Land and sea in the Kornaten National Park

Since the Kornati have been subject to virtually systematic clearing ever since the Illyrian settlement about 4,000 years ago, the land flora today is also limited to a few robust scree plants which can indeed fascinate the expert but which mostly display too few blossoms, too little size and too little scent for the averagely interested visitor. Little by little the oak forests that originally thrived here are also to shape the landscape of the Kornati again, but since people want to get in the way of the course of nature as little as possible with artificial planting, that will still take a while. Until then the sheep is also probably the most present animal of the Kornati fauna. Otherwise one discovers now and then a hare or beech marten; lizards dart again and again over the warm stones, and on the cliffs one can see and hear large populations of swifts, gulls, swallows and doves. In addition, the short-toed snake eagle, the eagle owl and the kestrel live on Kornat too. But on the whole one has to concede that the animal and plant world of the Kornati islands is (still) a good deal inferior to the actual backdrop and above all to the marine world.

At first glance the marine fauna of the Kornati seems to correspond to that of the Adriatic. Just below the surface prettily colourful but hardly extraordinary fish frolic about. Dive deeper, however, and near the bottom and on the sea floor of this karst rock you find a multitude of special creatures, not a few of which you are probably setting eyes on for the first time in your life. So far 346 plant species are known, of which 222 count among the red algae, 72 among the brown algae and 51 among the green algae. The high diversity and strong spread of the marine flora proves the clean and intact condition of the sea between the islands. So it is no wonder that the animals feel at home here too: almost 300 animal species have already been counted, the most interesting and the most numerous of them on the vertical cliffs on the seaward side of the islands. Here 25 different sponges cling to the rock, 65 different vertebrates and another 96 molluscs dart about, 20 echinoderms crawl around between the rock ledges and 21 tunicates and cnidarians feel at home. Anyone with a little patience and good eyes will surely discover on their dives the red mullet, the scorpionfish, brown wrasse, blood-striped seabream, saddled seabream, peacock wrasse and countless other colourful scaly creatures. Furthermore there are also cuttlefish, squid and octopus here - on first contact enthusiasm and alarm often hold the balance! Since the Kornati run the risk of losing their reputation as the most fish-rich region of the Adriatic - it is precisely this renown that has led to overfishing and partly illegal fishing trips - the park administration is very intent on keeping the stock active and alive. Angling and other fishing methods are therefore not permitted here, or require a permit. And really even the most convinced hobby angler knows - before they hang on the hook, most fish look a good deal more beautiful than afterwards!