It was good to take a time out and give my body and mind a well deserved rest. After almost four weeks without hiking though, it was time to hit the trails again. A long time ago, I had already decided to go and see another mountainous region on this planet, the Balkan. As I haven't heard of anyone so far that went for proper hiking there, I was curious what the Balkan had in store for me. The first state to visit was Serbia and there I opted to check out a popular area for hiking, the Tara national park. I chose this as my first destination, also because there was a bus going there all the way from Belgrade. Unfortunately though, I couldn't find out in advance where exactly the bus would drop me, so I thought I just jump in and see where I end up. :) My assumption was, that the bus would be driving to the heart of the national park, as first there was a road going there and second, the main attractions were closeby. But of course I was wrong. :) The bus dropped me somewhere completely else, but lucky me it was just next to a hostel that also functioned as a hiking centre. The lady in the hostel told me all about the hiking I could do in the area and soon I had figured out where I wanted to go. Checking the weather forecast, it told me that there were two days of sunshine and then a day full of rain with a temperature drop of about 15 degrees.. As my desire to hike in cold rain was not that big, I opted for a two days hike including a peak, several viewpoints, one part of a long distance hiking trail and a visit to the biggest lake in the park. It turned out to be two lovely days and without knowing it, I faced the biggest challenge at the very beginning of my hike.
Day 1: Zborište, Zaovine Lake and Mitrovac When I arrived at the bus station the day before, two stray dogs literally picked me up and followed me to the hostel. Funnily enough, they actually were well known there and were allowed to stay in and around the hostel all summer long already. So the whole other day they followed me around where ever I went. Even when I just got up from the table, they would jump up as well and walk along at my heels. Well, that was nice and lovely, but I didn't want them to join me on my hike, so I saw no other choice than to lock them into the hostel. That was a more difficult task than it sounds and it took me more than five minutes until they were on the inside and I was on the outside. :) Then I hurried off, because the other hostel guests were just waking up and I didn't want them to open the door as long as I was closeby. Luckily it worked out and I could pick up the hiking trail a couple minutes later without any of the two dogs following. The first part of the trail was along the main road, taking me about 20 minutes until I reached the signpost that led onto a gravel road into the woods. About half way along the main road another stray dog sort of started to walk along, but I only realized that he was following me when I took a little break on the gravel road and he stopped as well, sat in front of me and looked at me with his huge dog eyes. Great, exactly what I wanted to avoid. :) Well, at that moment there was nothing else to do than to carry on and I walked through the forest enjoying the fresh air and the shining sun. A little while later the dog ventured into the trees and it was the last time I saw him. Most probably he somehow lost my scent in the woods and I wasn't too sad about that to be honest. Besides the dog, entertainment was only given by occasional cars that passed me every now and then, until I reached another signpost.
Leaving the gravel road behind me, I eventually was back on a proper hiking path. Enjoying this part among the farming fields, I caught up with an elder man some time later on. He said hello and erupted in a flood of Serbian words at the same time. :) All I understood was his name and that he picked up some berries to make tea out of them. Even though I told him that I was a tourist and only spoke English, he plowed on and on, pointing here and there, all the time staring at me as if that would make me understand what he was saying. :) Nevertheless, he was friendly enough and we continued our walk together having a pretty funny conversation. While he kept on talking in Serbian without a pause, I kept on repeating that I didn't understand. :) After a short break at a junction, another man approached a little bit further. The two of them explained that there was a water source closeby, but as I had enough water with me it was time to say goodbye, as they went to the source while I carried on towards my first goal of the day, the peak of Zborište. Soon after the encounter I came upon a main junction with paths leading in each direction. Turning left, I knew that the peak wasn't far away anymore and 10 minutes later reached the foot of the final ascent. It was one kilometer upwards in the forest and it was quite a pleasant walk. The slope was not that steep and the trees gave enough shade from the pretty hot midday sun. Only the many spiderwebs across the path were a bit annoying, telling me that I was the first one to go up there since a long time. And when I reached the peak I understood why. The summit was completely surrounded by trees and I literally couldn't see anything.
That was a minor disappointment and not really what I had expected. Well, whatever, now that I was there I enjoyed a longer break and a hearty lunch. Retracing my steps afterwards, I soon was back at the main junction and this time turned towards the village of Mitrovac. What followed was a walk along the countryside of the Tara national park. Mostly hiking on a gravel road, I passed some forests, many farming fields, random holiday houses in the middle of nowhere and one or two tiny settlements.
The highlight of that part was a wooden church in one settlement and a first view of Lake Zaovine from far away. As those highlights were five minutes apart, you can imagine that I had more entertaining hikes before. :) But in the end I didn't really care as it was all about being outdoors again. Coming upon another turnoff, I decided to turn left first to pay a visit to Lake Zaovine. As I only had a certain amount of time for this detour, I ignored the official way and walked along the main road. There were two short cuts on the map that I could take, but both didn't exist in reality. :) Luckily though, I found another one right when I was about to turn around. Entering the forest once more, I descended a steep slope that soon petered out and once again I had to make my own way to continue. As it was quite a descent and time was running out, I stopped somewhere in the middle of the slope where I had a nice outlook towards the lake. There I took a break and regained some strength for the walk back to the turnoff.
When I arrived back there, I got onto the official trail for five minutes, as I wanted to see if I could have a view over the lake from far above. Well, I couldn't, as there were way too many trees. :)
So I gave up looking for good views of the lake, returned to the turnoff and eventually made my way to the village of Mitrovac. Mitrovac was in the heart of the national park and hosted some hotels, a supermarket and a tourist information. My initial plan was to stay there, but there was neither a hostel nor a camping ground and so I carried on after I stocked up my supplies in the shop. The one attraction close to Mitrovac was a viewpoint called Banjska stena and there were two ways to get there. One was along a gravel road, the other through the woods. So I set off towards the path through the forest and started to keep my eyes open for a good camping spot. Passing a clearing and some other minor open spaces, none of them really suited me for an overnight stay. After another longer part in the forest, I came upon a second clearing and as the grass on there was more or less freshly mowed, I knew that this was someones property. Of course I couldn't camp there and so I walked across the clearing, but only came about halfway when I heard someone shouting. An elder man was waving and inviting me for a coffee. Why not I said and declined the coffee and the Rakija and settled for a Coke instead. He asked me where I was going and I told him that I was on my way to Banjska stena. He pointed at his watch indicating that it was late already and I tried to explain him that I wanted to camp further on. Once he understood, he told me that there were bears and boars in the area and that camping would be dangerous. Oh oh, I didn't knew that, as I thought the bears would be somewhere else. So I asked him if it would be okay to camp on his clearing and he said right away that that was no problem. How nice! Sitting there and chatting away, I learned that his name was Vidoje, that he was working in Algeria and Zambia in his younger years and that he still spoke some French and English, so we actually had a real conversation. :) Around 6 o'clock it was time to pitch my tent and eat dinner. While I was eating, Vidoje came towards me with a massive axe. Thinking that he wanted to ask me to chop some wood, it turned out that he wanted to leave it in my tent as a weapon for self defense when a boar would be attacking during the night. :) Well, my viking heart certainly was beating faster, but I declined nevertheless. If a boar would attack during the night, I doubted very much that I would be fast enough to wield the axe and defend myself. :) After dinner we sat together once more and when eventually bed was calling, it was time for a good night drink and I enjoyed a shot of the self made Rakija. It was the perfect ending of a lovely day and soon afterwards I fell asleep in my tent.
Day 2: Banjska stena, many viewpoints and the E7 long distance hiking trail No boar attacked during the night and I was up early again as a long day awaited me. The sun was already out and after the breakfast I enjoyed a cup of tea with Vidoje. Thanking him in every language he understood, I packed up my tent afterwards and said goodbye.
Back into the forest the trail led up and down and soon I was drenched in sweat although it was still pretty fresh. After about half an hour, the trees opened up a bit and I came upon a first viewpoint towards Perućac, the Drina river and its massive dam. What a nice view and even though I didn't walk that far yet, I took a first break.
Resuming the trail, it soon ventured into the trees again and it was another half an hour on a mostly narrow path until I reached Banjska stena. That viewpoint was even more impressive and I stayed there quite a while, enjoying the panorama, the sun and the early morning solitude.
Unfortunately I couldn't stay too long and soon I was on my way down to Mitrovac again. For the descent I decided to use the gravel road and I knew in advance that that wouldn't be the best part of the day. Walking in the forest all the time, quite a few cars, lorries and tourists passed me and I was glad when after one hour the houses of Mitrovac appeared again. Another short visit in the supermarket later, I joined the long distance hiking trail E7 out of Mitrovac to bring me back all the way to where I started the day before. The beginning was along the main road and I was glad when I reached the turnoff that led me back into the woods. It didn't took me long and another turnoff appeared, indicating a short detour to the viewpoint Oštra stena. Of course I wanted to check this one out as well and 15 minutes later I scrambled up a big rock to enjoy another superb outlook towards the Drina river and its dam. With this wonderful scenery in front of me, it was the perfect spot to have my lunch.
When I sat down, I suddenly could hear an animal roam in the woods to my left and as I was still in bear country I somehow couldn't enjoy my lunch as much as I actually should have. :) Well, nothing happened of course and I made it back to the turnoff safe and sound. Picking up the E7 again a long walk along the countryside started. Soon I was back to the same cycle as yesterday: gravel roads, forests, farming fields, random holiday houses and every now and then a tiny settlement.
Some diversification was given by one more viewpoint and by the little village of Sokolina. The trail eventually started to change again once I came close to Slijvovica. A lovely settlement that was and there even were some benches for once to rest and enjoy the view.
The part around Slijvovica was mostly on the main road and not really nice for hiking, so I was glad when another turnoff led me back onto a side road and a little bit later back into the trees. It was all downwards now and arriving at a tiny lake, it was time for one last longer break before the final part back to my hostel.
And the break was definitely the right decision as the last part was a pretty tough one. The path narrowed from the outset of the lake and plants were in the way more than once. A tiny creek had to be crossed a couple times and twice the way led along a more or less dry river bed. Trees surrounded the trail all the time and when some stinging nettles caressed my legs, the jungle feeling was complete. :) When the forest eventually was dwindling, it was a last couple kilometers along some more farming fields and the main road until I reached my hostel again. Another lovely day came to an end and I was surprised (but glad), that I was not overrun by the two dogs upon my arrival. :) This was a good start into my Balkan adventure and now that my legs had been warmed up again, I was looking forward to get some more hiking done soon. :)
Highlights of the hike: Banjska stena and the hospitality of Vidoje
This hike is for you if: - you want to cover many different parts of the Tara national park - you don't mind a lot of walking on both days - you always wanted to get a taste of a long distance trail
This hike is not for you if: - you want to scale a peak with a panoramic view :) - you don't like to hike on concrete or gravel roads - you want to be away from civilization
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