About us

Our team of instructors has many years of experience with guiding people in the wilderness and surviving in extreme conditions. Our activity started as a hobby which later turned into a passion. We started reading more books, spent a lot of time in the forest and tested ourselves in each time more extreme environments. We want to show the beauty and power of nature also to others, therefore we organize public presentations about wild food and survival in nature and organize survival courses in the wilderness.

LOCATION & TIME: Our survival courses take part in the Kočevsko region, which is the wildest part of Slovenia. Depending on the time of year, and the situation in the woods, we use various locations. Courses are held from April to October (occasionally also during winter).

PROGRAMS: Participants can choose between different programs to suit their needs and skill levels. We offer more basic programs for big groups, schools or families, and longer, more difficult programs for the more daring. These include 2-days to 8-days programs. For more experienced bushcrafters we organise competitions and meetings to share new knowledge and ideas. 

Extreme conditions stimulate a man to re-discover long-forgotten but innate natural skills and survival instincts. It is in our blood, we just need to find a trigger to revive abilities we gained from our ancestors. On one hand, we are faced with exhaustion, hunger, cold and our own fears. On the other hand, these experiences lead not only to a better understanding and respect of nature but also of yourself.

Instructors

The providers of courses and events:

Miha Ogorelec

Miha Ogorelec

Background in forestry and horticulture.
Martial arts, archery, spearfishing.
Collaboration and research of wolves, guide for bear watching and wildlife. Many years of experience with survival guidance. 

Dr Žiga Ogorelec

Dr Žiga Ogorelec

Background in biology.
Training javelin, triathlon, turn-ski, army.
Collaboration on international bushcraft meetings. Many years of experience with survival in nature and with travel in extreme parts of continents (one-year-long cycling around the world).

Jurij Marinko

Jurij Marinko

Background in agronomy.
Expert in edible plants and their use.
Many years of experience with survival guidance. The organisation of survival school and events.

Andrej Rus

Andrej Rus

Background in wood technology.
Active collaboration with scouts and the army. Many years of experience with survival in the wildness. Expert in primitive technology and products from natural materials.

Our story

Our beginnings:

As a beginner, you have to fail first to learn how to succeed. We were not different in this aspect. In 2009 we went as a group of young greenhorns into the wilderness, trying to sustain for 4 days living off the land.

We wanted to give up already after the first night. Exhaustion from all-day trekking, lack of food, water and proper shelter was too redundant for our skinny young bodies to believe to keep on going for more days. Good luck with finding a perfect location enabled us to sustain. In the rest of the days, we did not only collect a lot of wild food but also learned how to live in nature and developed a passion for living off the land.

Looking for new challenges, we tested ourselves each year in more extreme situations, longer and with less gear. At the same time our skills improved, we read a wide variety of literature, but the best knowledge came from the forest itself by experiencing on our own.

All this led us to extremes. Besides winter survivals, survivals using only a knife and other similar tests, we tried also long-term solo survivals. The first one was Miha, who, being 18 years old, went into the wild for 15 days without any food, electronic device or sleeping bag. Practically only a knife, a pot and a ferro rod. Next year it was Ziga’s turn, who in 15 days besides living off the land crossed Slovenia through its wildest part (270 km). A year after also Jurij decided and overcome a 12-day solo survival test.

In our adventures, many friends were joining us. Since 2014 we started with training courses and public presentations about wild food and bushcraft skills. We established a club that is every year more active, we organize a variety of events like intense 3-day survival courses, team-buildings or summer schools for kids. Since 2018 we are organizing also bushcraft competitions and meetings to promote connecting people with skills and knowledge about survival in nature. Due to international recognition, our instructors were presenting at the Global Bushcraft Symposium 2022 and Rabbitstick 2023.

Our special feature is that from our very first beginnings, we had our adventures with minimal equipment and without food. Therefore we did not become only specialists in edible wild food, but we also understand which parameters are crucial when facing calamity and shortage. As a team of instructors, we fulfil different disciplines and skills, either by our profession or our hobbies.

A combination of our studies of forestry, biology, agronomy and wood technology fulfils well our knowledge about nature. Besides, our activities and hobbies like archery, spearfishing, researching wolves, martial arts, training javelin, climbing, caving, one-year around the world cycling, collaborations with scouts, firefighters, army and international bushcraft meetings contribute importantly to our knowledge and skills of survival in the wild.

Gozdovništvo – Bushcraft and survival school Slovenia

Address: Cesta na Trato 21, 1330 Kočevje
Legal representative: Jurij Marinko
Company Registration Number: 9350136
Tax number: 12489506
IBAN: SI56 6100 0002 7975 438

Contact:
email: gozdovnistvo@gmail.com
tel: +386 41 299 469 (Žiga) / +386 31 722 945 (Miha)

All pictorial, textual and other material is the property of the Gozdovništvo – Bushcraft and survival school Slovenia and it is intended for its own promotion. Further distribution of the material without the consent of the association is not permitted.

CALENDAR OF COURSES 2024

Due to the limited availability of instructors in 2024, we do not have any fixed dates for the English (or German) language courses. However, we can organise a special course tailored to your group on request. For individuals, more courses will be held in 2025, but we are already collecting interest, so feel free to contact us. 

We offer a wide range of workshops and courses: 

WORKSHOPS
    • Fire 1

    • Fire 2 

    • Survival shelters

    • Edible plants

    • Clay and pottery

    • Mushroom gathering

    • SOS and orientation
    • Water in extremes
    • Primitive weapons
BASIC COURSES
  • 2 days
DEMANDING COURSES
  • 3 days
CHILDREN'S CAMPS 
  • 3 days

ADVANCED COURSES
  • 4 days

    CONTACTS

    Zavod gozdovništvo in preživetje v naravi

    gozdovnistvo@gmail.com

    Žiga: +386 41 299 469
    Miha: +386 31 722 945

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