Štrbački buk – the Una River

Until recently I knew nothing about the Una River except that it was probably somewhere to the right of Plitvice. Then I happened to come across a very poor quality video filmed at the source of the Una, and a couple of very sketchy articles. That caught my attention. Talking to some people, I learned that the Una is beautiful and that there is a national park on it, but in Bosnia. The conclusion was that the Una rises in Croatia, but that everything else “happens” in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Wrong. Of its 212 km, as much as 120 km is in Croatia. For a good part of its course the Una is the natural border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. And while on the Bosnian side it has literally the status of a deity, in Croatia it is completely neglected, both in terms of infrastructure and in the media. Probably because it lies far from the main routes from northern Croatia towards the sea, and those routes already have a host of superb attractions such as Plitvice Lakes, the Slunjčica, the Gacka, the Zrmanja, the Krka and so on all the way to the coast.

When I had researched the Una a little more and decided to organise a trip, people were so uninformed that they asked in astonishment how we would get across the border in the middle of the COVID situation. When I answered that we would not be crossing any border, the reaction was surprise. I consider it a disgrace on the part of Croatia’s tourist boards that people are so uninformed about the Una and about that part of Lika in general.

Štrbački buk is one of the most powerful and most beautiful waterfalls in Croatia!

As I have already mentioned, Štrbački buk is fairly run-down on our side, and only thanks to the enthusiasm of a few locals and the interests of the forestry service can the first signs of some sort of tourist offer be seen. One section between the Una railway line and the river, on the approach to the waterfall, is even very nicely laid out. Spring had dressed the whole area in an incredible fluorescent green cloak, so the entire route from the turning off the main road to the village of Donji Štrbci, which gave the waterfall its name, was like something out of a fairy tale. Beech forests, meadows, hamlets… An idyll of a kind you rarely come across.

Since we did not know what awaited us on the descent to the waterfall, we left the cars in the village. A little walking suited us after the three-hour drive from Split. We later realised that the forest track, at least when we visited, is perfectly fine even for lower cars. So as not to discourage people by grading the trail, on the AllTrails map I have marked only the path from the car park beside the railway line, where I have also put the parking location. If the forest track is damaged, or if you decide to walk for the exercise, it is about 3 km on foot from Štrpci to the waterfall with a descent (and an ascent on the way back) of some 200 m, so bear that in mind.

Although there is more serious infrastructure on the Bosnian side, with trails and viewpoints, the waterfall is angled slightly towards the Croatian side, so the experience is complete. Just be careful not to arrive late in the afternoon, because I think that from about 2 p.m. onwards the tops of the canyon start casting a heavy shadow over the waterfall, and your photographs will not turn out at their best.

After crossing the railway line, we followed the riverside path to the top of the waterfall. There is a rest area there, and once you have passed Matešić’s mill you drop down to a viewpoint with a bench. This viewpoint is literally in the embrace of the waterfall! Once you sit down on the bench, you forget everything else. Only you and the waterfall exist. Since there were no crowds, unlike on the Bosnian side, we could meditate undisturbed, hypnotised by the power of the water hurling itself 25 m down the tufa barrier.

We had our picnic here too, and then moved on. There are a few more viewpoints around, and you should definitely go down to the river itself a couple of hundred metres downstream. The turning for this viewpoint is just before the first tunnel, where you will see metal steps. The path leads to rocks that are literally in the river, and from them there is a perfect view of Štrbački buk and the whole series of smaller falls and rapids downstream.

The Una supposedly got its name when Roman legionaries first saw it and, enchanted by its beauty, cried out “una, una” – “the one and only“. If this were somewhere in Iceland, the internet would be full of photographs of the waterfall from every angle and in every season. Since it is “only” the Una, most people in its own country have never heard of it. Really rather sad.