The Great Terrain took us to Lončari this year, a small village on a hill above Karin. Karin is, by the way, a place on the Karin Sea, which extends into the Novigrad Sea. So, it’s near Novigrad, close to Zadar. We camped on the Pueblo Escondido estate, and most of our time was spent exploring the canyon of the Bijela River and the flow of Karišnica. In addition, the sections conducted their fieldwork on the Novigradsko and Karinsko Seas, the Zrmanja River, and parts of the Velebit Nature Park: Tulove Grede, the Krupa River, and the Modrič Bay. Species were cataloged, parameters were measured, and habitats were mapped.
The camping site impressed the participants with its beautiful view of the sea and Velebit, and how wild, peaceful, and remote it was. On the other hand, that isolation often gave us trouble with transportation—both people and equipment—but we managed, in our opinion, pretty well (sorry to anyone who had to wait forever for transportation). We went into the field twice: once in early May, and again at the end of August. Each trip brought something special.
Spring was marked by a larger number of participants, which made the organization a bit more challenging—both for the chefs, organizers, and the administration—but the socializing was joyful. We played games for the first few evenings while we were still energetic, and there was no flunky (a traditional game), which was strange given the number of people, but not every generation is crazy about that game.
The summer outing was marked by high temperatures, as expected at the end of August in Dalmatia. We went into the field early in the morning and in the evening, and during the day, we found relief by swimming in the sea and in the Zrmanja River. There were fewer of us, the atmosphere was more homely, and we had lovely guests from Serbia with us in the field.
We would say that the Karin 2024 trip did a great job in collecting biodiversity data. We hope that this project helped the Public Institution Natura Jadera and the Velebit Nature Park, with whom we collaborated and who supported our Big Field Trip this year.
Project organisers:
- Maja Perinović (majaper332@gmail.com)
- David Dianežević (dianezevic.david@gmail.com)