Are there bears in Slovenia? We have set out on a search!
Updated: May 23, 2022
Yes - they really do exist: Slovenia is home to the European brown bear. There are round about 700 bears living in Slovenia, and the south in particular is a true bear paradise - reason enough to go there and search for these brown giants in our European homeland.
The small town of Lož in southern Slovenia seems to offer everything we were looking for in our search for the European Brown Bear: guided bear tours (cost: 129€ per person, booking page see here) as well as a free (!) RV site very close by.
Having already reserved a tour slot in advance, we headed straight to Lož and started our tour at dusk that very day:
Our starting point was the tourist information office, where we received a short introduction about the bears in Slovenia. Afterwards, together with our guide, we went by car to a somewhat remote forest, where we continued on foot.
Finally we reached a small hunter's lookout point, which is specially isolated so that the bears cannot smell us humans. "Armed" with binoculars, we positioned ourselves and kept a lookout.
While the sun was setting more and more, dusk was already setting in and we had been silently staying in our wooden vantage point for almost 2 hours now, the bears were probably not in a big hurry that day.
But when we had almost given up hope, a mother bear with her two cubs suddenly appeared out of the thicket - an incredibly beautiful experience for us.
We kept completely still and watched the three velvet paws as they nibbled apples at a feeding station. In the meantime, however, it was already so dark that we could only see with a night observation device - which was a total pity, because we would have loved to capture the spectacle with our camera.
After some time, the bear family disappeared again into the depths of the Slovenian forest and we made our way home impressed.
Conclusion: absolute goosebumps moment for us - next time, however, we would book the slightly earlier tour to have a greater chance to take some photos.
By the way, in September (the time when we went on the bear tour) bears are eagerly searching for food to build up valuable fat reserves for the winter.
September is also one of the last months suitable for bear-watching in Slovenia, before the bears go into hibernation.
By the way, the photo of the bear's paw is from our bear-watching tour in Slovakia - you can read about our experiences in this post.
Advise for campers:
If you are traveling by motorhome: in a village next to Lož there is a free motorhome site with provided electricity. In addition, you can reach a supermarket and two restaurants within walking distance.
The campsite is located next to a soccer field, the village is called "Stari trg pri Lozu", we have marked the exact location in our map above.
Have you ever been able to observe bears in their natural habitat? If so, where? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments or write us via the contact form.
