VILLAGE DE MARTIN BROD

The village of Martin Brod/Мартин Брод (pronounced "martine brodt") is the entry point #5 of the Una National Park. The arrival is not very engaging: ruined houses, an abandoned railway bridge and a road bridge destroyed during the war replaced by another, so-called "temporary", since 1997. But from the heights of the valley, the view does not deceive: Martin Brod is the most beautiful village of the national park. It is here, along the Croatian border, that the Unac joins the Una to form a delta drowned in greenery and surrounded by peaks exceeding 800 m in altitude. Both rivers are majestic here: while its tributary comes out of a deep canyon, the Una pours its tumultuous streams in a series of waterfalls, one of which is the highest in the park. The name of the village ("Marta's Passage") comes from a legend according to which a young woman named Marta died while trying to cross the Una to join her lover on the opposite bank. Marked by the war, this small town of about 130 inhabitants, mostly Bosnian-Serbs, is revived with rafting, but also with its fishy waters, well-developed trails, a few restaurants, rooms in local homes and the hotel Una-C (+387 66 05 80 07). Martin Brod is a good starting point for a rafting or kayaking trip to Kulen Vakuf (about 1.5 hours, easy level). In addition to the price of the equipment rental or the supervised trip, there is a fee of 6 KM/person for the passage.