Recreation in the Area of River Ardas: The Views of Elementary School Pupils

River Ardas in Greece is an area of outstanding natural beauty and used as a recreation area. Each year the area is visited by people of all ages. Children visit the place either with their school or with their parents. It is important to study their views about the river as a recreation area. The children asked were pupils of the elementary schools of the region. All of these children had visited the area before. The majority of the children declare satisfied from their visit in the area and assess the landscape positively. However, most of them have a less positive view about the provided recreation services. Through the use of hierarchical loglinear analysis it becomes clear that pupils who declare from totally to very satisfied regarding their visit in the recreation area of Ardas also find that the provided recreation services range from very good to good. The same pupils also believe that that the river constitutes from very small to fair danger to their safety and visit the place more than five times a year. In addition, the pupils who visit the area more than five times a year think that the river constitutes from very small to fair danger to their safety. Most of the pupils think that the diversity of plants ranges from big to very big while the diversity of animals ranges from small to very small. There is a need for improved infrastructure in the area, e.g. observatories, so that pupils can discover the wild animals that live there. The love of the children for animals becomes obvious from the fact that they do not wish the prohibition of pets in the place. Most of the pupils like the idea of camping in the area with their parents but the idea of doing so with their fellow pupils is even more popular. The children think that their parents would find it easier to grant permission to them to camp in the area if they themselves accompanied their children and not if their children did so together with their fellow pupils. Through the test of independence it becomes obvious that the will of the children to camp in the area depends on the will of their parents.