In the five years since the first Wild Flower Festival, this event has indeed demonstrated that such events can extend the viable tourism season. It has been so successful in fact, that there is now an autumn Hiking Festival in Bohinj in late September. This too is growing in popularity and becoming known across Europe. The main objective of the Wild Flower Festival has always


been “To build a sustainable future for both people and nature”. Each year there is a different range of activities and events which take place over a two week period during the last week of May and first week of June. The Festival is designed for both local people and visitors with activities dispersed throughout the area to different villages and venues. The events are all designed to be entertaining and fun but they also raise awareness of the natural riches of the region, promoting a feeling of pride in the long alpine farming heritage and the high quality of the countryside that this has developed over thousands of years. The events typically include folklore and traditional activities like selling local produce and crafts, traditional folk dancing, demonstrations of haymaking by hand, making traditional wildflower bouquets and embroidery. There are painting and photography exhibitions, musical concerts, many activities especially for children and families, culinary workshops and wild flower foods, illustrated talks, workshops, seminars and a major annual Festival Conference attracting international speakers and Slovene Government Ministers.


A major achievement of the Festival is the range of guided walks on offer. These have been so successful that they now extend into the main tourism season. By working in partnership with The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation (the Slovene equivalent of SNH) and utilising funding from the Principality of Monaco, the Festival has developed its own programme of training for local guides. Now there is not only a wide range of walks covering an equally wide range of subjects but you can also do botanical tours by bicycle or horseback! In five years the Bohinj Wild Flower Festival has blossomed. From a small local affair in 2007, it is now regarded as Slovenia’s premier environmental event supported directly by both the Slovene Government and the Triglav National Park which covers much of the Bohinj area. Its patron is no less than the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, and it has forged links with Plantlife International, VisitScotland and the North Highland Initiative in Scotland together with a number of countries in south east Europe all eager to develop their own festivals based on the Bohinj model. The Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival is being recognised more and more around the world. In October 2011, Dr Bob Gibbons, a noted botanist and author, published a book in the UK and America called Wild Flower Wonders of the World. In it he lists the top 50 wild flower sites in the world. It was good news to read that the Julian Alps are in there with the Bohinj International Wild Flower Festival cited as one of the reasons to visit Slovenia.


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The Nature of Scotland


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