Nature Discover the richness of nature in the Ore Mountains, Slavkov Forest and other interesting localities and protected areas. If you feel like hiking or riding a bike, get to know the countryside of the Karlovy Vary Region following one of the many attractive local nature trails Boží Dar Peat Bogs The national natural reserve of Boží Dar Peat Bogs is located on the edge of the municipality of Boží Dar on an area of slightly less than 1000 ha and it is the largest reserve in the Region of Karlovy Vary. The reserve protects several peat bogs, mountain meadows, heaths and forests about 1000 m above sea level. The unique nature in the reserve forms a beautiful and impressive landscape unit formed due to long-term and varied historical utilization – by forestry and agriculture, and non-iron ores and peat mining. The peat bog is a biotope of many protected endangered animal and plant species. The most valuable are the mountain pine growths on the peat bogs, bog spruce growth, and important species of bryophytes and lichens. The greatest botanical point of interest of the peat bog is the dwarf birch, a remnant of the last Ice Age. The greatest zoological point of interest is the critically endangered Carabus menetriesi, which lives only on two other places in the Czech Republic besides the Boží Dar peat bog. Soos Nature Reserve There is no other place like the Soos Nature Reserve (located north of Františkovy Lázně) in Central Europe. It is a unique relic of a salt lake which turned into peat bogs and mineral salt marshes. You will find traces of volcanic activity here, illustrated by the mofettes – mud volcanoes emitting pure carbon dioxide, as well as by numerous mineral springs. We find a number of protected animals and wetland plants or halophytes in its many extraordinary biotopes. There is also a geology park, a museum with natural history and paleontological exhibits, a display of life-sized pre-historical reptiles, an exhibition called “Avian World of the Cheb Region” and a fallow-deer preserve. A nature trail with several instructional stops leads through the Soos Nature Reserve. Kladská Peat Bogs National Nature Reserve It is one of the oldest and largest nature reserves in the Region of Karlovy Vary and the most valuable part of the Slavkov Forest Protected Landscape Area. The Kladská Peat Bogs are a unique set of mountain raised bogs, located 800 to 930 m above sea level, with a total area of over 300 ha. There are typical species of plants and animals living in the peat bogs, adapted to the local acidic environment and soil with few nutrients. Besides the European Spruce there are also dwarfed woody plants as the mountain pine, mugo pine or downy birch. As to shrubs, Bog Bilberry or the cranberry Oxycoccus quadripetalus do well here. From the herbaceous plants, let’s name the carnivorous plants as the common butterwort and common sundew. The endangered animal species are represented here e.g. by the rare wood grouse or black stork. The European adder and common brown frog are common here as well. You can walk through a part of the reserve for example by the Kladská Nature Trail, leading through the part of the reserve called Taiga on elevated wooden walkways. Svatošské skály (Svatoš Rocks) The Ohře (Eger) River has dug through the granite massif of the Slavkov Forest between Loket and Karlovy Vary, creating a deep canyon. The rock theatre is closed at the end of the canyon by the beautiful Svatoš Rocks. The rocks reach up to 50 m and they are fractured into massive stone pillars and pyramids, with a complex system of cracks and crevices, which the human fantasy turned into a “wedding procession”. That is why a number of tales about Jan Svatoš (in German: Hans Heiling) and a wedding procession turned into stones developed in the past. Individual rock formations have been even named after wedding guests. The “rock town” was declared a “protected nature creation” for its uniqueness already in 1933 and in 2007 the Svatoš Rocks were declared the National Nature Monument. The protected features here are the geo-morphologically unique granite formations with fragments of the original pine woods and the occurrence of rare and endangered plant species. The Svatoš Rocks attract great numbers of tourists, rock climbers and paddlers regularly. You can enjoy them by walking or riding a bike along a 10 km long tourist trail by the Ohře (Eger) River from Loket to Karlovy Vary. i map menu www