Fast and furious: thrilling zip line draws visitors to Croatian hinterland

Reuters - Lika, one of Croatia's least developed regions, is best known for its UNESCO-listed Plitvice Lakes national park and for being the birthplace of the inventor Nikola Tesla. But a group of adrenaline junkies has sought to boost tourism in the area, often bypassed by visitors traveling to the Adriatic coast, by building what they say is the longest continuous zip line in Europe. Now open for its third busy summer season, the Pazi Medo (Beware of the Bear) zip line draws up to 5,000 people each year for a thrilling ride over forests, hills and a picturesque valley in the Adriatic hinterland. At 1,700 metres (1.06 miles) long. it is the longest zip line in Europe, said Lana Ivanisevic who looks after sales at the rural site in Vrhovine, some 35 kilometers away from the Plitvice Lakes. She said the zip line's fastest speed recorded was 120 kilometers/hour, and tourists from Europe, Asia, North America have come to try out the 280 kuna ($43) ride. Other zip lines in Europe include a mile-long ride in north Wales where thrill seekers can reach speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. A zip line park in the Dolomite mountains offers a 3.2 kilometre ride divided into sections.