Kayaking around the Balkans; Albania and Montenegro

Montenegro

Me, Blaž, Jan and Luka went kayaking over Balkan down to Turkey. After postponing our start and visiting some mechanic shops we were finally packed. Fully loaded with kayaking equipment, camping gear and motor bike we started driving from Slovenia down south with our Toyota Land cruiser vehicle. Our first stop was Morača river in Monte Negro. There we met with a bunch of other friends: Matjaž, Jakob, Andrej, Urban, Jan, Tina, Nika, Urša and the whole Balkan river tour crew.

For the first time we put our kayaks on the water in upper section of the river. With a medium low flow the run was quite bony with a few good rapids. We got out at Morača monastery. It was a good warm up run!

Next day we decided to kayak the classic section; a big canyon of a Morača river from the monastery down. All the way was a WW3 class rapids with two rapids WW 4. We were astonished by the beauty of the deep canyon with its vertical walls and emerald water. We finished our trip just before the night fell on us at one of the possible exists after the main section of the canyon. We treated ourselves with beers at the campfire before we called it a night and fell asleep on the riverbench.

Some of our team also descent Mrtvica river which is a tributary of Morača river. It is a short section where you need to carry up your kayak because there is no road. Later you have about half of hour of joy kayaking down.

Albania

Tamare

In the morning we were ready to drive to our next destination, the promising Albania. After couple of hours we arrived to the land of eagles and Mercedes Benz cars :)

Just crossing the border showed us big cultural differences compared to the neighboring ex Yugoslavian countries.

We drove towards valley of Cijevna (Monte Negro)- Cem (Albanian) river. Scenic drive on the new road over the pass brought us to the new valley for the next few days. As soon as we arrived we went kayaking a section on the Tamare river. We started just above Tamare village at point there was enough water in the river to start kayaking. Bony start brought us to the first serious rapid just under the bridge in the middle of the Tamare village. Later on we did only one more out of boat scouting and finished kayaking just before the border with Monte Negro in Cem river already.

Cem

Next day we drove further up into the valley towards the head waters of Cem river. We reached Vukel and Nikc villages under the Maja peaks driving on a scenic macadam road.

A terrain vehicle is recommended if you are loaded with equipment. We took our time and discovered the upper part of the valley. It is a remote area with welcoming locals and pristine but wild nature.

Late afternoon we started paddling the upper section of Cem river. Short and rewarding descent included some technical rapids, waterfall and short box canyon what we decided not to run it due to a tricky entrance rapid with medium to low water level.

The following day we did the lower part after starting down some km from the tricky canyon. Already from the site while we were driving up in the valley we recognized that there is going to be a good day of kayaking. Step cataract with short pools in between continuously descending in between high vertical walls. There was possible to do a lot of read and run kayaking with some scouting and portages. We had a medium water level but honestly you don’t want 

to have it much higher. It took us a couple of hours 

to finish this section down in the valley at the tributary with Tamare river.

Shale

Full of enthusiasm we were ready for a two-day adventure on Shale river. In a rented van with a driver and six of us we proceeded from Skoder through the valley of Kir river towards rural village Teth over the mountains. After 6 hours of adventure drive we found ourselves in Teth but actually just on the other side of Cem valley. At our put in we got in touch with locals and later on sleeping and eating in their home. In the morning loaded with sleeping bags, food, dishes etc. in our kayaks we started our descent. The river can be divided into two sections.

First part from Teth down to bridge of main road coming into valley is a boulder garden some cataracts with bigger boulders.

Second part is easier and longer with finish in the Komani lake. River goes through remote area and is more or less in the canyon. It took us about 5 hours for both sections. We came to Komani lake and spotted some touristic facilities right on the river. Luckily there were workers who organized us a boat which took all of us with kayaks over the lake to the port. It is recommended to organize a shuttle before if you would like to avoid a probably whole day of flat water kayaking over the lake.

Here is the link  where you can contact Mario a local legend who can help you to organize the shuttles on the lake http://www.komanilake.com/

Valbona

We spent the night in the port close to the dam. In the morning we boarded the ferry which should take us to Fierza already close to Valbone valley. This time luck was not on our side. Just in the middle of crossing the lake the ferry broke down… The captain gave us the steering wheel and control over the ferry while he was trying to cool down the engine we were driving the ferry. Time to time he came up from the engine room to the captain bridge to show us the line in the dammed and flooded valley. We didn’t make it to the other side but we returned back to the start point.

Half of the day spent on ferry adventure with experience of driving ferry and a lot of laughter 

made us richer for one of our childhood dreams 

became reality :)

Back in the port and already tired we started driving all around with the car for a seven hours to Valbonë Valley National Park. We started kayaking from the point there was enough water in the river. Most of the rapids were scout able from the kayak. River starts with nice boofs and technical rapids. After passing the wooden mosque on the right side the river drops into a short and low canyon for few hundred meters besides the road. This part of the river was the most technical. Than the river goes continuously down as before and reach the approximately half of km long box canyon. It took us a long time to scout the it from the top to be sure it’s clean. After the entrance rapid which 

was a little bit tricky there was just pure joy until the exit. And there was our take out. For sure that was the best kayaking on the trip yet and we all agreed that Valbone river is a queen of Balkan rivers!

Filip Tomažič, Alpin Action Team