We have teamed up with partners in the centre of the country to offer two very different European Brown Bear watching experiences.
Firstly we spend time in the High Tatras looking for bears. Here they are highly visible as they forage above the tree-line.
We will try and get closer to them either by spotting them from afar and then tracking and following them or by putting ourselves in areas
that we know the bears frequent and waiting for some of the well-known characters of the area.
After seeing bears in the highlands we head to Slovakia's Ngorongoro! Here a volcanic caldera has created an extremely fertile ecosystem.
Although heavily forested there is plenty of wildlife here. We stay in a cottage in remote woods, bears pass by here virtually every night
due to the legacy of the area previously being baited. Hopefully here we can get very close sightings from behind glass.
Day 1:
We commence the tour in Krakow. On arrival we head south towards the High Tatras. The journey is about 3 hours,
once we leave the outskirts of Krakow we pass through farmland and small villages and if the weather is clear we will get great
views of the mountains ahead. We cross the Slovak border and make our way around the eastern flank of the High Tatras.
Our destination is the medieval square of Spisska Sobota, a quieter part of the much bigger Poprad.
Day 2:
We leave Spisska Sobota early and head for the mountains. Here our itinerary is dependent on the wildlife that is about.
We may head straight to our exclusive Ranger cottage (unavailable to other tourists) and deposit our bags or we may head
straight out for a drive of both of the key valleys of the area. From the valley floors we will often get our first
glimpses of bears feeding high on the slopes. We are accompanied by a National Park Ranger therefore this gives us
the chance to walk off the tourist trails and into the side valleys potentially to get closer to the bears we see.
We will walk along classic bear trails looking for bear prints, and tree markings in the forest, and scouring the hill
tops for the animals themselves. Again dependent on what we se we will either have lunch in the field or back at the cottage.
In the evening we drive through the valleys again to catch animals still out feeding. Dinner in our cottage, and a chance to
talk about Project Bear with your guide.
(B, L, D)
Day 3:
Very early in the morning one of the team will check the valleys for bears and advise us if there is anything interesting about.
We head out and drive the two valleys to check the slopes for bears. The rest of the day is dependent on what we see.
There are various walks that we can do; all of them are off the tourist trails (we will again be with a Ranger)
and aim to get us closer to bears. These walks are generally fairly tough but the reward is great with fantastic scenery
and the chance to see some great wildlife. Not only do we have the chance to see bears but we will also have the chance to see
the endemic subspecies of Chamois and Marmot, as well as red and roe deer and for the very, very lucky maybe even wolves.
The high mountains also provide good thermals for raptors, Peregrine Falcon, Goshawk and the Golden Eagle are all possibilities.
In the forest woodpeckers, Hazel hen and maybe even Capercaillie might show themselves. We eat lunch en route.
On decent back into the valley floor we again walk the small trail that we walked yesterday parallel to the ridge,
a favourite route for all wildlife. The vehicle picks us up and we return to the cottage for dinner. In the late evening,
weather permitting we will head out on a night walk. We will stop at a favourite spot of ours and wait to see if anything passes
by. We should hear owls and if we are lucky we might see bears or wolves.
(B, PL, D)
Day 4:
We get up early again and make one last drive of the valleys looking for bears and then head back to the cottage for breakfast
and to pack up. We then head south to the Polan'a region. The Polan'a region is volcanic and the area in which we will be
walking and looking for wildlife is in a collapsed caldera, similar geologically to the famous Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania
only smaller. However the richness of the volcanic soil measn that this is an incredibly fertile area and as a result
it holds very large numbers of deer, wild boar and other smaller prey animals. Where there is prey there are predators...
The fertility and altitudinal range also means that there are a large number of distinct ecosystems here providing food
for the ungulates and also bears. On arrival at our hotel we have lunch and then head out for a walk with local scientists
who are studying the area.
In the evening we have an informal presentation by the scientists about the wildlife of the region.
(B)
Day 5:
We get up early in the morning and head out for another walk. The dense nature of some of the forest here makes
viewing mammals quite difficult but with the expert guides we hope to see as much as possible. This area is very rich
in birdlife so hopefully we will see some of the nine species of woodpeckers for which the region is famous.
There is also the possibility of seeing owls resting during the day. We have a packed lunch en route. In the early afternoon
we return to the hotel and freshen up. We then head to the exclusive mountain lodge and prepare for some bear watching.
Bears in the forest are much harder to see than in the mountains but any encounters will be at a much closer range.
The lodge is on a very well used bear trail, probably due to baiting in previous years. The chances of seeing bears
from a large viewing window here are very high. We have a packed dinner here and after hopefully seeing some of the local bears
we sleep.
(B, PL, D)
Day 6:
Those that want to can stay up for as long as they want, the guides will also get up early to see if there are any bears
about in the morning and will wake anyone if they request it. Those that are tired can have a relatively lazy lie-in before
we return to the hotel for a late breakfast. We also have a couple of hours to go to the hotel swimming pool and/or sauna.
After feeling reinvigorated we head to Detva, here we can see some of the distinctive culture of the region.
We have lunch at a traditional restaurant here where you can try some of the local specialities. After lunch we head to either
the Folk Museum or to the archaeological site at Kalamarka. In the late afternoon we head back
to the mountain lodge and prepare for another night of bear watching. For those that would prefer to return
to the comfort of the hotel we can return them, however this can only be done very early or very late so as not to
disturb the wildlife.
(B,D)
Day 7:
We have another late start and breakfast back at the hotel. After packing all of our belongings we set off north to an area
where we recently collared a large male bear. We drove to Spisska Sobota from Krakow on Day 1 on the eastern edge
of the Tatras mountain range and today we start our journey back via the far western edges. We stop near Zuberec
in a quaint pension tucked away in the forest. This lovely mountain forest atmosphere is where we have our final dinner
in Slovakia and hopefully toast the great wildlife we have seen.
(B)
Day 8:
Our start today depends on the timing of flights from Krakow. We will have one last lung full of clean mountain forest air
and then set off north across the Polish border to catch flights back home.
(B)
Key:
B = Breakfast (P)L = (Packed)Lunch D = Dinner
Price:
€ 950 per person.
Minimum: 2 people. Includes all accommodation, local transport, entrance fees, expert wildlife guide, National Park ranger
and meals as shown. Price does not include international flights, drinks, meals not highlighted and gratuities.
2012 Dates:
13 - 20 MAY
16 - 23 SEPTEMBER
07 - 14 OCTOBER
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