Geopark camp popular

Hupf in Gatsch: searching for clues in the forest and by the water

Hupf in Gatsch is a big hit with children. Barefoot running is also very popular!

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/EVELYN HRONEK)

Carving bows and arrows, wading in the water, jumping in the mud and, and, and: The Geopark summer camp at the Pudlach water adventure trail in the municipality of Neuhaus is an absolute hit with children. The 27 youngsters from all over Carinthia spent almost the entire week in the Bloßfüßig area. 

"Everything was sooo great! We are totally thrilled," says Valentina. She is one of 27 youngsters who took part in this week's Geopark summer camp on the Pudlacher Wassererlebnisweg water adventure trail in the municipality of Neuhaus. Samuel: "We built dams and made our own pool in the stream." The children, aged between six and ten, are thrilled. Filipa says happily: "Building dams and camps, carving, but above all wading around in the mud was great fun." 

Walking barefoot is a big hit
"The majority of the children were barefoot the whole time," says leisure educator Antonia Weissenbacher, who accompanied the youngsters together with three colleagues. Boys and girls from all over Carinthia took part in the week-long nature adventure trip.

There was a lot of pinching in the stream, carving walking sticks, bows and arrows and searching for animal tracks: "We also explored spiders and stroked bees with a beekeeper." Camp leader and beekeeper Imke Logar-Thiessen explained everything about bees to the children on the sunny meadow. "You can really stroke the male bees because they don't sting." 

All sorts of surprises await the children, including swings.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/EVELYN HRONEK)

The 27 youngsters had a great time. Walking barefoot was a big hit.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/EVELYN HRONEK)

Hupf in Gatsch, even today this is a very fascinating experience for the youngsters.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/EVELYN HRONEK)

Along the water adventure trail, there is also this giant ear shell.

(Bild: Evelyn Hronek/EVELYN HRONEK)

Wild bee houses were also built and painted from recycled materials. Samuel: "I particularly enjoyed listening to the birdsong in the forest." But the topic also included earth wasps, cross spiders and the wolf spider.

The animals were searched for and looked at very closely. Weissenbacher: "The children are not afraid of spiders, even if the black spider looks very scary." The children also had great fun carving bows and arrows from natural materials. The children were catered for at the Sternjak restaurant, where a buffet was prepared for them every day of the five-day camp.

Camps verypopular 
 Geopark Manager Gerald Hartmann: "Our camps have become the absolute highlight. One of the most important tasks of the Karawanken UNESCO Global Geopark is to get our children excited about the beauty of our nature and to treat the experience with care and respect." The next Geopark Camp will take place at the Geopark School in Tichoja, near Lake Sonnegg. "This camp has also been fully booked for weeks," says Hartmann. This is despite the fact that it is only passed on by word of mouth as an exciting insider tip.

The Karawanken Geopark from Petzen to Koschuta is a beautiful cross-border nature and cultural experience region with an outstanding geological heritage. Five Slovenian and nine Austrian municipalities are united in an area of 1067 km². Last year, Austria's only cross-border association celebrated ten years of this cross-border cooperation.