Slovakia Forests

Some 40% of Slovakia is covered with forests. Slovakia’s forests contain a wide biodiversity and animals include brown bears, wolves, foxes, wild boars, muskrats, chamois and lynxes. Slovakia features a high percentage of wildlife included in protected areas. There are hardly any mountain ranges and areas not under some form of protection.

Slovakia Forests

Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and the Ancient Beech Forests of Germany is a transnational composite nature site. The Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians include ten separate massifs located along the 185 km (115 mi) long axis from the Rakhiv mountains and Chornohora ridge in Ukraine over the Poloniny Ridge (Slovakia) to the Vihorlat Mountains in Slovakia. The Ancient Beech Forests of Germany include five locations in various parts of Germany

The Carpathian site covers a total area of 77,971.6 ha (192,672 acres), out of which only 29,278.9 ha (72,350 acres) are part of the actual preserved area, while the rest is considered a “buffer zone”. Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians cover areas of Zakarpattia and Presov Regions. Over 70% of the site is located in Ukraine. The area includes two national parks, a biosphere reserve, and a few habitat controlled areas (mostly in Slovakia). Both national parks, along with a neighboring area in Poland, compose a separate biosphere reserve, the East Carpathian Biosphere Reserve.

Besides Havešová, Rožok, and Stužica (all of them located in Bukovské vrchy), there is a fourth component situated in Slovakia, named Kyjovský prales of Vihorlat.

Ukrainian locations include Chornohora, Kuziy-Trybushany, Maramarosh, Stuzhytsia–Uzhok, Svydovets, and Uholka–Shyrikyi Luh. However, only few of the ten components are accessible to visitors. Stužica is the only one of three locations in Bukovske vrchy (Slovakia) with available hiking trails.

The five German forests cover 4,391 hectares and were added in 2011.

Most of the Slovak components of the World Heritage site are situated in the Poloniny National Park in the easternmost and also the least populated part of the country. The National Park was created on 1 October 1997 with a protected area of 298.05 km² and a buffer zone of 109.73 km².

Slovakia’s  areas offer an extremely high number of caves and their list is being expanded every year due to new discoveries. The number of caves per capita is the highest one or among the highest ones in Europe. Thirteen caves are open to the public, the longest one of which is 9 km long. Some of them have been proclaimed UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Among them,Ochtinská Aragonite Cave is one of three aragonite caves in the world.

Castles can be divided into those which have been restored, and those which have fallen into ruin. Every region of the country offers some of each. Restored castles, some of which were never fortified and therefore are in fact palaces, offer a glimpse of how the wealthy lived. Castle ruins are more interesting for those with explorer spirits, in part because they usually require significant walking or gentle climbing; they have deliciously eerie atmosphere.

Beautiful exemplars of all periods and purposes, some as eerie ruins and others as fully restored museum pieces. It’s never further than a day trip from a castle worth seeing.