Dobrý deň!
Hello slovaks 🤝

I am currently visiting your lovely country for a week. Im a nature and fishing lover so naturally, Im staying close to Tatra mountains. Going on hikes, doing fishing days, etc. Everything's going great. However, I am a bit afraid of bears now since my last trip to bela river.

I have known about bela river for a long time and heard great stories about it so I always wanted to visit it, and even though the water level is currently high for fishing I decided to sepnd a day exploring the beautiful river and its area anyway, do some reconnaissance for future. So, I left my car in Vavrišovo area and began my journey north towards Pribylina.

I was exploring the river itself aswell as the woods nearby and little creeks in it. I haven't met a single person for a long time, which was a bit weird. Not far after I passed the camplace called 'Taborisko Vavrišovo' I came across fresh footprints of a bear in wet mud. My heart stopped for moment, as I realized the area is not really covered with wast area of forrest, the woods really just barely cover the shores of a river in this stretch, which means theres not too much place for this bear to be, it must be pretty close. i turned around immediately and was afraid to go further north.

I knew theres bears in Slovakia, but I did not expect bears to be in this area. Theres plenty of civilization around – Liptovsky Hradok, Dovalova, Pribylina, Vavrišovo, etc. And theres really little forrest there.

  • Should I get a bear spray or something for next time? If so, where its best to get one?

  • Are bears common in this area aroud river bela? Between Liptovsky Hradok and Pribilyna? The river is famous between fishermen, rafters, etc. how do locals deal with bears over there, do bear attacks ever happen in this place?

  • In case of encounter with a slovakian bear what is advised to do. Flight, fight, play dead?

by TAbabushkin8585

9 comments

  1. In a case of encounter with a Slovakian bear it’s advised to offer them some borovička and then they will be open to discuss the Slovakian political situation and will leave you in peace.
    But in a case you have different opinions be prepared to get them drunk enough so you can quietly leave while they fall asleep.

  5. There are tons of bears in Slovak forests. Bring a spray and be loud when moving through, bears don’t like to be surprised. Tourists tend to carry a little bell on their backpack to be heard.

  6. My opinion on your questions:
    1. If you feel safer with bear spray, get one. Personally I dont think its neccesery, its much more important to avoid the encounter by making some kind of noise. Make yourself known and the bear will most likely avoid you
    2. Depends on what you think is common… Will you encounter bear daily/weekly/monthly? Probably not, but they surely live there. Few bear attacks did happen lately in Liptov.
    3. All 3 you mentioned are pretty bad choices, some more than others…
    Fight? If bear feels threatened he will defend himself and tear you apart without much effort
    Flight? He can outrun you easily, he can swim, he can climb… You have advantage only on steep downhills – because of length of bears legs, they tend to roll over when running straight downhill… Not really an option in your area, and to be honest I wouldnt count on bear rolling over and me not slipping or tripping
    Play dead? He might be more curious now, cause you know, you just might have become free food for him and if he gets closer to check you out and you inevitebly shit yourself you might have startled bear next to you which sounds way less appealing than curious bear few meters away from you.
    You should make yourself look bigger than you really are, talk calmly to him, back away from him but dont turn your back on him, dont stare him in the eyes. Basicly you dont want him to feel threatened by you, but you also dont want him to think you are easy prey. He just wants to eat and if you look like its not going to be easy fight worth the effort then he wont attack

  7. Slovak here: Bears taste like typical wild game. Similar to moose.

    RECIPE: Stew made of young bear marinated in rosemary and prepared in black beer

    Ingredients (for 4 people): 800 g of bear meat – shoulders, oil, 6 bay leaves, 10 pcs of whole new rosemary pepper, 200 ml of red wine, 10 cloves of garlic, salt, 500 ml of broth, 2 large onions, 3 tablespoons of tomato pressure, 3 teaspoons of ground pepper, 2 hot peppers, 1 black beer, marjoram

    Procedure: Remove the skin from the bear meat and cut it into larger cubes. Make a marinade from oil, bay leaf, allspice, rosemary, 5 cloves of garlic and red wine. Let the meat marinate in it for at least 24 hours. Then pour the marinade off the meat. Fry finely chopped bacon and onion in a little oil, add tomato puree, ground pepper, hot peppers, and meat. When the meat has released a sufficient amount of juice, pour broth over it and simmer gently. Toward the end, pour beer and possibly thicken with a roux. Season by pressing garlic, marjoram and, if necessary, add salt. Instead of bear, you can also use another type of game (deer, roe deer, fallow deer…/, in that case red wine should be used instead of beer. Goulash is served with cranberries and Czech dumpling.

  8. Being something loud with you. For example bells on ur backpack or anything. And bear spray 100%.

  9. Bears are pretty much everywhere where are forrests. Do not run and do not figh back. Just make plenty of noise and bear will avoid you. Bears attack people because they are protecting young or they get surprised and spooked. In that case they simply want to eliminate the threat (you). Brown bears dont see humans like food. You should carry bear spray with you. They are not that heavy and if you encounter a bear just make noise, talk to the bear, smack vegetation stuff like that and also back away slowly. Don’t turn your back and run. Just keep backpedaling away. If the bear is still closing in spray bear spray in front of you ( not entire spray you want to keep some), bear’s have incredible sense of smell so even a small amount sprayed in and area can stop them from coming closer. And if the bear does attack try to spray his face and don’t fight back, just curl into fetal position and protect your head, neck and stomach.

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