Description
Fairy-tale-adventure Swamp Dwarfs Trail to Mali plac, a well-maintained easy hiking trail, 3.2 km long, with an altitude difference of 96 m. The walking time is about 2 hours, but it’s quite possible that it sucks you into the experiences so much that you’ll need longer—and at the same time you’ll feel like it has passed in the blink of an eye.
Mali plac is a magical place full of unusual flowers and animals. Everything in it is buzzing, rumbling, making noise and chirping. For thousands of years, it has been covered by moss, which reaches deep into the forest, into the kingdom of the swamp dwarfs. The dwarfs bewitched Mali plac to become the wrong plac! It was inhabited by nasty mosquitoes and annoying flies. All bites, crawls, stings, buzzes and growls. Brrrr! Who will save the Mali plac dwarf spell? Kids! That’s who! The Swamp Dwarfs Trail to Mali plac is a path with a story. The picture book Mali plac by Uroš Grilec and illustrator Gorazd Vahn talks about it, and tells the story of the brave turtle Bevka, who copes with a spell and saves Mali plac.
THE EXPERIENCE: Along the way, the children collect swamp stamps and dwarven runes, the special symbols used in dwarven writing. The children are on an important mission: they must search for the magic formula to defeat the spell of the swamp dwarfs, helped by the friendly dwarf Lily. Spicing up their adventures along the way are large wooden sculptures of swamp animals – the European tree frog, the horseshoe bat and the dragonfly, as well as, of course, the European pond turtle – the protagonist of the picture book Mali plac. And then there are the mischievous swamp dwarfs... The adventure elements help children discover the wonders of nature by weaving together the fairy-tale world and the real beauty of nature. Their imagination sparked by the fairy-tale imagery, they effortlessly walk the entire trail – a proper hiking trail – while casually learning lots of interesting things about life on the Ljubljana Marsh today and in the past along the way.
WHAT: Pot močvirskih škratov na Mali plac (The Swamp Dwarf Trail to Mali plac) is a fairy-tale-flavoured adventure, a well-maintained, easy hiking trail, 3.2 km long and with a total altitude gain of 96 m. The walking time is approximately 2 hours, but you may easily become so absorbed in the experience that you'll need longer – and yet by the end, you will feel like the time has just flown by. The Swamp Dwarf Trail to Mali plac starts in the Bevke Sports Park. First it passes the village of Bevke, then turns to Kostanjevica – an isolated hill, also called an inselberg – where it ascends to its summit before finally descending to the Mali plac Nature Reserve and returning back to the Bevke Sports Park.
FOR WHO: The Swamp Dwarf Trail to Mali plac aims at families, schools and kindergartens, as well as all the hikers who appreciate well-maintained trails with a story to tell and novel experiences in nature. We recommend lightweight hiking shoes and a mosquito repellent in the summer. You can take the trail by yourselves – the Močvirska beležka, Swamp Notebook, will guide you through the experience, offering a structured visit. Alternatively, you can be accompanied by a guide who will interpret things for you (on request or during organised events).
HOW: Visitors begin by buying the Swamp Notebook (€7) at the ŠPB Bar in the Bevke Sports Park. The Notebook offers the complete experience of the trail and comes with a pencil. Collecting all the stamps and completing the magic spell gives the children a prize, which can be claimed in the ŠPB Bar once you complete the trail. The Swamp Notebook can also be purchased at the TIC Vrhnika.
Address
Bevke 92a, 1358 Log pri Brezovici