Dinara Nature Park, our youngest park, designated in February 2021, was probably named after the Illyrian tribe Dindari who used this mountain for livestock grazing. Dinara is the highest mountain in the Republic of Croatia, and the first Croatian state was founded at its foothills. In a way, Dinara is today a symbol of Croatian statehood.
Dinara Nature Park encompasses a part of the Dinara massif (Dinara, Troglav and Kamešnica), the source and upper course of the Cetina River and the karst fields along the Cetina River. In terms of landscape, this area is characterized by the contrast between a high-mountain karst area, where water is scarce and often steep and inaccessible cliffs, as well as vast mountain pastures, and the Cetina River, along whose course fertile and rich wetland karst fields have formed.
The most distinctive feature of Dinara are the almost vertical cliffs of striking layers. The area is not abundant in flora and fauna species, and under the cliffs scree containing specific flora species often develop, with some valuable and endemic plant communities and their representatives.
The conservation of the area, habitat diversity and the specific location of the Dinaric karst belt in Croatia, as well as the fact that this area served as a refuge for a number of European species at the time of glaciation, are among the most important reasons for the high level of biodiversity and endemism of this area. The high degree of endemism is best manifested in cave fauna species, many of which are endemic to the Dinaric area.
11 areas of the Natura 2000 ecological network are either completely or in part located within the boundaries of the Dinara Nature Park – 2 Special Protected Areas under the Birds Directive and 9 Sites of Community Importance under the Habitats Directive.
