Bear Watching Slovenia - Meet the Wildlife

Trotz mehrfacher Anfrage bekamen wir keine Antwort.Im Nationalpark direkt nachgefragt hieß es dann, dass es momentan keine Touren gäbe und Touristen eh nicht ihr Ziel wäre

Pretty expensive for what you get, with mediocre service from their office at best. We were unlucky (extremely, if it's really 94% success rate..) and didn't see any bears. We did get to see a badger though!The guide was lovely though and told us a lot! She also gave us a lot more time because we didn't see anything and took out the heat camera when it got dark. Anything to spot a bear! ;)But all in all, €129 per person for 2 x 15 minutes car ride and 2 hours in a hut is a bit steep. Half the price would've been better value for money, even if you do get to see bears :).

On nous indique une probabilité de voir des ours de 90% et si on n'en voit pas on a la possibilité de revenir pour 50% du prix.Attention de réserver suffisamment à l'avance (en plein été 1 à 2 semaines avant).Nous avons vu des ours très rapidement après 15 minutes dans la petite maison et aussi des renards et une biche.On peut prendre des photos même si on ne réserve pas la maison dédiée pour les photos (l'expérience photo est plus longue, plus chère mais permet d'être à la hauteur de l'ours). Si ce n'est pas pour de la photo pro, les photo que l'on prend depuis la cabane sont largement satisfaisantes car même si on est un peu surélevé les ours sont à une distance qui convient.Il faut un objectif au minimum 200 MM pour prendre des photos. Moi j'avais un 70-200 sur un apsc avec un doubleur (donc équivalent full frame 210-600) et c'était parfait.La meilleure heure pour voir les ours est juste avant la tombée de la nuit donc les horaires varient en fonction du coucher du soleil. Bien sûr pour les photos il est préférable que les ours viennent en début de séance mais on ne peut pas prévoir.Je recommande vraiment. C'est très différent de voir un ours sauvage et un ours au zoo !!

One thing very high on our ‘to see’ list during the roadtrip through Slovenia were bears.We didn’t expect they would cross our path and were too scared to run into them in the woods. So we decided to go for this excursion. Which we didn’t regret at all!We had a warm welcome at the meeting point. Had an excellent guide who, after 1,5 hour, spoke the magic words: “Meet bear”.It was very much worth the money as well as the waiting.It might seem a little scary to go into the forest but at the end is was very safe.Greetings from Holland Jeroen and Annie

Slechte presentatie vooraf, werd gewoon letterlijk vanaf de powerpoint voorgelezen in gebrekkig Engels. Je had dit beter zelf kunnen lezen of vinden via Google. In het hutje gezeten voor een aantal uren, maar 0 beren gezien, wat we gezien hebben waren enkel duiven.

It was a great experience for us. We saw a total of 7 bears. 2 mothers with little ones. Big compliment to the guide! He was very relaxed and made us feel safe. He also had a lot of knowledge. Highly recommended!

Sadly, we are quite dissapointed. We saw many birds and sat for more than 3 hours. At 21:33, when we didn‘t know for what exactly we were still sitting there, a bear showed up. It was already so late that you only saw a black shape in the dark. Luckily, we took a pair of binoculars with us, which allowed us to see the bear a little bit better. We couldn‘t take any pictures nor could we observe the bears behaviour (because without the bino of which we only had one we merely figured out the shape). These things can happen, nature has it‘s own rules. But we would have prefered to get back sooner and try it again on another day as it says on the homepage. In this case now we saw a bear without actually seeing it.What we didn‘t expect at all, was that our guide wasn‘t able to communicate with us. So we couldn’t ask anything concerning upcoming tours. He didn‘t speak English, explained things in Slovenian to the two other participants and he seemed to not care at all if we understood anything. At least the other participant made an effort to translate some of the things our guide said. It says on the homepage that a „wildlife expert“ was included in the price.. He may be an expert, but I‘m not sure how this might be a benefit if he doesn‘t speak/try to communicate with us at all. All he did was speak in slovenian, so we had no idea of what he was explaining.We know that its possible that there are no bears, because we are observing them in their natural habitat. But during the whole experience we felt so uncomfortable and not welcome at all because the guide didn‘t explain anything to us, including the sighting of a bear in nearly total darkness, which the guide had to chase off at around 10pm so that we could go back to our car in total darkness.. I don‘t know. This was not what we expected, nor how it is presented on the homepage.

WOW, EXPERIENCE OF A LIFETIME! Spoilers ahead so read no further if you don’t want to ruin your visit!Everything about this tour was so professional. The website is really easy to use and sets out clear expectations. I’ve done a lot of research on brown bear watching in Europe (Estonia, Romania etc) and this is the most well organised and well priced one I’ve found. Trust me!Communication from the team was faultless, multiple email reminders, easy email contact, and clear instructions.The meeting point in Loz is very handy, just over an hour from Bled. And of course it’s some way away - bears are very shy and like to live in remote areas!I really recommend bear watching in Slovenia as it is done ethically and by professionals. Slovenes care deeply about protecting nature and biodiversity. In the tour, we first received a very interesting and knowledgeable guide of brown bears in Slovenia. Lots of unique cultural context that cannot easily be found online - the team are the real deal and have over 14 years experiencethis was very clear when we entered the forest, the anticipation was rising! Driving deep into the forest was so thrilling, where we came upon the wildlife hide. From there, it was very comfortable toRelax, enjoy the forest, and wait….We were very lucky that even though in July temperatures, of mid-30 degrees Celsius it’s very hot for the bears - just after 8pm the bears arrived. Be patient!Seeing the bears is a dream come true, I cannot explain how special it is. They are just beautiful. But they are very, very shy - do not wear perfume for your visit because they will smell you and run away.I am confused by the reviews complaining about language barrier. As I stated, English communication was perfect with the team, and you should not speak in the forest as the bears will be disturbed. We managed to communicate great, thank you Janis.My photos aren’t amazing as I have some on my SD card of my camera- these are just from an iPhone! But they can never truly capture the magic of seeing brown bears in real life. Do not miss this opportunity of a LIFETIME!

A really great experience!! We went near Postonja together with guide Ervin who knew obviously a lot about bears and wildlife in general. Respectfull way to watch a bear in the wild

Molto bella e ben organizzata l'attività di bears watching, capanni provati ben fatti; Miha è competente e disponibile. Belli i posti. Io ho acquistato il pacchetto 4 giorni, unica cosa non proprio irreprensibile la pensione che ci ospitava, anche se ovviamente quel che conta è vedere gli orsi!