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Wildlife tourism is not a new phenomenon in Bohinj, the small alpine municipality in Slovenia which nestles in an impressive arc of the Julian Alps. Nor have its botanical riches been a particularly well-kept secret for the last two or three hundred years, well not if you are a keen mountaineer or botanist that is.
One of the first well-known visitors to the area was Balthazar Hacquet (1740-1815), a renowned naturalist, traveller and explorer from Brittany. Hacquet wrote very passionately about the botanical riches of Bohinj’s mountains. “Oh, how many times I wanted to live my life here as a shepherd so that I could explore this landscape full of beautiful flowers…” he enthused, “How many rare flowers, which I would not be able to see otherwise, can I find there!” Many other explorers and admirers of Bohinj’s mountains and wild flowers followed him and the coming of the railway to the area just over 100 years ago opened up this part of the Julian Alps to more visitors. Tourism, like the wild flowers, flourished. Then in the early 1990’s the booming tourist industry suffered a rapid decline, mostly as a result of the unrest in other parts of the former Yugoslavia. However, life in the Bohinj countryside went on much as it had done for hundreds of years previously. Obviously many things have changed with time but a traveller in Hacquet’s time would still recognise much in present day Bohinj and, in particular, the farming and forestry practices which presented him with a landscape full of beautiful flowers still produces a show that never ceases to enthral the modern visitor. The people of the Bohinj area are rightly proud of their long alpine farming heritage and the high quality of their
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environment. Wild flowers continue to this day to play an important part in their local culture and way of life. There is also a strong desire amongst the local community to promote and raise awareness of their unique natural and cultural heritage.
Outstanding destination
Realising from past experience that mass tourism development was not for them, the search was on for ways to extend the tourist season into the quieter periods of the year. Since it was the wild flowers, stunning mountains and unique culture of the area which really made Bohinj stand out as an Alpine holiday destination, the people of Bohinj held their first ever ‘Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival’ in May 2007.
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