{"id":98,"date":"2015-09-06T00:04:25","date_gmt":"2015-09-06T00:04:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europeinpictures.com\/croatia-bosnia-trip-report\/?page_id=98"},"modified":"2017-07-12T06:09:27","modified_gmt":"2017-07-12T06:09:27","slug":"una-national-park-and-bihac","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.europeinpictures.com\/croatia-bosnia-trip-report\/una-national-park-and-bihac","title":{"rendered":"Una National Park and Biha\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"

Where to spend my final two nights? Instead of the original plan of driving up to Banja Luka, I decided that night in Jajce to seek out another big waterfall instead, the \u0160trba\u010dki buk in Una National Park near Biha\u0107. Then maybe I’d spend that night in Biha\u0107. Or near Plitvice Lakes. Or maybe I could make it up to Banja Luka after all? I figured I’d drive and see how the next day went and wind up where I wound up. For the final night, I figured I’d probably stay in Samobor, a town near Zagreb.<\/p>\n

Part of the appeal of driving up to Banja Luka was supposed to be the drive up, so I did part of the drive \u2013 yes, it was very scenic, overlooking the Vrbas River<\/p>\n

\"Driving<\/a>

Driving from Jajce to Banja Luka via M16<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Vrbas<\/a>

Vrbas River, Driving from Jajce to Banja Luka via M16<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"Welcome<\/a>

“Welcome to Republic of Srpska” Sign on M16<\/p><\/div>\n

then I doubled back and headed toward Biha\u0107.<\/p>\n

I didn’t exactly know how to get to Una National Park, which is a relatively new \u201cpark.\u201d The Una River, which runs from Biha\u0107 through the park, so I figured the park wouldn’t be that hard to find. Surely my GPS would have no clue how to find this new park. I imagined I could drive toward Biha\u0107 and look for signs.<\/p>\n

And I found those signs, eventually, but I didn’t drive far enough Biha\u0107. I tried to detour through a narrow country road shown on a Google Map that turned out to go nowhere, so I had to backtrack, wasting about an hour. But I did see some interesting views, anyway.<\/p>\n

\"Serbian<\/a>

Serbian Orthodox Church in Republic of Srpska, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Serbian<\/a>

Serbian Orthodox Church in Republic of Srpska, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Rural<\/a>

Rural Republic of Srpska, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

Finally I saw signs to enter Una National Park and followed them for a while.<\/p>\n

One park entrance had signs directing visitors to \u0160trba\u010dki buk. Once I entered the park there, I found myself on a narrow one lane unpaved road driving for about 8 kilometers.<\/p>\n

\"Una<\/a>

Una National Park, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Haystacks<\/a>

Haystacks in Una National Park, Bosnia<\/p><\/div>\n

It wasn’t busy on the road; when the rare car came the other way, each car simply made way on the sides to allow the other to pass. This was quite a contrast to the well-developed Croatian parks I had visited.<\/p>\n

Finally I got to an official park gate manned by a person and paid a small entrance fee, then drove another two kilometers to a parking area for \u0160trba\u010dki buk. The parking and viewing area for the falls was well developed, with a wooden walkway, steps, railings, etc. Getting there was a little bumpy, though!<\/p>\n

\"Viewing<\/a>

Viewing Platform for \u0160trba\u010dki buk, Una National Park<\/p><\/div>\n

I had seen some impressive waterfalls in Bosnia and Croatia, but \u0160trba\u010dki buk was the first one that took my breath away. The thing was massive and loud – and amazing.<\/p>\n

\"\u0160trba\u010dki<\/a>

\u0160trba\u010dki buk Waterfall, Una National Park<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u0160trba\u010dki<\/a>

\u0160trba\u010dki buk Waterfall, Una National Park, Bosnia and Herzegovina<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\u0160trba\u010dki<\/a>

\u0160trba\u010dki buk Waterfall, Una National Park<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

I struggled to find the best spot to photograph it without getting all wet or getting water all over my camera lens. Eventually I walked down a ways below the falls.<\/p>\n