Lubenovac
Shepherds’ huts in the mountain valley Lubenovac are located along the very edge of this spacious karst valley, at the bottom of the Strict Nature Reserve Hajdučki and Rožanski Kukovi, and are an excellent choice for all modern-age adventurers. If you are a person who enjoys complete peace and quiet and if you would like to experience an adventure by spending your summer holidays in harmony with nature, you will love the accommodation in shepherds’ huts of Lubenovac. Staying in a remote area, kilometres away from the nearest houses, you will get a first-hand experience of wild and unspoiled nature.
Shepherds’ huts in Lubenovac have no running water or electricity, rainwater is collected in a “šterna” (water tank) and there is no power.
In Lubenovac, there are 4 huts available for use: two are intended for accommodation purposes, one hut has an open fireplace with a kit for food preparation and one contains an outhouse and a portable shower.
Huts intended for accommodation purposes are supplied with mattresses and bedclothes for up to 4 persons. In the hut, there is a table with several benches, which can be easily converted into a sleeping berth for two. On the top floor/attic, there is an additional sleeping area for two, accessed by a wooden ladder. The hut is also equipped with a small kitchen, cutlery for eating and preparing food and a small wood-burning stove. In each hut, there are gas and kerosene lamps, wood logs and an axe for chopping wood.
All resources must be used rationally and all necessary supplies must be procured in advance, as the closest shops are kilometres away.
Veliki Lubenovac is one of the most beautiful localities in the Northern Velebit National Park. Long ago, during the summer months, the area of Lubenovac was inhabited by people, who would live there together with their livestock and today, remains of about fifty summer huts, several stonewalls and outdoor water tanks nicknamed “šterne”, still serve as a reminder of this form of lifestyle. In the area of Lubenovac, there remains one preserved specimen of the so-called “lokva” (“puddle” in Croatian) – Lubenovačka Ruja – which was used in the past for watering the livestock, including sheep, goats, cows and horses.
Veliki Lubenovac is a good starting point for hiking tours to Veliki Kozjak, one of the most beautiful peaks of the Velebit Mountain.
Lubenovac can be easily reached: by way of the gravel road from the direction of Begovača (at the crossing next to the mountaineers’ hut Careva Kuća), by way of gravel road and hiking trail from the direction of Alan or you can simply descend the Premužićeva Trail.
Project: “Introducing grazing on the grassland Lubenovac”
Northern Velebit National Park is renowned for its wide diversity of habitats, marked by a high alternation dynamic of different habitat types on a relatively small area.
Apart from the fact that this mosaic of habitats, especially the views of grasslands, greatly contributes to the attractiveness of the region, grasslands are also essentially important for preservation of biodiversity, because many different plant and animal species live there. Many of these species are rare or endangered and are bound exclusively to open-space habitats.
A smaller group of the grasslands of the Northern Velebit National Park developed naturally (alpine swards), whereas the majority of the Park’s grasslands developed as a result of centuries-long human activities, including grubbing up forest trees, taking livestock to pasture and mowing. Natural primary grasslands grow on a limited area of mountain peaks and crests, mild inclines and slopes, where the impact of strong winds, primarily north-eastern wind Bura, long-lasting snow cover and frequent avalanches, prevented the development of forest vegetation.
Similar to other rural areas of Croatia, grasslands of the Northern Velebit National Park are among the most endangered habitat types because of the natural process of community succession, which implies invasion of grasslands by ligneous or woody species. In this way not only many plant species disappear, but habitats of many invertebrates (Lepidoptera, spiders, etc.) perish as well as important feeding grounds of rare birds of prey such as golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) or lesser kestrel (Falco naumanii).
Therefore, through the process of zoning undertaken within the scope of Management Plan implementation, grasslands have been classified under the so-called “active protection zone”, which foresees the following activities: control of the area, scientific research and monitoring, mowing, grazing, traditional agriculture, removal of ligneous species from grasslands, reconstruction of livestock farmers’ huts, installation of protective canopies and barns for livestock, maintenance of water pools (“lokve”) or on-field interventions aimed at improving visitor service (installation of benches and arrangement of lookouts, introduction of educational and interpretive programmes...).
In the area of Lubenovac, a circular educational trail named “Shepherds’ Path” was opened: it is accompanied by five interpretation boards about some of the natural phenomena and values encountered along the way.
In addition, in Lubenovac, a greater emphasis has been put on the interpretation of sustainability of the traditional way of life (which is a life deprived of the latest technological developments based on fossil fuels and electricity), where visitors are able to experience how it is to spend the night in complete dark with no artificial sources of light, like shepherds, when they spent their summers in Lubenovac.
