The crown jewel of the pristine nature of Mount Snežnik is the Ždrocle Forest Reserve, hidden on the southern slopes of the massif. It is a unique ecosystem ruled by beech trees. Before the last Ice Age, our continent was covered by beech forests. As the climate changed and ice started to invade from the north, the forests retreated south, desperate for a warm and moist environment to thrive in – much like this one on the southern side of the barrier, high above the Adriatic. When the Ice Age ended, it was from places like this one that beech forests started to reclaim Europe. The importance of these refugia was recognized by UNESCO, which lead to the Ždrocle Forest Reserve being proclaimed a World Heritage Site in 2017 as part of the Transnational Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe. The remote and inaccessible reserve is off-limits to visitors.