DOLINES DU PLATEAU DE HRUSTOVO

Running along Sanski Most and the Sana River to the west for 25 km, the Hrustovo (Hrustovačka) plateau offers curious scenery: it is studded with hundreds of holes 10 to 20 m in diameter, giving the impression of a huge battlefield after a rain of shells. If the region was the scene of fighting during the Second World War, then between 1992 and 1995, it is not the result of intense bombing, but a natural phenomenon. The Hrustovo plateau, which rises to about 400 m above sea level, is a karst area where the limestone rocks have undergone particularly intense erosion. Here we find caves like the Dabar, long trenches, but, above all, hundreds of sinkholes, these "holes" locally called boginjavog krša ("hail karsts") or vrtača ("chasms"). They are the result of corrosion or collapse of the soil. Thus, the Hrustovo plateau is home to the highest density of sinkholes in the country: 90 per square kilometer. There is also a beautiful field of sinkholes not far away, south of the Grmeč massif, in the Bravsko polje (52 km southwest). There, the density still reaches 80 sinkholes per square kilometer. The 20 km long road from Bravsko to Krnja Jela, passing through Jasenovac, Janjila, Kapljuh and Smoljana, is reminiscent of Verdun in 1916. This route with its unreal landscapes is a good option to reach Bosanski Petrovac and from there to either the Una National Park or the Tropolje.