When the snow disappears, the bears wake up.
Just kidding, we don't have bears around, not even far away, and even harsh winters are unusual in this Adriatic climate.
If you want to meet bears, you'll have to go inland, to the Lika district.
Wolves and lynx there seem to be, but heavily protected and very seldom seen, boars there are a lot more, still not easy to be found, but we wouldn't have hunters if there weren't boars.
And of course, in the area of Biokovo Mountains the chance of spotting various wildlife is common.
The bear on the picture however, that came out of hibernation, is now living in the USA.
The story behind it is charming.
Two years ago we were walking on the beach, and found it floating ashore.
It looked terrible, but I said to my wife it came swimming all the way from Italy (visible on a very clear day).
I picked it up, cleaned it when arriving at home, and from that moment on, it followed me on every business trip or holiday.
And (funny me), I took pictures on the most uncommon locations, resulting in a load of bearpics and the story to them.
(Which this is a result of as you can see).
One day I met a friend in Split with her young daughter, and when the little girl saw the bear, she fell in love with it like young girls do.
I couldn't resist her asking eyes, so the bear stepped away from me, and even further than I thought possible, as the family went back to the USA, due to the lack of workable jobs in Croatia (which still is a big problem today *).
So the bear is now living in the USA, but I still have the pictures, making it possible to me to write a little story, about winter leaving, temperature rising, snow disappearing, and bears getting up.
*)
To investors, company people, producers and dealers: DO KNOW this country is truly a great chance to start a factory or sales office today, as it soon will enter the European Union, it's people are well educated workers (and still a bargain), the infrastructure is good, making Split with it's deep water harbour an excellent location to penetrate the Balkan markets and beyond.
Many companies already discovered this emerging market, so wake up, as only bears sleep during winter season !!
