Croatian Sahara

ĐURĐEVAC SANDS

Croatia has its own desert. That is an interesting fact considreing the location where it is situated.

Within moderate geographic widths, halfway between the equator and the north pole in an area of dominantly moderate climate with a regular seasonal change.
When we take that into consideration the story about the Croatian Sahara, though a bit exagerated, gets a completely different meaning.

During the ice age massive glaciers dominated the Alpine landscape. The weight of the glaciers formed vallies and turned rocks into sand dust which then settled into glacial lakes and rivers.
As the glaciers in the Alpine watersheds had been melting, the rivers Mura and Drava had been bringing sand to the Pannonian lowland and the sand settled down due to their slow river flow.

The Đurđevac sands are the remainder of a once spacious area of a 12 kilometer long belt of dunes from which wind gusts had transported sand particles that then destroyed the crops, so they are also called "Bloody Sands".

In 1963, the 20-hectare area was declared a special geographical and botanical reserve, as a unique habitat in Croatia.

The main purpose of the protection is to preserve the remaining part of the sand deposits as a specific relief and distinctive habitat with a large number of endemic species and unique flora and fauna.

After you leave the desert wooded land begins.

I took some photos and had a good time.