A special event took place on our Drvošec Theme Trail, which won the award for the best educational trail in the country with. The scenery was the most beautiful one: an almost full Lake Cerknica, blue sky above us and the sounds of a unique Eurasian bittern bird! The traditional event, with which the Tourist Association of Slovenia honors every year`s best trail, is called “Chat on the best walking trail”.
Unfortunately, due to the epidemiological measures in the country, the ceremony was somewhat reduced in terms of number of participants and keeping distance, but we could still be together with members of the commission of the Tourist Association of Slovenia, which made the selection, and with all that applies in terms of natural tourism and protection nature, discovering why the title went into the right hands and why this path is truly unique.
The participants were:
Jože Prah, Chairman of the Best Paths Selection Committee
Marko Rupar, major of Cerknica Municipality
Irena Zalar, Head of Municipal Administration
Urška Ogrinc, Head of Tourism unit of Notranjska Regional Park
Tomaž Jančar, Head od Heritage protection unit of Notranjska Regional Park
Ladi Klančar, coordinator of tourist events at Notranjska Park
Janez Logar, acting director of Slovenia Forest Service
Marko Lenarčič, CEO of Slovenia Outdoor
Peter Misja, Vice President of Tourist Board of Slovenia
Lili Mahne, home-made local food catering
Most of all, it is important that the trail does not only offer a walk along Lake Cerknica and work as an added value to a simple walk along the lake, it also offer the visitor educational tables, interactive info points (wolf silhouette, lynx climber, bear`s lair) and three nature bird observatories. It brings life to the trail. By organizing events and activities on it. As part of the themed weekends, the visitors can observe birds on this route guided by experienced ornithologists, learn how to survive in nature, hunt for a lost treasure, collect medicinal herbs and flowers, learn about myths and interesting facts about the origin of Lake Cerknica and much more. In doing so, the story of this beautiful, 4-kilometer trail includes the locals, along with their products and knowledge. These prove to be guides – connoisseurs of various fields of knowledge, as providers of wild food snacks during activities and as drivers for tired participants in adventures (there is a ride on an old traditional horse-drawn carriage, with funny coachman telling jokes and local stories during the ride).
The epidemic has passed luxurious experiences from fancy hotels and inns to nature and the thematic nature walking trails. The epidemic has introduced a new form of high quality safe trips – a nature 5-star experience. We will probably have to live with the COVID-19 epidemic for a few more years and mass tourism has already become risky, staying in hotels and apartments will require vaccination and other health certificates, many will be afraid to stay in accommodations since one can not know who was occupying them before we have arrived. According to tourism experts, a lot of tourism will soon be transferred to day trips, which will have to offer as much interesting, fun, exciting, attractive, special, different content as possible. According to those who awarded our Drvošec Trail with the highest place, our trail is completely trending now.
Photo gallery of the event:
