Bears under the Trees

An enclosure of about 5,400 m2 will be built over the next six months under the southern part of the Treetop Trail and will include not only an enclosure where visitors will be able to see the bears, but also a background and resting area for them. "We started preparing the entire project in 2022. We must appreciate the helpful and constructive negotiations of the Safari Park in Dvůr Králové, with whom we prepared the entire project, as well as the KRNAP Administration, on whose land the enclosure will be built. It is the agreement and cooperation of all of us that will allow visitors to see brown bears in their natural habitat in the forest around our trail in a year's time," says Filip Pekárek, Managing Director of the Trail through the Treetops Krkonoše. Miroslav Matas, director of SKS, adds: "For us, this is undoubtedly the biggest project since the opening of the Trail. Every year we try to push the experience of our visitors a little further. Last year we installed a glass viewing platform and this year we are starting the construction of this enclosure. However, the Trail itself is not only a place where people can see the Krkonoše nature, but we also try to educate them and bring information about life in the forest, how the forest grows, how to behave in the forest and to the forest so that it is preserved for future generations. Now with the bears, we bring another dimension to our visitors, especially by explaining the role of these formidable predators in the ecosystem, and we don't overlook the problems in coexistence with humans."

The project "Bears under the treetops" is implemented as a detached workplace of the Dvůr Králové Safari Park, in cooperation with the KRNAP Administration and the Krkonoše Treetop Trail. The aim of the project is to promote the protection and conservation of the brown bear gene pool and reflects the joint efforts of all stakeholders to protect nature and educate the public about the importance of protecting wild animals and their natural habitats. "We are pleased that representatives of the trail approached us. It gives us the opportunity to help build a brand new enclosure and facilities for bears that meet state-of-the-art requirements, which is problematic in many places today. Here it will be created in the natural environment of the Krkonoše Mountains. I see three positives in particular. Firstly, at a time when the number of beasts in the wild is increasing, people will learn more about their life and coexistence with them. They will then know better how to behave towards them. The second is that the Ministry of the Environment is having trouble finding bodies to run wildlife rescue centres, and this project will, in a way, create one. And the third is, of course, the attractiveness of the project for future visitors to the trail and the Krkonoše," says Přemysl Rabas, director of the Dvůr Králové Zoo Park, and Robin Böhnisch, director of the Krkonoše National Park Administration, adds: "The brown bear is the only member of its family that was present in the territory of the present-day Krkonoše National Park even in the modern era.  It is returning to the Krkonoše Mountains exactly after 300 years. The KRNAP Administration will focus mainly on the ecological part of the project and on explaining the importance of the role of large carnivores in the ecosystem, as well as on the history of bears in the Krkonoše."

The enclosure in the premises of the Treetop Trail will be built in the following months, with the arrival of four bears scheduled for October and their acclimatisation during the winter, and the official opening of the operation is planned for Easter 2026. The total investment in the construction part of the project will exceed CZK 15 million.