In our last post we showed you Ormož Basins Nature Reserve, an extremely important bird sanctuary that was created on the former wastewater disposal pools of Tovarna Sladkorja Ormož (TSO; Ormož Sugar Factory). Now we’d like to show you the former factory itself. Ormož Sugar Factory today, with “Ormož Sea” – a hydroepower reservoir on … Read more

A rare – and sweet – story of a fruitful cooperation of nature conservationists and heavy industry. The fertile fields of Prlekija by the river Drava are perfect for growing sugar beet, so a sugar factory was built in Ormož in 1979. The processing of sugar beets into sugar requires special wastewater disposal pools (those … Read more

Prlekija is a region of Slovenia that’s not defined by physical borders, but rather by language, the Prlekija dialect; a melodic, dreamy language that reflects all the different landscapes, its rich and tumultuous history, the sun and the wine (and that all the other Slovenes can not understand at all). Prlekija has hills and vineyards, … Read more

In the immediate vicinity of Ljubljana city centre there is a vast park at the foot of Rožnik and Šiška hills, called Tivoli. Tivoli City Park is part of the larger Tivoli, Rožnik, and Šiška Hill Landscape Park, 500 hectares of protected nature right by the city. While most of the landscape park is covered … Read more

The so-called “urban KAP” is an attractive and rather difficult part of kite aerial photography, for flying a kite among tall buildings and within small parks is not for the faint-hearted. But it can give you the views of the city that were never seen before… So we let the kite fly from Tivoli park, … Read more

In 1842 a rich merchant Fidelis Terpinc – one of the richest men of Ljubljana – bought some land on the banks of Ljubljanica river in Vevce, east of Ljubljana, and built a paper mill there. The dam on Ljubljanica river, supplying the very thirsty paper mill with water. Fidelis was one of the first … Read more

After the turbulent, secluded and still much unknown karstic life the River of Seven Names finally springs into Ljubljana Marshes as Ljubljanica. For 30 kilometers it gently flows over the flat Marshes, and then it majestically enters the capital of Slovenia – Ljubljana. Entrance of Ljubljanica into the city. Here the mostly natural river changes … Read more

The vast Ljubljana Marshes, stretching for miles south and west of Ljubljana (covering 163 square kilometers, almost 1% of the territory of Slovenia!), are beautiful (and flat and open and near, so we often fly our kites there). But they are beautiful in their own, stubborn, unyielding way – they can be inhospitable, even threatening. … Read more

ški morost – Iška Moor – is a true gem in the larger setting of Ljubljana Marshes landscape park. Strictly protected and intricately managed by DOPPS – Birdlife Slovenia it is a remnant of once vast marshy grasslands, shrubs and flood forests that used to cover the Ljubljana Marshes, an immensely important habitat of many … Read more