Toros Outdoors has been paddling through Albania since 2015, and with each passing year our trips to neighboring Montenegro have become more frequent. It's high time, the mountainous heart of the Balkans your own camp to dedicate! We travel the land of the Black Mountains for a full ten days. Included: Pretty blue rivers, pretty white rocks and pretty incredible panoramic views in the rugged Durmitor Mountains. Chilled camp life and big water with damn big waves on the Tara. And of course the famous multi-day trip through the deepest gorge in the world. And then there's another surprise. But unfortunately the name says it all: it won't be revealed! 

Three major rivers drain the interior of the small Balkan country: Moraca, Lim and Tara. Three valleys that could hardly be more different. Our playground for ten days of paddling! A wide variety of landscape forms are crowded into a very small space. The karst highlands of the west rise steeply from the deep blue Adriatic Sea. In the south, the huge Skadar Lake shines, surrounded by unspoilt reed landscapes. Very close to the capital Podgorica, Moraca and Cijevna emerge from the wild mountains and form the worthy start of this kayak trip.

In the hinterland of Montenegro, the wooded expanses in the Tara and Lim river basins are only sparsely populated. Just the right thing to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and switch off in the countryside. What could be nicer than ending the day in the legendary Tara Canyon with a good bottle of Vrnac?

Camp I - Crna Gora Classics (WW III-IV)

You can do the cemetery route in your sleep, you're not afraid of the abseiling and you finally want to get out of Slovenia? Then you are ready for the Crna Gora Classics! But don't get excited too soon, the water is just as turquoise and the limestone is as white as if it had trickled straight into the river from the southern flank of Kanin. Even the local language will probably sound familiar to your ears. And yet, be careful! Not only the Slivovitz is tougher in the land of the Black Mountains...

After a correctly leveled start on the lower Moraca, we reflect on the regional Toros tradition and drive to the neighboring country for the first time. We take the upper reaches of the Cijevna, Cemi in Albanian, along the side of the road, not without hissing a little juice in the spruced-up Tamara. A landscape hammer chases the next in the Kelmend named Cemi valley. This northernmost tip of Albania was extremely isolated until the arrival of the tar machine a good five years ago, surpassed only by the valley head of the Vermosh. There the springs already drain to Montenegro in the Plav Lake, from which the water flows out as Lim. We enjoy the hospitality of the Vermosh in the guesthouse and also set off across the border.

For a day or two we dance Limbo and Lambada, the mighty river with its very blue water opens up one of the less touristy corners of Montenegro. The capital is far away here, and the ancient mule tracks to the Kosovan town of Peja (Serbian: Pecs) are still largely closed since the war at the end of the XNUMXs. Our journey takes us further to the headwaters of the Tara, probably the most famous Balkan river. Emerald green and mighty, it has carved one of the deepest gorges in Europe. We dedicate three days to her. Three days in which we leave the hustle and bustle of civilization behind us. We are surrounded by powerful karst springs, powerful waves, forest, forest, forest, and vastness (at least upwards). And every evening a delicious meal with the right drinks! 

We cycle over narrow mountain roads to Zabljak, the tourist center of alpinists. Before we start into the last third, we have time to sniff the mountain air in the Durmitor on the rest day. Small area, high peaks, impressive views. The two royal stages of the Moraca form the worthy conclusion. There, at the latest, you will remember Slovenia's dream river. Whether in the figure-rich Klosterschlucht or in the famous forced passage deep at the bottom of the gorge - it will be beautiful. And exciting. As I said, not just the Slivovitz ...

Camp II - Montenegro for the Mind (WW II-III)

'Scheuer, serve us good distillate. Just not too rough, just not too hard.” Well, not exactly my style, but I'll try! Anyone who likes it easy (or "casual" as they say in Albania) study the Crna Gora Classics a few lines up and subtract anything that makes them uncomfortable or even scary. Et voilà, the perfect trip to beautiful Montenegro.

“Easy” specifically: Three days of chilled warm-up paddling on Cijevna and Moraca (no, you won’t get bored there; I promise!), on to the upper Tara and two days of base camp on the blue Lim. The fantastically situated Plav Lake buffers the water far into the Spring. Ideal conditions to get used to the surge water. We'll need it in a moment... We'll take a day of hiking to relax. Around Gusinje, the Prokletje Mountains are a true trekking destination that has not yet been discovered by the masses. By the way, the much better known Valbona is directly on the other side of the seven mountains.

After so much classic beauty, let's take a different turn. The veteran Lonely Planet would write: “off the beaten track.” How true! Following the Lim until just before the Serbian border, we make a stop in the former heart chambers of socialist industrialization. For a coffee in Berane, in Tito's time the textile city was called Ivangrad. The water of the Lim is no longer black below the city, and the Ceotina is no longer sulfur yellow, as it was in the dark times of heavy industry in the actually tranquil Pljevlja. Here in the untouristy north of Montengero, lonely forests meet extensively grazed hilly landscapes with socialist architecture and industrial culture. Exciting!

Kiss and finish what remains, that has to be. On to the tare! The basecamp in the lower third of the famous Tara Canyon offers all the amenities you could want to concentrate on your business. Concentrated surfing (always in the middle! If necessary with air support ...), eat well, look at the sky and read a book or just let yourself be washed down the house route for the third time with great pleasure. Oh yes, of course we also do a multi-day.

Still energy? Nope? Fits. It's over too. After the ten days you are served. In the best sense. And the surprise mentioned at the beginning is still lurking somewhere.  

Lodging

 Depending on the weather and the wishes of the group, we stay overnight in campsites and wild places right next to the river. At the beginning and end of the tour we stay overnight HostelQ our friends Magdalena and Radovan. At Tara we stay in a professionally managed hotel Ethno camp grave in a tent or bungalow.