Lonjsko Polje Nature Park

Lonjsko Polje covers around five hundred square kilometres of the Sava floodplain and it is deliberately allowed to flood: the retention system here holds water back that would otherwise reach Zagreb and Sisak, which means the wet meadows and flooded oak forests have survived where nearly every comparable European floodplain has been drained. The consequences are ecological - white storks in numbers, spoonbills, herons, and one of the last places where Turopolje pigs and Posavina horses graze free in the forest through the season - and cultural, in the oak villages that had to be built for floods. Cigoc and Krapje are the two best known.

What you actually see

• A floodplain still allowed to flood - part of the flood defence for Zagreb.
• Flooded oak forest and wet meadow - habitat drained almost everywhere else.
• Free-grazing pigs and horses - Turopolje pigs and Posavina horses in the woods.
• Oak villages built for water - Cigoc, Krapje and the others.

When to go

April to August for storks and breeding birds; autumn for the grazing herds. A full day.

Honest expectations

Roads flood and can close without warning. Mosquitoes are severe from late spring. Distances inside the park are large and there is little public transport. Village services are minimal.

Nearby

Cigoc and Krapje are inside the park; Sisak is upstream.