The Krokar Primeval Forest Trail

The Krokar Primaeval Forest Trail is an easy circular hiking trail that is also suitable for families. The path takes visitors through the Borovec Forest Reserve right to the edge of the primaeval beech forest, which was added to the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List in 2017. The path passes close to the majestic beech trees of the Krokar primaeval forest, where visitors can admire these mighty giants, the result of thousands of years of undisturbed natural development. At the top of Cerk, the highest point of the trail, there is a view of the vast forests of Kočevje and the village of Borovec near Kočevska Reka. Cerk is also one of the points on the “astrogeodetic network of Slovenia” (AGM).

The circular hiking trail is about two kilometers long with 150 meters of relatively steep ascent. The path through the Borovec forest reserve takes visitors to the edge of the Krokar primeval forest, where visitors can respectfully admire and feel the mighty power of ancient beech forests, as the result of thousands of years of undisturbed natural development, without entering this protected area.

The Krokar primeval forest, together with the forest reserve Snežnik and 76 other areas in 12 European countries, represents the most valuable remnant of Europe's ancient beech forests and was among the entries to the UNESCO list. The Krokar primeval forest reserve covers an area of 74,5 ha and is the largest of 6 primeval forest remains in Kočevsko. Together with other forest reserves in Slovenia, which together measure over 9,500 hectares, it is a symbol of Slovenia's sustainable and multifunctional forest management. The activities of the BEECH POWER project, funded under the Interreg Central Europe program, also contributed to maintaining and improving the management of UNESCO forest reserves.

IMPORTANT - RESPECT THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS OF KOČEVSKO
Forest reserves are forests that are left to natural development and are marked at their borders with a blue mark - two horizontal lines. Here trees are not harvested or cut downand forest fruits should not be picked, as everything is left to nature. We do not enter forest reserves, but only visit them along marked paths.