This is one of those perfect little Green Nuggets that our Secret Places to Visit section was dreamt up for to tell you all about!

Most visitors to Green Slovenia's Mediterranean coast might only know about picture perfect Piran and nothing much else and on such a short 47km coastline, how could there be anything else worth seeing?!

Well, there are lots of other fantastic little seaside towns, hidden bays, hikes & secret places to swim.. if you only knew..

AND there is this fab little Nature Reserve too, tucked away between the motorway and the sea at Koper.. hidden in plain sight, but directly passed & ignored by pretty much EVERY SINGLE VISITOR whizzing past on their way to Piran!

So get your binoculars and bird book out, cos we are gonna tell you all about it..

 

Naravni Rezervat Skocjanski Zatok!!

That is show business folks.. build up to a huge introduction for an unmissabubble place that is well within reach to go see.. Then hit them right in the eyes with the Slovenian name for it.. SORRY about that!!

Unfortunately the name of this fantastic Secret Place demonstrates perfectly how the Slovenian language can actually be one of those little barriers to tourism here in the most beautiful Green country in Europe, cos NEVER in a million years would a visitor guess that this is the name of a really fab Nature Reserve, full of sea, coastal & inland birds, plants and wildlife, that could very easily have ended up covered in concrete, cranes and massive containers as an extension to Koper port!

So with your permission, we will call it.. Koper Marine Nature Reserve.. (this will be enough to find it on Gurgle Maps) and now we can all get excited again about what there is for us to do and see here AND the amazing GREEN back story WITH a cute little link to the Lodge too!

 

We always knew there was a Marine Reserve somewhere near to Koper and you can see what looks like a green wasteland flash past every time you go past Koper on the way to Izola, Portoroz or Piran.

But the BERTOKI motorway exit is not one you would ever think to come off at, cos it is the way to the main port of Koper.. 

One small digression here cos "port" in Slovenian is LUKA, (Suzanne Vega song kids, "my name is Luka", look it up).. now wouldn't it be amazing if the rest of Slovenian was so easy to learn, but before you get too excited about that prospect, we refer you back to the real name of the Koper Marine Reserve..

 

The History and Raison D'Etre for the Koper Marine Nature Reserve.. (we can do French too)!

Trieste became the largest and most important port in the whole region when Slovenia was part of the otherwise landlocked Austro Hungarian empire and Koper only really became commercially significant when the map was redrawn yet again after WW2 and Trieste was shuffled across into Italy.

Slovenia was now trapped inside Yugoslavia and the need for a bigger port became even more pressing when Slovenia became an independant country at the start of the 1990's and Koper was expanded to actually overtake Trieste in volume.

Even further back in history, Koper was actually an island in Roman times, (which is why the Koper Old Town is still so beautiful now), but the new town was built on the shallow reclaimed sea, used for salt farming.. It circled the island and ended up as modern Koper with the port, which we will not be describing as beautiful any time soon!

 

So the expanding port swallowed up salt flats and coastline, turning them into dockside and parking for the big cranes and the rusty containers piled up like lego.

But it all came to a head in the late 90's, not so long after Slovenia became an independant country, when the port tried to expand to this last natural section of inland coast and local campaigners won a huge victory for the planet getting protected "regional park" status for the salt flats remaining in 1998 and the job of creating a nature park for both the residents of Koper and us lucky visitors alike began.

You cannot underestimate the achievement here as Slovenia had just broken free from 50 years of soft communism and new rampant market forces were now let loose in the 90's on an unsuspecting public.. a bit like a stealing candy from a baby for those who knew how to play the new game..

 

So it is remarkable this nature park is here at all and perhaps the most powerful images you will see ALL AROUND the park as you explore, will be the piles of containers and cranes lined up AROUND THE EDGES as a permanent reminder of how this whole place would look if capitalist market forces had won!

The reserve is squeezed in between the motorway and the port, so to visit, you will always be surrounded by this powerful story..

But there is another even more powerful magic on show here and it will capture your senses as you start walking the 1-2 hour tour.. It is the magic of NATURE and it is all around you here..

 

How to Visit the Koper Marine Nature Reserve..

It's just a 35 minute direct hop from the Lodge down the main coastal motorway from Ljubljana to Koper, taking the first BERTOKI exit towards the port and then not far to a simple turn off into the Nature Reserve car park.

Just get a ticket at the barrier, park up and the reserve is FREE ENTRY, so you do not even need to go into the modern visitor centre yet, you can walk past it and join the rectangular path that navigates the reserve, via the kid's playground.

 

There is a really good cafe inside the vistor centre with an outdoor seating section too and lots more info about the reserve, so make sure you at least stop off for a coffee or an ice lolly at the end of your visit.

You can redeem your car park ticket here too.

The only other thing to note about a visit is do not forget, this is the Mediterranean coast, so it will likely be sunny and even quite hot walking around in some open unshaded sections, so dress accordingly and bring some water too!

 

Exploring the Koper Marine Nature Reserve..

Our reason for finally visiting the reserve on a hot spring morning was to accompany an Austrailan Biologist friend, who we thought might like to explore here too.

We really didn't know what to expect, so we double checked at the cafe which way to go and entered the park with the sound of cars whizzing past on the motorway still ringing in our ears.

But all that outside buzz quickly fades away as you progress and find more and more Green things of interest the further into the trail you go..

 

Our biologist friend was happily pointing out various species of flora and fauna along the freshwater canal that lines the inner side of the main path, which is banked with high trees and lush bushes either side.

But of course this is also the Mediterranean coast, so there are enormous reeds swaying around in the precious breeze and it was not long until we got our first big clue as to how the rest of the park would work, when we encountered our first wooden HIDE.

These HIDES are really great, cos you have no idea what is behind them until you go peek between the boards.

 

There are lots of different peepholes at different heights and lots of info boards about the wildlife you might encounter, but the first big animal we actually saw was an Istrian cow grazing in the lush green marshland!

Almost every view from every HIDE will have some containers or cranes in the near horizon, but these also fade from your attention as each new HIDE becomes a quest to see what you can see through those peepholes.

 

It doesn't take long to reach the first corner and then the next sandy stone path avenue is much longer and, as it turns out, now borders the sea instead of the motorway, with the same inland reed filled canal on your right.

And perhaps this is where the magic really begins as you notice the natural contrasts and what this park is all about when you go explore the next few HIDES..

 

Cos this is the first time you will see the sea and the salt plains with little sandy islands, teeming with birds.

This is a nature park where the salty sea meets freshwater and so the variety of wildlife, flora and fauna is magnified in a relaitively small area.

 

There are estimated to be over 250 different bird species seen here, so for the Birders this reserve is a must! As far as we know, the only place in Green Slovenia where you might see a greater variety of birds would be the enormous Cerknica Disappearing Lake..

We were transfixed by the piercing whistling of a parent bird marshalling tiny tiny specks of chicks along the shore as other marine birds whizzed around conducting their daily business.

Our photos really do not do justice to what you can see here with the naked eye, or hear & smell and the fresh sea breeze you can feel when you poke your head out of a peephole!

 

All of this action is taking place right next door to the town of Koper in the distance, with  huge cranes and metal boxes on the near horizon too.

Now the HIDES come thick and fast in the heart of the park, but remember, one time you are looking out to a marine view, the next HIDE may be a freshwater view looking back inland across the green expanse to the visitor centre!

There is a big, groovy wooden tower that we were itching to go inside, but it was unfortunately locked due to local vandals, who do not appreciate what they have been gifted here, so this tower can only be visited on a guided tour.

 

Another reminder that this park is open to the public all year round.

We were really shocked at the number of birds we were seeing and even recognising here with the combined help of the info boards and our esteemed companion.

He was also very pleasantly surprised, sometimes struggling to identify various trees, such was the variety!

 

There were lots of ducks too, in Britain there is pretty much only one type of duck generally known, but here there are more ducks than on an England Cricket tour! (This little joke will only hit home with Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and anyone else playing the greatest summer game invented)!

Make sure you take every opportunity to look carefully at the lush green interior of the park too, cos we were shocked to suddenly see a small herd of white horses galloping around and frolicking in the water, right in the centre of the reserve!

 

They were all white and really looked like Lipizzaners, they do look similar, but are actually French Camargues and they live here all year round in the park!

This was where we remembered our special connection with the park, cos one of our own Lipizzaners, RUJ, lived here too a few years ago with the herd and was frolicking around with the Camargues before he came to live at the Lodge!

 

Turning the last corner and returning back towards the Visitor Centre from the sea edge of the park, you will see all those types of ducks & fowl beavering away, but then ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we froze still, whispering and pointing in surprise as we thought we saw a beaver swimming in the little canal!

This furry friend is actually a distant cousin of a beaver, not actually a beaver, but at this stage of the walk, we could not believe how many different animals we had seen everywhere here in an explosion of wildlife.

 

We were buzzing with excitement upon returning to the visitor centre and congratulated the staff on such a wonderful 1-2 hour unexpected experience in nature.

This little hidden Nature Reserve is really quite typical of the surprisingly good Green Nuggets that await you here all over Green Slovenia, but you will very unlikely just drive around and find them on your own without a little bit of help and this is exactly why we have written up all these Secret Places to Visit for you to look over like a magazine before you arrive at the big Green fun park for real!

 

Some of these secret places will entertain you all day, some, like here in Koper, just for a few fantastic hours, unless you are a real Birder, but you need to know there are other secret places that might be of interest to all kindsa different people.. So it is really up to you to look down our long list of Secret Places, have a read and choose the ones you might be interested in.

But the really special thing about Green Slovenia is that this country is so tiddly diddly small, yet bursting full to the seams with all these different Secret Places to Visit.. 

 

So if you get your logistics right and avoid hotel hopping every two days, it is surprisingly easy to mix a few favourite, unexpected choices into the same unique day out, without hurrying around at all!

So maybe you will visit the Koper Marine Reserve in the morning and go on to choose from a whole host of other amazing options nearby for the rest of your day out.. 

 

Just look at our huge SECRET TREASURE MAP if you want to see what other amazing treasures might be nearby.

We wish you a really great unexpected day out by the seaside whatever time of the year you come to this Nature Reserve and one final reminder that all of this sensational Mediterranean wildlife and nature would simply not be here for you to enjoy, if it was not for the efforts of the campaigners.