KULEN VAKUF

Kulen Vakuf/Кулен Вакуф (pronounced "koulène vakouf") is the largest village in Una National Park. Located in a beautiful meander of the Una, along the R408 road (40 km southeast of Bihać, 11 km north of Martin-Brod), it has around 400 inhabitants, almost all Bosnians. There are a number of restaurants and shops here, as well as accommodation (guesthouses and campsites). It's also the arrival point for the leisurely rafting trip from Martin Brod (7 km). It's a pleasant, scenic spot, with two small islands and two castles on the hills on either side of the Una. The medieval castle of Ostrovica (^15th century) dominates the valley at an altitude of 500 m on the left bank to the south-west. The ruins of the ^17th-century Ottoman fortress of Havala stand 400 m above sea level on the right bank, just above the R408. An important river trading port during the Ottoman period, Kulen Vakuf was a small town first called Džisri Kebir (a deformation of the Arabic jisr el-kebir, "great bridge"), then Palanka ("small fortified town" in South Slavonic). It took its present name in the ^19th century, when buildings were erected thanks to the vakuf (donation) of a local Ottoman officer, Mahmut Pacha Kulenović (1776-1806). But it was virtually wiped off the map in December 1941 during a series of massacres committed by Croatian Ustasha, Serbian Chetniks and partisans.