VRAŽJI PROLAZ CANYON – ZELENI VIR
When the Vražji prolaz was first mentioned in 1884, they wrote that it was intended only for the bravest excursionists. Today, courage is not necessary to visit it. You just cannot be afraid of heights when walking on a well-kept path through the canyon, which is only here and there equipped with a steel rope. A walk through the steep canyon is suitable for adults and children who know how to follow the rules. The narrow canyon has a well-maintained path, and the steepest and narrowest part, where the width of the canyon narrows to only two meters, is also reached by metal stairs.
A special attraction of the reserve is the rich forest vegetation, which covers the entire area. Because of this pearl the mountainous part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County is also known outside the borders of Croatia.
At the cashier’s desk, the visitor buys a ticket that costs 25 kuna or approximately three euros. On this point, the Jasle stream from Vražji prolaz and Iševnica from Zeleni vir meet. There are three possible directions of journey. The longest is a three to four hour long circular route to the town of Skrad and back.
The starting point is the mountain hut, which is located at 230 meters above sea level, and next to it is Munjara, a small hydroelectric power plant built in 1921 on the stream Zeleni vir, by the construction entrepreneur Josip Lončarič. Despite many obstacles, he built the second hydroelectric power plant in Croatia and the first hydroelectric power plant in Gorski kotar in Zeleni vir, which supplied electricity to the entire Gorski kotar. It still works today.
The path leads to Zeleni vir or to the spring at an altitude of 345 meters above sea level, past Munjara – as the surrounding hydroelectric power plant is still called today. There is a number of peculiarities in one place: from the seventy-meter-high Curak waterfall, which falls in rainbow drops during a drought, and again, after the rain, it falls in a mighty waterfall. The water literally flies into the depths on the edge of a massive rock, which the forces of nature have formed into interesting layers or bands, and at the same time nature has formed an arch, under which hides a cave with a portal about thirty meters high. In it is a real Zeleni vir, an emerald green lake that gave the area its name. At high waters, the abundance of water swells in large bubbles, as if the water were boiling, otherwise in the area where the spring is, we see smaller bubbles. Although at the source of the Zeleni vir you can see the incredible power and playfulness of nature.
The Vražji prelaz, which is about 800 meters long, is one of the most beautiful Croatian canyons, “full of wild romance”. Experts say that it is important that we visit this area after a heavy rain, when the canyon is full of fast, mighty and loud water, or during a drought, when only a small mountain stream Jasle flows after a narrow and steep passage.
Following the path or the stairs, which are cut into the living wall and lead right along the slope, we come to metal stairs, under which the stream foams. Through this pumpkin element – and where, despite human intervention, it is clear how great the power of nature is – we arrive at the widened part of the canyon, below the entrance to the Muževa kućica cave. From there it is possible to go on, towards Skrad.
