towards the open sea, the boundary of the National Park is one nautical mile from the shoreline). The formal and legislative complications continued even after the adoption of the law (mostly because of different views concerning tourist construction in Telascica), and the boundaries of the National Park were revised in 1988, reducing its total area by one fourth. The present boundary towards Dugi Otok follows the administrative boundary between the municipalities of Sibenik and Zadar. Though the reduction is regrettable, the main natural qualities of the park -- indentedness and marine biocenosis -- remain unaffected. The disputed part of Dugi Otok is now protected by a less strict form of legislation -- that applying to nature parks.

"As many as there are days in the year, so many are the islands in the Kornati group", claims a folk saying. 

To tell the truth, there are not as many, but -- to tell the truth again - the Kornati are the most highly indented and "densest" group of islands in the European part of the Mediterranean. About 140 islands, islets and reefs are scattered over an area of some 300 sq. km. Their total area is 69 sq. km. Different authors give different figures for the number of islands in the group -- not because they cannot be exactly counted but because the membership of some islands in the boundary regions of the group is disputed. Also, several reefs are exactly at sea level and are therefore treated differently by different sources. Though the whole of the eastern Adriatic coast is highly indented, the Kornati group is exceptional even compared with the rest of the Croatian coast, and the resulting land and seascape is unique and unrivalled. The islands form four series running strictly parallel with the Dinaric range (northwest-southeast). They are named after the largest island in the group, Kornat, which provides the central backbone for the whole archipelago. The boundaries of the group are Dugi Otok in the northwest, the Zirje islands in the southeast, the islands of Pasman, Vrgada and Murter towards the mainland, and the open sea in the southwest. The length of the archipelago (northwest-southeast) is 25 km, and its greatest width (northeast-southwest) 13 km.

The Kornati are interesting also as the largest uninhabited -- or only seasonally inhabited -- land mass in the Adriatic. The owners of land on Kornati (most of them from the Island of Murter) have built here some 300 houses to serve as temporary accommodations for their visits. The first two series of islands are lower, sloping towards the mainland, and smaller in size and number than the other two series. They are known locally as Gornji Kornat. The largest island in this series is Zut - 14.8 sq. km. Its coastline is most indented in the whole series.

The Kornati consist of 140 islands and reefs and are attractive largely because of the vertically cut coastlines. Inlets of some islands descend steeply into the sea, a hundred meters deep in places, and dramatically razor sharp. These islands are unique for the variety of their coastline and beauty. People lived on them once and built thousands of kilometers of dry-stone walls. There are several small fishing villages and temporary habitations on the islands. Vela Flora, on the northern face of the Island of Kornat, is quite special: a smooth limestone plateau, with a 30 to 40 degree slope, about one hectare in area. The larger islands include Kornat, Zut, Piskera, Kurba Vela and others. The Kornati have been declared a national park. They are rich in fish and therefore a frequent destination for sports fishermen. Cultural and historic remains, such as the ruins of an old Illyrian fortress, the Roman villa in Mala Proversa, the old Christian church of St. Mary and medieval fortresses and settlements add to the value of this region. Two marinas have been built for yachtsmen, who find the area singularly attractive.

According to legend, the Kornati, the labyrinth of straits and islands, was created from the fistful of rocks that were left over when God was creating the world. He threw them into the sea, looked down and decided that they were perfect as they were. "The gods wanted to crown their work and on the last day they created the Kornati Islands out of tears, stars and breath", wrote George Bernard Shaw about the most indented island group in the whole of the Mediterranean.