The authors of the new sport - at least new for Latvia - acquired funding from a contest by the Madona municipality.
The author of the idea, Kristaps Kiziks, said that the idea came to him on his own, but it turned out that Estonians had already come up with something similar.
Latvia has rather favorable geography for swamp walking, as about 5% of the country's territory is covered in wetlands, said Kristaps Lamsters from the Geography and Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Latvia.
Furthermore, there are no worries about harming nature with this sport: "After swamp shoes there are no traces left as [the tracks] are lost after the first rain. What's more, moss is like a sponge, it rises up and it's full of water, it's 98-99% water," said Kiziks.
