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1994 Euronatur, the European Foundation, proclaimed the little village
of Čigoć the first European Stork Village. Because of the exceptionally
propitious natural conditions, on almost every house or byre the
white storks make their nests, and there are more of them than people.
For in the 45 active nests there are sometimes more than 200 storks,
while in the seventy or so houses there are no more than 120 local
inhabitants, which speaks eloquently of the harmonious relationship
between man and nature in the area. |
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The village is
most often visited by organised groups of schoolchildren who are
getting to know the natural and cultural values of Lonjsko Polje
in the Educational Centre of the Nature Park. Here you can watch
stork behaviour really close up, listen to them communicating with
each other by chattering with their bills, see the parents protecting
their young from the hot sun with their wings and the struggle of
the young for the tastiest bites. One of the wooden houses, no. 26,
has been converted into the Info and Educational Centre of the Park,
and in it a small traditional carpentry shop has been renovated.
In the village you can also look round the ethnological
exhibition of traditional tools and items related to the rural household in
the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. In a family farm
or smallholding that also goes in for farmhouse tourism you can taste
traditional food and drink, and after that walk along the pedestrian
trails in the immediate surrounds of the village. Each year, the
last Saturday of the month of June, the great celebration of Stork
Day is held in Čigoć, with an ample range of cultural and recreational,
entertainment and culinary features.
The village has also won another very important prize. In 2003, the
European Association for Flowers and the Environment, headquartered
in Brussels, in a competition of some 5,700 European villages, awarded
Čigoć the bronze Entente Florale plaque for an outstanding atmosphere
and environment. |
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