Malá Fatra

Malá Fatra National Park was established in 1988 in north-western Slovakia and protects some 226 km². It had been a protected landscape area since 1967.

The park covers the Krivánska Fatra sector, the most rugged part of the massif, with a main ridge rising above 1,700 metres at Veľký Kriváň and slopes cut by narrow valleys. The combination of limestones, dolomites and crystalline rocks produces a highly varied relief, with walls, spires and gorges.

The best known are the Jánošíkove diery, a system of narrow ravines threaded by streams and waterfalls that are negotiated by metal ladders, walkways and chains fixed to the rock, one of the most popular routes in the country. The name refers to Juraj Jánošík, the eighteenth-century outlaw born in Terchová, at the foot of the massif, who became a Slovak folk hero. The park preserves well-developed beech and fir woods, mountain meadows maintained by traditional grazing and a Carpathian fauna that includes brown bear, lynx and an introduced population of Alpine chamois.