This is a beautiful reserve along the Danube River. We were there on a chilly grey November day and essentially had the place to ourselves which made it even more special. We went out on the lake with a guide and saw a number of bird species, including the white tail eagles. This park boasts 298 bird species, 55 mammals, 450 plants, 44 fish, and 22 mosquito!On the other edge is an old hunting reserve built by the Hapsburg's and later used by Tito and unfortunately looted during the war. The exterior can still evoke a spirit of an elegant time.
Relatives wanted to take us out for the day, so they took us here - 23,000 square hectares of swamp.... whoops they call it a National Park. After a long drive, I needed to go to the toilet. Unfortunately, the administration building had burnt down and with it went the toilets. Nice cafe nearby that has a toilet. The area is all wetland swamps with white oak trees. We took the boat tour (1.2 km from the entrance) for one hour; we saw 4 water snakes, 1 eagle and lots of cormarants. Yes, you are right - cormarants are not native birds to Croatia but yet the park boasts about them! They destroy the trees on which they nest and they eat 'mega' amounts of fish can't be good for the ecology. Yet the guide insisted the ecology was well researched in the park and that it is well balanced stating that "the 21 species of mosquitos, 9 species of frogs, 12 species of fish and 3000 pair of cormarants are all part of the circle of life." From the boat tour, you drive 12 km to get the castle. A villa - yes, but a "castle" - not quite. You watch a 15 min. crappy video (nice time to close your eyes and rest for a while). Then the tour guide takes you on a walk 'around' the villa and guest house. The poor villa really needs major restoration work but instead the authorities decided to build a ridiculous modern 'extention' attached to the delapadated villa. Its sad....The tour guides and grounds staff are doing their best and are trying to make this swamp as touristically attractive as possible, but they still have a long way to go. Perhaps start by replacing 'senior management'? The cafe at the entrance was my highlight, the kids said seeing the snakes was cool other than that pretty average.
The nature is unbelievable! You can not imagine that in a heart of Europe you can experience such wideness.I took a tour with an electric boat (9,00 EUR). Shame that management of the Kopački rit did not take an effort to allow guests to step much deeper in nature and feel themselves as a part of it. I presume that some kind of private tour or tour with smaller motorboat is better option.Cheapest option worth considering is walking tour across bank with strong binoculars. You can spot some amazing sights.
We only had an afternoon walk with dogs and it was a lovely place to roam. Cycle paths go there from Osijek, it should even be possible to rent a bike to use in the park, more info on the official web site of the attraction. The path is labelled and you can get all sorts of useful info from the boards (available in Croatian, Hungarian and English). As for wild life, we managed to see some birds, squirrels and even catch a glance of some deer (in spite of the dogs). General advice is to go early morning if your aim is to watch game. There is a castle near by (Tikveš) with a small souvenir shop. There should be rooms to let in the area, but I do not think there is a proper hotel. This is by far the nicest thing Osijek has to offer so it is worth a visit, even if just for a stroll in the woods, which is exactly what we did. Reasonably close are riding club and rowing club. Two nice restaurants are very near by. I highly recommend.
If you want to see the world where the men don't rule, go to wild teritory in the middle of Europe, in a small caunty Baranja where you'll have a big Holiday.
There are no words to describe it. Just go, you won't regret it.Choose one of several activities - bird watching, private tour with small motorboat or something else.People are nice, tour guides will answer all your questions.There isn't "best time to visit Kopacki rit". Each day is unique and you could enjoy it differently.
for a nature lover this was great experience; i was with my friends and we had so much fun studying about all those birds, frogs, turtles, stunning Slavonian nature, beautiful little boat that was giving us a ride through swamp and I actually felt like Bear Grylls :Pregards
Wonderful! What else to say? The entrance fee isn't high, we had great weather conditions, it's just too bad we couldn't see many animals due to floods that were a few weeks ago...Advice:1) when visiting in summer, you better go there in the morning because there are less mosquitos.2) take some of the boat tours, it's amazing!
This reserve is a nice experience, nature is really beautifuly. Best time of the year for a visit is Sept when there are less mosquitoes and birds start to congregate and prepare for a migration. There are several ways to experience reserve - cycle, walk, electric boat. We took the boat which took us to the marsh and it is really worthwhile. The only thing, everything was flooded, so we actually didn't see many birds: just the cormorans who live there full time (having somehow transfer from Asia) and some heron and ducks and swans. The guide told us that if there are no floods and we come at the right time when birds already gather in the marsh before their flight we could see them in thousands. So this was a good part. Then we went (by car) to the northern part of the park, where there is supposed to be some old country manor house and educational center, and that was kind of disappointment. Few houses, educational centre is a room with a tv set where nice lady from the gift shop offered to show an educational video about a reserve to the kids. Nothing special. No coffee shop, no refreshments.But the nature is beautiful and there are authentic villages around (Kopacevo, Karanac) with inns where one can have a meal.
On the East part of Croatia is a Nature park called Kopački Rit. It is situated close to Osijek, the biggest town in Slavonia. The park is home of 298 birds species, some of them you can see only here. A short drive from Osijek and you are at Reception building of park where you take a boat trip included in the price for a one hour. During the worm weather it is a lots of mosquitoes and some protection is required. You can also use the bike or walk, take a drive to the other edge where is an old hunting reserve built by the Hapsburg's but now unfortunately quite ruined. You can have a good home food in small restaurants in the village you will be driving thru.