The Boca valley is located in the Southern Tatras (or Low Tatras), a chain which is part of the Carpathian Arch. Less known than the High Tatras, Low Tatras reach an altitude of 2043 meters at the Dumbier mount.

Due to the local climatic conditions, the Slovakian mountains are covered with dense and wild forests until an altitude of 1300 to 1500 meters. At the top one finds a landscape of rocks and some mountain pastures with stubbled vegetation.

Summits of Low Tatras

The mountain pastures were formerly used by Rumanian shepherds (valaches) who left a few names of places. Besides that, the Slovakian mountains were practically uninhabited up until relatively recently, as the Slavonic peoples who have settled in the country primarily inhabited the plains.

During the Middle Ages, the discovery of silver and gold in the Slovakian mountains attracted Saxon immigrants. Mines were established throughout the region. Such is the case of the Boca valley which was colonized during the 13 th century when gold was discovered

Coat of arms of Nizna Boca and Vysna Boca

By the end of the 18 th century, mines were no longer workable, so the population turned to forest industry and agriculture. At this point, the pastures developed, giving place to this landscape of clearings, mountain pastures and forests which is common in the Alps but much rarer in central Europe. During the 19th century, in order to develop forest industry, plantations of spruces were favored to the point of creating practically a monoculture.

 

The Boca valley being one of the two valleys which transversely cross the Low Tatras chain, via the Certovica pass, is situated on one of the major road axes connecting Warsaw to Budapest.

During the 20 th century a ski resort was developed at the Certovica pass. That place had its hours of success but was supplanted by more recent and better equipped resorts. Nevertheless this led to the development of other tourist activities, primarily concentrated in the village of Vysna Boca and which remain with the forest one of the few sources of employment.

The resort of Certovica pass.

After the Second World War, agricultural activities were collectivized and entrusted to a co-operative. This led to a rapid deterioration of farming in the region and the landscape changed at an astonishing speed, as the pastures were quickly overtaken by spruce forests. This evolution, if it continues, will induce a degradation of the biodiversity and a disappearance of the varied landscape which makes the valley so charming.

Pastoral landscape gradually colonized by forest.

During the 20 last years, the population has fallen considerably, by some estimation by as much as fifty percent. (There remain 300 permanent inhabitants for the two villages). The working population left the villages for the industrial towns located to the north.

However, recently, one can see a new dynamism with regards to tourism in the modest redevelopment by private interests (restoration of cottages, openings of bed and breakfast).

The controlled creation of tourist activities could thus make it possible to stop the process of abandonment and to renew the prospects for a harmonious development.

• flora and fauna.