Lonjsko Polje Nature Park

Lonjsko Polje is a nature park in the Sava river floodplain in central Croatia, east of Sisak, and it is one of the largest retained floodplains in the whole Danube basin. The park’s job is partly to hold back the Sava’s spring floods and protect downstream towns, which is why it stays so wet and so rich in bird life.

The park is famous for its white storks. The village of Čigoč, inside the park, has dozens of stork nests on its roofs and is known as a stork village, and in late summer the birds gather here before migrating. The park is also home to a herd of Posavina horses, a rare breed that lives semi-wild on the flood meadows.

The villages of Lonjsko Polje hold some of the best-preserved traditional wooden architecture in Croatia, houses built of dark oak planks in a style shared across the Posavina plain. The village of Krapje, a protected heritage settlement, is the finest of them.

For photographers, the storks on the chimneys of Čigoč and the wooden houses of Krapje are the shots. Go in spring for birdsong and floodwater or late summer for the pre-migration stork gatherings, and bring binoculars.

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