Educational trails

The educational geological trail begins at the 9th mile of the Biokovo road, between the plateaux and Lemešinih dolaca and Jakičuše. The trail is easy and with mountain markings, and the tour on foot takes about half an hour. The invitation board located on the road along with two other educational boards placed along the track explain the origin of limestone and geomorphological phenomena of Biokovo.

The trail is about 8 km in length and leads to the Kaoci area, a significant forest vegetation area, also featuring an amphitheatre, three preserved and restored wells, an equipped rest area for visitors, and a restored forest lodge that houses the educational information centre. The trail to Kaoci is a light climb, and the walk takes about two hours. Along the trail, interpretation panels have been installed to highlight the fundamental features of Biokovo Nature Park – the geography, geology, abundant plant and animal life, and cultural heritage. The forest stands of this area, forestry in Croatia, and the history of the Zagvozd municipality have been featured separately. Next to this starting panel is the entrance ranger station, and along the trail, rest areas for visitors are planned. The trail was designed and built as part of the Forest Eye project (Protection of Nature and the Environment from Forest Fires), implemented with the objective of improving the quality of life in the border area between Split-Dalmatia County in Croatia, and Herceg-Bosna County in Bosnia and Herzegovina, reducing the damages and risks of natural catastrophes caused by forest fires, and increasing the social cohesion in the local community through joint activities and awareness raising campaigns on the protection and conservation of the environment, and stimulating the sustainable use of natural resources. The project also involves establishing a cross-border intervention firefighting team and creation of an action plan. Education information centres and educational and recreational trails were also built, including this trail to Kaoci. Multiple activities were implemented for the purpose of education and raising awareness, and promoting behaviours that help to prevent natural risks, thereby contributing to environmental protection and biological diversity. The project was financed by the European Union and implemented as part of the IPA cross-border programme for Croatia and BiH. Project partners were Croatian Forests, Herceg-Bosna Forests, Herceg-Bosna County – Ministry of Science, Education, Culture and Sport, Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Public Institute of Biokovo Nature Park and the Ministry of the Interior of Herceg-Bosna County.

The Makar – Vošac hiking trail is one of the most frequented trails in Biokovo Nature Park.

For those unfamiliar with geology and geography, geological time is a strange, often times unbelievable and completely incomprehensible dimension. However, geological history, or the age of the Earth of about 4.6 billion years, is generally accepted. In our case, when we stand on the trail near the Chapel of Sveti Ilija (St. Elias) in Biokovo Nature Park, we are standing on rock that is layered limestone of Middle Jurassic age, about 174 to 172 million years old, the oldest in the park area. Until that time, the Earth had already experienced more than 96 percent of its history. At that time, the Earth was ruled by the dinosaurs, and the Atlantic Ocean still had not been formed. The carbonate sands and silt that later created these rocks in present day Mt. Biokovo then settled in the shallows of a warm, subtropical sea lying at about the 20th parallel north. This prehistoric ocean has been called the Tethys Ocean by geologists. Since then, this “pre-Biokovo” region has travelled from about the 20th parallel north to just about the 43rd parallel north, more than 1650 kilometres. Those this is a seemingly large distance, we should not forget that this took place over an incredible time period of about 172 million years! It was not just Biokovo that “travelled” northwards, but the entire European continent, due to the movements of the tectonic plates in the lithosphere. This was caused by the pushing of the African plate, the largest at that time, against the European plate, a process that is still active to this day.

The basic groups of rock that make up the Earth’s core are igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rock. The best known igneous, or magmatic, rock are the granites and basalt rocks. Most of the karst Dinarides (more than 95% volume) is composed of carbonate rock. These were formed primarily from carbonate silts and sands that settled in the shallow sea, where great layers of these deposits formed.

Mt. Biokovo is built exclusively of sedimentary rock and deposits. Two different groups have been identified – carbonate and clastic rock. More than 90% of the carbonate rocks are limestones, rarely are dolomites found. The main clastic rocks are flysch, glacial deposits and recent screes. Other clastic rocks found here are the limestone breccias and conglomerates, though these are made up of fragments and cobbles of limestone and dolomite.