Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written in German by Karl May, one of the best-selling German writers of all time with about 200 million copies worldwide.

Adriatic drywalls: Kuda's bridge

If you haven't watched Winnetou and you are keen on old school movies, this is a must see classic.
Especially because it is filmed mainly in my homeland! ;)

Owing to the exceptional beauty of pristine nature, Croatian locations (the Paklenica, Plitvice Lakes and Krka national parks, Lišane-Ostrovičke, Jasenice, the Zrmanja River canyon, Tulove grede cliffs (Tulo’s Rafters), Prezid Pass, Lukovo Šugarje, Vransko Lake, Omiš – Cetina River, Pakoštane, Kamenjak etc.) were chosen among many other possible locations around the world for the shooting of the legendary Winnetou movies.

Between 1962 and 1968, 11 films on Winnetou, whose spirit still lives in this area, were shot here as a coproduction between Berlin’s Rialto Film and Zagreb’s Jadran Film.

Seven films were shot mostly in Paklenica up to the Prezid Pass in the south of Velebit.

Four films were shot at the Paklenica National Park: Treasure of Silver Lake (1962), Among Vultures (1964), Old Surehand (1965) and Winnetou and Shatterhand in the Valley of Death (1968).

Three more films were shot in Modrič – Rovanjska, Jasenice, at the Zrmanja River, Tulove grede cliffs and the Prezid Pass: Winnetou I (1963), Winnetou III (1965) and Winnetou and the Apache (1966).

We decided to visit the Zrmanja river, precisely the Krupa river, its tributary.

The Zrmanja River is one of the most beautiful rivers in Europe.

River Zrmanja starts in a place called Zrmanja vrelo in Lika under the mountain Poštak. With its 69 kilometer long flow it rocks through hard and rugged Velebit karst. The main tributary rivers are Krnjeza and Krupa, which we visited.

Zrmanja has rich flora and fauna. There are numerous fish species, squids, octopuses, cuttle fish. Zrmanja river is also a natural habitat for plenty of birds like white and brown heron, ducks, falcons etc.

Also you have to be careful about the snakes. Horned viper is our most deadly snake.

Except the small organisms like endemic snails and little crabs, there is a significant population of olms. Olms live only in extremely clean waters.

Everything looks so dry, vegetation is tenacious, rocks everywhere.

While looking from outside the canyon of the river, you would say that there is definitely water deficit around here. Yes, on this picture you can see the river but that is only because I didn't have the strength to stop earlier to take pictures of the rocks. It was really hot weather.

Once you start scaling down the canyon, the sights get better and better.

Isn't this a perfect rock to climb?

Deployed tents. Here you can see the size of the canyon we are in. Because of it, the Sun is down at 6 o'clock even though its summer time.

The other side of the camp site view.

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Jacuzzi in the morning.

Jacuzzi is the part of little waterfall in the vicinity of our camp.

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How it looks like to chill on the river.

The most enjoyable moments were swimming upstream.

Scaling down the little waterfalls and travertine river barriers was so much fun!

Barriers were accumulated for hundreds of years and feel very soft on touch. The water was so clean that you could see the bottom of the river.

Kayaking is allowed and popular activity on river Zrmanja, but the Krupa's landscape is protected and kayaking is not allowed here. You must continue your adventure on when you come close to Krupa.

In the end, here are some more pictures from the Winnetou movie.

DISCLAIMER: The Winnetou movie photos compared to the landscape are courtesy of winnetou-filmplace.
Beautiful aerial pictures of the Zrmanja and Krupa are photographed by Goran Šafarek.

I will leave you with the view of the crystal clear Zrmanja river.

Thank you for reading.