ACTIVITIES
13 March 2024
We have launched a page where you can find and download all the prepared materials. Here you will find a richly illustrated storybook for children, in which a little bear faces the consequences of overtourism in the Tatra Mountains and explores the less visited beauties of the inanimate and animate nature around the Tatra Mountains with his Mother Bear. There are also materials for geography teachers, useful for teaching about geosites in the field.
20 – 23 February 2024
On February 20-23, 2024, the last meeting of our working group of the Geostanowiska na Podtatrzu/Geolokality okolia Tatier project took place at the University of the National Education Commission, Krakow.
During the meeting, we had the opportunity to summarize the last year of work, during which:
- We spent two weeks in the field searching for new geosites and revaluing the old ones
- We conducted several dozen interviews with municipal and city authorities, entrepreneurs, educators and employees of protected areas
- We organized a meeting with stakeholders where we discussed the possibility of promoting and sharing geosites
- We organized a meeting with geography teachers and educators, during which we discussed the educational values of geosites
- We conducted a survey among teachers regarding the use of geosites when teaching about processes related to physical geography in the field
- We have written an educational book for children (soon available on our website)
We had an opportunity to talk about all our actions during a seminar organized by the Institute of Biology and Earth Sciences, UKEN on February 21, 2024 and earlier during International conference organizing by Institute of Geography Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava on October 12, 2023.
We also discussed plans for the future, regarding both the scientific sphere (publishing articles from the collected materials) and the practical and implementation sphere (writing applications for subsequent grants).
Officially, the project financed by the International Visegrad Fund is coming to an end, but thanks to the established contacts, the idea of developing, sharing and promoting geosites in Podtatrze Region will certainly be further developed 😉
We will constantly inform you about everything that has happened, what is happening now and what will happen on our funpage Geostanowiska na Podtatrzu/Geolokality okolia Tatier.
We would like to thank the International Visegrad Fund for the opportunity to get off to a good start
😉 the rest is in our hands 😊
11 December 2023
The next working meeting as part of our cross-border project regarding the assessment of the geotouristic potential of Podtatrze is behind us.
At the meeting, we discussed activities related to preparations for the upcoming Symposium:
- Thematic scope of papers presented in the morning session
- Topics for discussion
- Outdoor activities
- Preliminary program of the Symposium
- Details of surveys conducted among teachers
20 October 2023
A working meeting within the framework of our project was held on 20.10.2023 at the Chochołowskie Termy. At the meeting, we presented the effects of over-tourism in the Tatra Mountains to the arriving guests from Poland and Slovakia and characterised the geotourism potential of the Podtatrze Region. In addition, our partners Stowarzyszenie Polska Szkoła Surwiwalu Grupa Podhale discussed examples of using selected geosites in outdoor tourism and survival.
The most important conclusions that came out of the discussion part were:
- Smart sharing of geosites according to the principles of sustainable development
- The need to supervise tourism and responsibly manage protected and geologically valuable areas
- Possibility of cross-border cooperation in further projects
- Establishing more cooperation with active tourism clusters
21 June – 1 July 2023
The main part of the whole project – field research. During almost two weeks, we visited dozens of municipalities in the Spiš, Liptov, Orava, Zamagurie and Podhale Regions; we talked to dozens of representatives of local authorities (mayors, national parks officials, entrepreneurs and local community organizations), we explored and evaluated dozens of geo-sites. You can find more detailed written and photographic documentation on our Facebook profile.
13 – 16 January 2023
Another working meeting was held as part of our Visegrad project. This time, the meeting took place offline at the Institute of Geography of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava.
At the meeting, we discussed and developed the following issues:
- We prepared a geosite inventory plan during the field research on June 21-July 1, 2023 (we selected geosites for the inventory and initially indicated people and local government and economic entities with whom we want to conduct in-depth interviews).
- We chose geosites for a children’s book and approved the project of a teddy bear, which will be the main character of our stories. We would like to thank Magdalena Chrobak for preparing the concept and graphics. We move on👍
- We discussed the questions that will be the basis for conducting interviews with local government officials (10), entrepreneurs (10) and Park managers (5: TPN, BPN, PPN, TANAP, NAPANT) located within the Tatra Mountains.
- We initially prepared a survey for geography teachers.
- We have selected other geosites that will be presented on our Facebook page.
As you can see, there was a lot of work, but we also found time in the evening to walk around the wonderful Bratislava.
We can’t wait for the next activity as part of the project, the field work, which geographers enjoy the most.
29 November 2022
We have the pleasure to present you our new logo, which will promote our project from today on 🇵🇱🤝🇸🇰
We hope everyone will like it 🙂
We would like to thank Mai Madej from Cracow for preparing it.
18 October 2022
The first working meeting, as part of our cross-border project regarding the assessment of Podtatrze’s geotouristic potential, is behind us. At the meeting, we discussed the activities that we have to face as part of the project, in particular:
- Criteria for selecting geosites for individual products that we will create as part of the project
- Principles of conducting qualitative and quantitative research on the perception and willingness to develop geotourism in Podtatrze region
- The need to establish a consistent and simple logo identifying with the project
- Preliminary arrangements for the events and field research planned as part of the project.
- Outline of educational materials for children and teachers.
