Nature Sanctuaries: Seven Weeks of Vitality
Grand Prize of the Slovenian Book Fair - Best Book 2024
With the book "Sanctuaries of Nature," Irena Cerar, the author of popular hiking guides, set herself a very special challenge: for seven weeks, she ventured into nature to experience each of the most characteristic Slovenian habitats (forest, caves, mountains, wetlands, rivers, coastal area, cultural landscape) firsthand. Not just as a casual hiker and traveler, but as a keen observer.
The author was led from a solitary cabin in the wilderness of the Kočevje forest, among shepherds and wolves in the mountains under the slopes of the Slovenian mountains, along the riverbeds of the Prekmurje plains, where she unexpectedly experienced catastrophic summer floods, to the Škocjan Caves with a rich research history, to the Slovenian coast, to the salt pans, and beyond. Her experience was further deepened by various people who know these areas well or passionately explore them.
The book "Sanctuaries of Nature" is a combination of field experience, personal reflections, natural science curiosities, literary and mythological perspectives, offering the reader a multi-layered experience of experiencing nature in all its diversity. It is also a sincere attempt at dialogue with landscapes, both visible and invisible, external and internal.
