Observing and Discovering Bears in Their Natural Habitat
Forests of Kočevsko are full of life! Get to know the wildlife and its inhabitants up close during forest adventures with an experienced local tour guide who will lead you in following their tracks.
An endless palette of green shades merging with the landscape, the rustling of leaves in the wind in the treetops high above us, birdsong… a symphony of nature that calms our thoughts, relaxes our senses and with the absence of WIFI, allows us to connect on a completely different level. Kočevsko - the Secret Forest of Slovenia offers you to connect with nature, your thoughts, and reconnect with yourself. More than 80% of Kočevsko is covered in forests and nature here is "wild", but nice and accessible to everyone. It is also one of the few areas in the world where we can still observe all three large beasts in the wild in their natural environment - the brown bear, wolf and lynx. In Slovenia, over 1.000 bears are still present, which places us among the countries with the highest density of bear population in the world. Most of these bears are found in the forests of Kočevsko. As locals, we are used to living in coexistence with them, and we know how to show our visitors a friendly and safe way to observe and watch them, without interfering with their lives.
Slovenian Tourist Board has awarded the experience "Observing and Discovering Bears in Their Natural Habitat" with the label Slovenia Unique Experience as one of the most unique 5-star tourist experiences in Slovenia, ensuring guests that our program is local, authentic, unique, experiential, boutique, sustainably green, and of premium quality.
Program duration: 1 day (10 hours)
Season: April - first half of September
Difficulty: medium difficulty
Suitable for: families with older children, couples, individuals, small groups (up to 8 people)
You can observe: the brown bear, wolf, lynx, deer, roe deer, forest birds, owls, waterfowl
Package description:
- an experienced local guide takes you on a guided hike through the unspoiled Kočevsko forests,
- in the forest, you follow signs of the presence of bears and other wild animals,
- you learn about the characteristics and way of life of a bear, as well as many stories about coexisting with it,
- you learn the rules of behavior in the area where a bear is present and in the event of a potential encounter with it,
- enjoy a picnic with local delicacies and herbs collected along the way in the forest clearing and taste the "bear menu",
- visit to the "Bear Room",
- refresh yourself with an early locally sourced dinner,
- during the experience you will have many opportunities to take beautiful photos of nature,
- end the day with bear watching from the safe haven of the forest observatory accompanied by a local hunter.
Program Schedule:
Your adventure begins in the town of Kočevje, located in the heart of Kočevsko, at the Hostel Bearlog. An experienced local guide will first present you the entire program, the schedule of the day and locations you will visit. The guide will also explain to you everything you need to know before visiting the forest. The path will then lead us deep into the heart of the Kočevsko forests until we find the first tracks and traces of wild animals. This is an ideal place to stop and start exploring the secret forests. Here we can see the tracks of different animals, and each has a different interpretation and a different story. With the help of the guide, you will follow the animals and explore the various signs of the presence of wildlife in their natural environment, and learn a lot of new interesting and useful information. While exploring, you will also stop at a clearing in the woods where you can rest and refresh yourself with a prepared forest picnic with local delicacies, including various edible plants and herbs.
After a short refreshment, you will drive to the "Bear Room" in Kočevje, where you will refresh your knowledge about bears and everything related to them. Here you will also learn the rules of behavior at the observation stand during the observation in order to make your experience as pleasant as possible and at the same time undisturbed for the wild animals. Before the evening observation, you will refresh yourself with a local dinner at a nearby inn in the vicinity of Kočevska Reka, and then meet a local hunter who will accompany you to the evening observation at the observation stand in the Kočevsko forests.
There you will sit in complete silence and indulge in the sounds of nature and observe the animals. With a little luck, a brown bear will also show up. Bears mostly roam on established paths, so the probability of seeing a bear is high. Nevertheless, we must be aware that nature is unpredictable which makes it even more enchanting.
We have developed this program in accordance with the standards of sustainable tourism and with the least possible impact on the environment, especially on wild animals.
Price list*
- 2 people 380 EUR/person
- 3 people 300 EUR/person
- 4-8 people in a group 260 EUR/person
*You may be asked to join an existing group. The price is per reservation of a group, therefore the price does not change if the groups are merged.
The price includes:
- professional guidance of the local tourist guide throughout the program
- all local transports
- forest picnic with local delicacies from the "Bear Menu"
- tracking and getting to know the characteristics of bears and other wild animals
- Aadmission to the "Bear Room"
- early locally sourced dinner
- evening bear watching from the safe shelter of the forest observation hut accompanied by a local hunter
- water bottle and surprise
Contact and inquiry:
Zavod Kočevsko
T: +386 31 544 744
E: bears@kocevsko.com
We look forward to your visit to the Secret Forest of Slovenia.
When it comes to the experience, we want to emphasize that this is a sustainably oriented program about free-living wild animals. We don't want to interfere with their lives, so we can't guarantee you will see a bear on every program. The average rate on seeing bears is between 70-80%, but the percentage of successful observations varies from year to year, even from month to month, as it depends on the weather, other visitors to the forest, the behavior of the group at the observatory, and especially on the current forest harvest. The more food available in the forest, the less likely animals will come to the observatory and vice versa. If the probability of a successful observation is low during a certain period, we will inform you about this and propose a later date.
Wondering what our guests had to say about the Observing and Discovering Bears in their Natural Habitat in Kočevsko?
"We did the whole day and would highly recommend the local experience was amazing, the guide was so knowledgeable and you felt safe and able to enjoy the day. You could also tell that the care and ensuring good behaviour around the wild bears was highest priority."
"The day in the forest was a great experience. It was entertaining, informative, interesting - wonderful. The watching of the bear in the evening was the highlight. I would recommend the tour to everyone who is interested in nature."
"We had an amazing day with out personal guide Petra. From the first minute we've met we felt welcome in Kocevje. We looked together for traces of bears, wolves and other animals. We learned also about the history of the region. We did nice little walks. We did a picknick with al lovely view. The late lunch served was typical food for the region, specially prepared for us. And then in the observation hut we could see a badger and suddenly also the beautiful brown bear! Thank you for the wonderful experience!"
"We had an amazing day with our guide! He showed us around and gave us a lot of really interesting information about the village, the forest and the animals living in it.Out guide was kind and funny - we really enjoyed spending the day with him. The highlight was seeing the your bear but even if we wouldn’t have seen one, the day would have been really really nice."
"We did the day trip "Learning about bears and following the signs of their presence in Kočevsko". First of all, it was such a pleasure to discover this magical forest and this part of Slovenia which is still a bit unknown from most tourists. Our day was really well-organized. Our guide Gregor was wonderful, we learnt so many things about the forest and about the wildlife living there. He was also so nice with the kids! The picnic was also really good with a lot of biological and natural products from the area. We really enjoyed that day and hope to be back to do the bear watching experience when our kids will be older."