Dinara is one of the more prominent mountains located on the border of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its Latin name is Adrian oros; the current name is suspected to be derived from the name of an ancient Illyrian tribe that lived on the eastern slopes of the mountain.

It's best known for the fact that its name is the base for the name of a large mountain chain called the Dinaric Alps. The so-called Dinarides are known for being composed of karst — limestone rocks, as is the mountain that named them.

Dinara itself spans from the Derala mountain pass (965 m) in the northwest, to the Privija pass (1230 m) which is 20 km to the southeast. The mountain is up to 10 km wide. The highest peaks are Troglav (1913 m) ("Threehead"), Konj (1849 m) ("Horse"), and Dinara (1830 m). The peak called Dinara is shaped like a head made of stone, and it happens to be the highest peak of Croatia.

Despite the fact it's only a few dozen kilometers away from the Adriatic Sea, the climate on Dinara is hardly Mediterranean — Dinara marks the border of the area with a much colder, mountainous climate . There aren't any inhabited areas on the mountain itself: there are mostly small shacks that belong to the herdsmen from the nearby valleys such as that of the Cetina river.

The most fascinating massif is one on the southwestern slope, which is six kilometers long and up to 1700 meters high, an interesting landscape to look at for the travellers on the roads in the valley below. The massif doesn't attract many climbers, which prefer only its Ošljak peak (1706 m).

Dinara is host to an endemic species of rodents, a vole called "Dinarski miš" ("Dinaric mouse"), Dolomys bogdanovi longipedis from the genus Dinaromys , which is declared an endangered species.

External links

• Photographs and climbing information.