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Discovering Albania’s Timeless Vjosa River
18.09.2023 - 10:01 / nytimes.com / Leonardo Dicaprio
A journey along southern Albania’s Vjosa River, one of Europe’s last undammed waterways, means traversing a landscape that looks much as it has for centuries. Flowing from Greece’s northwestern border to the Adriatic Sea, the Vjosa rushes into box canyons and gorges formed by steep forests of maples, oaks and firs. Ancient stone bridges connect its banks, spanning turquoise water. Sheep graze the valley floor, and vineyards, family farms, orchards and olive groves intermingle with fields of dandelions and red poppies.
Earlier this year, Albania took a critical step toward preserving this timelessness with the establishment of the Vjosa Wild River National Park, a first in Europe, and a destination included on this year’s 52 Places to Go list. The Albanian government, the International Union for Conservation of Nature, nongovernmental organizations from the Save the Blue Heart of Europe campaign, and the adventure apparel retailer Patagonia worked together to protect Albania’s 120-mile section of the river and its main tributaries. (The 169-mile Vjosa’s source is in Greece’s Pindus Mountains.) After years of protests against mining and dam projects, and support from Leonardo DiCaprio, the park’s designation was a victory.
“Our support for the Vjosa really stepped up when we began partnering with the Albanian government in 2021, to do something that hadn’t been done before,” said Ryan Gellert, Patagonia’s chief executive. According to Mr. Gellert, the plan is for the park to be fully operational, with a visitor center and staff, in 2024.
For both locals and tourists, the park’s designation is a boon, if not a lifeline. Communities have depended on the river since before recorded history. And in a country already renowned for its food, the Vjosa Valley’s terroir sets the bar even higher. Hearty fruits and vegetables, trout, mountain honey, lamb, wine, veal, raki (brandy), cheeses and herbs are in abundance — along with Balkan hospitality.
When I arrived in late April, snow still covered the peaks above the river. I’d come to raft, hike and cycle segments of the new park, which, including Vjosa’s tributaries, safeguards around 250 miles of river and more than 31,000 acres: an ecosystem with around 1,200 species, 15 of which are threatened. I was also there to learn about tourism’s growing influence.
“Ten years ago, everyone was running away from the villages,” Mirela Kumbaro, Albania’s Minister of Tourism and Environment, wrote in an email. “Now we have more and more people who, after emigrating, are returning to their villages to open guesthouses, agritourism and agricultural farms,” she wrote. “I see the future of tourism as friendly with the environment, with people who will value nature as a priceless
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