Walking the Trails of Bosnia - with Aldo Kane

in the heart of the Balkans Bosnia is fast making a name for itself as one of the untapped hiking jewels of Europe with its sweeping Alpine Meadows dramatic Peaks and ancient forests the country's unspoiled Wilderness is catching the attention of those seeking Adventure away from the masses but it hasn't always been this way a tumultuous past has meant that these natural riches were cut off from the world today however there are those who are striving to change this outdated narrative local mountain guide and exodus leader Samir hey Rich and his team are on a mission to spread the word of the Balkans Wild Beauty with their passion for hiking and unrivaled expertise of the network of old established routes they've helped to create one of the finest hiking trails in Europe known as the Via de narica I'm Aldo Kane Explorer and exodus travels Ambassador and I've come to one of the highlights of this Trail in Bosnia to learn more about this spectacular Wilderness in what it means to those who hike it nice early Alpinestar it's a 3 30. and we are heading up the highest mountain in Bosnia my glitch so we are trying to get up there hence early start to get the sunrise and then with a bit of luck we'll be able to come down the other side of the mountain and head down to the lake down there for a bit of a wild swim well maybe almost halfway so we are here 2 000 meters so it's another less than 400. almost there few more minutes and we are at the top [Music] things like this is the reason why we hike yeah you can find a lot of places like this is just absolutely stunning but I have to admit it's just never been somewhere that I thought that I could go and have an adventure holiday the Balkans with all turbulent history Balkan was never seen as an outdoor destination at least major part of it and for us living in Bosnia trying to make some greater story about you know this entire area that's where the Via de Nautica came from like a one brand which completely changed the perception of the entire Balkan region were you changing the outside narrative effectively of of what people think of the Balkans and what people think at least again at least hiking communities around the world will see the the place as a as I said safe place to hike to be I mean following the simple rules in mountains you know as I said this can be a beautiful playground for The Outdoor lovers here I think the Balkans are still one of the rare I dare to say undiscovered yeah gems don't say it too loudly I'm just just blown away by how beautiful it is here going through all the different biomes on the way up all the way to the top to the small scrub dwarf Pines um all the way down to that um the forest over there and the the Primeval Forest you know very very old growth forest over the other side um you know this is probably one of the most untouched unspoiled landscapes in in Europe I would say we've been going for best part of a day now and haven't seen anyone else in the Hills if this was back home in the UK you'd bump into quite a lot of people even at this Lake you know there's no one here we've got the whole place to ourselves which is pretty amazing starting to get a bit hot so um I am going to get in this Lake um and go for a bit of a swim I think uh before we push on the trail [Music] High Medals of the sugetska national park behind us and head down to an ancient part of the country that I can't wait to explore [Music] so this is one of the oldest forests in Europe is that right yeah one of the last forests of this kind you know where there was no human influence according to the record at least for last 200 years even more because measuring the sizes of certain trees and how the terrain looks like so obviously even more than that it's amazing so so this is this is in effect and a primeval forest and and and almost the Gateway of barring the Gateway into the national park and it's such a diverse having been on top of the mountain yesterday and then being in here today it's two completely different Landscapes but equally as beautiful yeah yeah I mean the entire area is the oldest National Park in Bosnia covers hides a lot of sites such as this one so the highest peak of the country is located here this Forest you know has a lot of variety think this is probably the first proper old growth primeval Forest that I've been in and spent time in and it's amazing just how diverse it is but not just the diversity in this Forest it's amazing so just in in three or four days I've already been blown away with what you can see coming through Bosnia and on foot is definitely the way to do it but just being in here just like listen to this if we just be quiet for a minute just listen to the noise of the rain at the minute there's a bit of fog in here and then the bud chorus it's just very very good for the soul as we descend off the mountain for one of our final stops summer wants to take me to a location that is very close to his heart the partisan Memorial of sejetska a monument for all those who fought the anti-fascist movement but December it also stands as a symbol of unity within the Balkans a cultural connection that he is passionate to rebuild well I mean what I said the the Legacy these people left to all of us not just in Bosnia but in entire ex Yugoslavia is that anti-fascist anti-fascist fight never stops so even though today we have six countries six six republics from Yugoslavia are independent countries there are still certain values which bring uh people together so I believe all people in these again six republics have more things in common than actually opposite yeah so I mean the sign and what we could see here today at the monument with all the flowers people coming from Slovenia Croatia Serbia Bosnia Montenegro Macedonia joining together is actually for me a sign that despite being today in a different let's say states and countries we still have a future together you know past is you know joining us together but I think the future too and that's one thing that this Trail I guess does is is that and it's physically joining physically joining I mean there are no real borders of Yugoslavia but actually the trail itself connects all of these countries again in a one one nice story and you're not only connecting the the geographical country you're connecting the people you're connecting the culture you're reconnecting exactly what once language culture everything that this thing represents yeah today so cool isn't it so the Via de narica isn't just physical trail that joins these countries together over 1200 kilometers it's also a symbol of Hope and of togetherness you can see that in the way that Samuel talks about how all of these nations were coming together to make the trail because they felt that was important for them and you can see that you can see that here the different nationalities that are coming here to actually one pay their respect but also just to see this environment and be in nature in this National Park I'm Blown Away by it one it's an amazing looking country forests mountains Cliffs rivers lakes all of the stuff that you'd expect in there the Alpine environment but also it's the sense of togetherness of the people it's somewhere that I wish I had started exploring years ago but one thing I have realized and realized that you know I've been part of that problem is the narrative needs to change here externally because this is a country that is incredibly safe incredibly beautiful and there is an absolute stack of things to do for people that are into having Adventures it really does show that this is a forward-looking Bosnia this isn't looking back into the past this is going forward this is a destination in its own right that would rival anywhere in the Alps in Europe and for sure this is a Hidden Gem in the crown of the western Balkans [Music]

Channel: Exodus Adventure Travels

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Length: 11min 6sec (666 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 22 2023