The river Kolpa is a part of the intact Slovenian nature with big tourist potential. It is still relatively
underdeveloped for mass tourism, but attracts those who prefer the nature untouched. The river
belongs to calm waters, but is more turbulent upstream, and even has some rapids, which makes it a
popular boating spot and thus raises the importance of properly defined and maintained access points.
Popular recreation activities on river Kolpa also include swimming and fishing. Of course we cannot
overlook the dams – there are 64 on Kolpa, 6 of those almost dilapidated. They affect a great part of
the river and aid the recreational potential, especially in for boating. They are most important in the
upper stream, somewhere between Osilnica and Petrina, since the water level rises slightly with each
dam. For the purpose of my thesis I inquired the local residents about the tourist and recreation
potentials of the river. The questionnaire consists of six questions, which deal with the river area, sport
and recreation activities, as well as their providers, and tourists. I interviewed the providers of
recreational activities, while focusing on the rent-a-boat providers, about their work policies and the
size of the river area they use for their business. I also drew the longitudinal profile of the river
including the dams and high waters, where we can immediately see the state of the river and assess the
danger of flooding.
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