In the middle of giant Lake Skadar National Park sits the tiny fishing "town" of Virpazar, one of Montenegro's historic trading centres dating from medieval times and, for the last 10 years, our home and activity base. The clue is in its name - 'Vir', which means confluence of rivers and 'Pazar', the Turkish word for 'market'. It's a beguiling, sleepy kind of place and the start point for many of our hiking and kayaking trips. These spectacular images will make you wonder why you'd never heard of it until now! All photographs are by the snap-happy me (Emma Heywood - co-founder of Undiscovered Montenegro). 1) Virpazar as seen from the 14th Century Besac Fortress 2) Summer view looking out from the old bridge 3) The historic monument to freedom celebrating 13th July 1878 and 1941 4) A magical autumn view of Virpazar cloaked in fog 5) We chose our activity base for its amazing location set by mountains and lake 6) Next to the lakeside are some great places to eat, like Konoba Badanj on the right 7) Reasons to love Virpazar #1 - it's surrounded by the incredible Lake Skadar National Park with all its nature! 8) When Lake Skadar's waters rise high, the reflected beauty around here is out of this world 9) There are some amazing hiking trails near Virpazar, you just need to know where 10) Virpazar is right on the shores of Lake Skadar, the largest pool of freshwater in southern Europe 11) This view of Virpazar has our activity base Villa Miela sitting pretty above it 12) This tiny fishing town oozes with characterful charm 13) Virpazar has a centuries' old port - the main gateway to vast Lake Skadar and the place to grab a boat tour 14) Our favourite view of
In the middle of giant Lake Skadar National Park sits the tiny fishing “town” of Virpazar, one of Montenegro’s historic trading centres dating from medieval times and, for the last 10 years, our home and activity base. The clue is in its name – ‘Vir’, which means confluence of rivers and ‘Pazar’, the Turkish word
As a UK business operating nature holidays and tours in Montenegro, including birdwatching, today (National Bird Day) seems the right time to tell you about one of the projects that we have been actively involved in recently as part of Undiscovered Montenegro's commitment to sustainable tourism and eco-awareness at Lake Skadar National Park. It's quite something to see the majestic Dalmatian Pelican up close. The pelicans are one of the biggest draws for visitors to the lake and we operate a stunning kayaking trip to see them in May/June that has left our lucky guests open-mouthed in amazement. Dalmatian pelicans are the heaviest flying birds in the world, sometimes topping the scales at 13kg and with wingspans over 3m. The trouble is, they are fussy breeders and are currently rated as "near threatened". Pelicans, you see, nest on floating vegetation, and when there isn't any, they don't nest at all. The National Park, the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), the Noe Foundation and CZIP (Montenegro's RSPCB) therefore have installed five man-made rafts in the pelicans' natural breeding area of Panceva Oka to give them a helping hand. These rafts have been so successful that pelican numbers have nearly doubled in the last five years (2017 saw the hatching of over 60 chicks, an annual high) - but the rafts are made of wood, and wood, when soaked constantly in water, will not last forever. When it was brought to our attention this year that the rafts were in dire need of repair and that local bodies did not have sufficient funding to manage this before the vital breeding season, we decided to donate the money, also enabling an upgrade to the solar-powered remote video monitoring system that has proven so vital in maintaining this habitat. It felt like we owed the pelicans, as
As a UK business operating nature holidays and tours in Montenegro, including birdwatching, today (National Bird Day) seems the right time to tell you about one of the projects that we have been actively involved in recently as part of Undiscovered Montenegro’s commitment to sustainable tourism and eco-awareness at Lake Skadar National Park. It’s quite something to
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