The Educational Workshop on What's that crawling around the Krka?

Due to its biodiversity, the Roški slap waterfall proved to be an ideal place to hold a school in nature: the junior rangers of the Krka National Park improved their knowledge of spiders, reptiles, and amphibians.

The desire to learn more about and understand natural processes brought together the Junior Ranger group of young nature guardians at the Krka National Park on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at the Roški slap Waterfall. The fourth workshop as part of the Erasmus+ project*, fully funded by the European Union, was held under the leadership of the biologist Iva Čupić, better known on social networks as Samsa Critters.

The topic of the half-day workshop was to become familiar to the groups of animals that people have the most prejudices against, and often unfounded fears. With expert guidance, students from the Oklaj Regional School learned about spiders, reptiles, and amphibians and how to behave towards them. They learned which species most often exist in the Krka National Park, what they eat and how they reproduce, how young individuals differ from adults, how to recognise and protect their habitats, what dangers are hidden under stones, how to distinguish poisonous and non-poisonous snakes and how they behave around humans.

The study of reptiles and amphibians – which includes recording parameters such as species, size, the age and sex of an individual, as well as the location and time of discovery – indicates a lot about the stability and health of the ecosystem on which humans also depend. A walk through the Park from Oziđana pećina cave via Ogrlice to the Roški slap waterfall proved to be a winning combination for finding all the species that were the subjects of the educational workshop.

“This was one of the more interesting workshops for us. We were introduced to a lot of tiny animals that we had never even thought about. We learned what useful roles spiders play in our homes and the environment, and studied their habitats and species. We found out what exactly crawls around the Krka River, we found insects, river turtles and snakes, and learned how to help them if we find them in trouble. We also got to know the magical microscopic world of diatoms,” said the junior rangers of the Krka National Park, who also stated: “Always behave responsibly in nature and do not touch anything if you do not know what it is!”

* Activities within the project “Raising Environmental Awareness among Young People from Protected Areas” (2023-3-LV02-KA210-YOU-000170610) will be carried out from 1 February 2024 to 31 January 2026. The total value of the project is 60,000.00 euros, which is fully financed by the European Union. The project leader is the Ķemeru nacionālā parka fonds from Latvia, and the project partners are the Gaujas nacionālā parka fonds from Latvia, Kehittämisyhdistys Sepra ry from Finland, and the Krka National Park. The objectives of the project are to inform young people about climate change, strengthen their awareness of the need to preserve nature and the environment, have them participate in activities within the project, and exchange their experiences through joint platforms of protected areas in the countries that are partners in the project, and to develop a system of motivating young people to participate in environmental protection, their networking, and exchange of ideas.

The project is co-financed by the European Union. The content of this material is the sole responsibility of the Krka National Park.