The Benkovski waterfall
Location: Zajci, PićanLength: 500 mElevation gain: 40 mDifficulty: EasyDifficulty rating: K1, T1, VR1
This is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Istria. So they say. We have been there twice, and not once was it flowing. They say it is at its most active after heavy rain (logically enough), mostly in winter and early spring. We went once in the middle and once at the end of spring. There had been some rain, but clearly not enough. We have not been in winter, because the vegetation is uninspiring then and all the paths around streams and rivers are muddy. And so several years went by without us ever managing to organise another visit to this part of the world. We could no longer ignore the existence of the Benkovski waterfall, so even though we have not documented it in full flow, we decided to write a short article and share what we know about it.
The Benkovski waterfall lies east of picturesque Pićan. The estates of the Benković family once stood beside the waterfall, and that is where it takes its name from. The hamlet is deserted today.
It is best to leave the car at the junction on the D64 state road. As the traffic here moves fast, cross the road carefully; immediately on the northern side you will see a stone “sculpture” from which a short trail to the waterfall sets off.
The waterfall is approached from above, along the bed of the Grajanski stream that feeds it.
Since the waterfall and the stream were dry, we lingered at the top of the fall, drawn in by its relief. The water has been extremely imaginative here, carving out a bed full of grooves in all sorts of shapes.
We have seen similar shapes before in Kotli, at Pazinski krov and at other locations around Istria. This is clearly a shared feature of the region. Older people say that the women of the village used to do their washing here, which makes perfect sense. The rocks are shaped ideally for that sort of work!
Do not get too close to the edge, because below it is a drop of some 40 m.
When the waterfall is flowing, to see it you need to cross the stream and carry on along the trail from the north-west. From there you get an unobstructed view of the fall and the imposing cliff behind it. For that view we will have to make the trip one more time!
Special
Although our focus is on Croatia, due to great interest in reviewing some international locations from our travels, we decided to launch the Special section. In it, we will not cover locations in the same detailed way we do with Croatian ones, but will instead provide a brief overview of multiple locations grouped into meaningful categories. The only criterion we still strictly follow is that they must be natural attractions.
