Visitors and experts agree on: the area of Nin and its surroundings is a unique landscape of rare plant and animal species with 8 NATURAL 2000 habitats, 5 endemic, 4 critically endangered, 1 endangered and 5 sensitive plants. This area is of exceptional value to the present day generations as well as those future generations for which it has to be preserved. This is what it is done here profesionally and with no compromise.
The existence of NATURA 2000 habitats is due not only to the uniqueness and features of this area but also to the sustainable development and the awareness of the local people of the importance of nature and the interdependence of biological diversity and tourism. In the Nin lagoon very rare habitats formed: a low muddy and sandy coast with marshy areas containing the distinctive flora and fauna and sand dunes with rare plants. Professionals recognise the ecological value of the Nin habitats so that the plant communities connected with sandy and muddy shores are strictly protected and listed as important habitats in the natural ecological network. The preservation of nature is carried out according to the criteria of the world’s largest coordinated network protection areas, NATURA 2000. One thing is certain: Nin’s extraordinary natural heritage is an exceptional regional and national attraction and value to the world.
Rare and endemic plants
In the Nin lagoon many rare and endemic kinds of plants can be found. It is interesting that this world is characterised by the nature, primarily the shallow waters and the very high salinity. The most impressive adaptation to the laws of survival is perhaps best illustrated by the plant type (Srcocornia fruticosa) – sometimes called, salicot, sea beans, pickleweed, glasswort or samphire, which grows along the muddy coast in very salty earth, so thickly that it creates fields which are called salt marshes.
This plant is fleshy, it has a thick stem which is a real reservoir of water, and small leaves which prevent too much evaporation. Its cellular juice has a high concentration of salt, which enables it to take water from salty deposits (otherwise the plant would lose water ). The large amounts of this kind of plant are a source of food for other kinds, primarily birds such as the herons, waders and grebes
Nin’s Salt
The prosperity of this region was based on the production of salt in prehistoric and ancient times. This region still lives on this very precious gift of nature. And this is how the story of the pecularities of this region, human activities and health begins.
The technology of salt production uses to the maximum the benefits of this area: lots of sunshine favourable winds and the special geographical position. It is not suprising that Nin salt, with a high percentage of iodine, is among the best in Europe, and in the world. Indeed, this is not ordinary sea-salt-it is a gift of the local climate, an ideal blend of the Adriatic sea and sun with the wind coming from the mountain of Velebit. The increased concentration of natural iodine, due to the alga called petula, is added, so nature has created a salt which not only improves the taste of food , but also improves health.
Medical mud
Health coming from nature
Among the gifts of Nature, in which Nin abounds, ceratainly one of the most valuable is the medicinal mud (peloid), located near the long, sandy Queen’s Beach. Its effectiveness has been tested by thousands of people, who organised and supervised by a Zadar Health Institution, have used the mud to treat various ailments such as rheumatic diseases, spinal deformities, muscular and the skeletal system problems, female infertility and various skin diseases for decades.
The therapy, which usually lasts from ten to twenty days, involves covering the body with the mud, then sunbathing on the sandy beach, then rinsing off the mud with warm sea water. This is done in the morning during July and August. It is useful and pleasant at the same time. Additional swimming and bathing in the warm shallow sea water really works.