Our rafting camp slowly came to life following an evening of tall beers and some impromptu live entertainment provided by a 3 piece band including not one, but TWO accordion players. After a casual wake-up and some local Bosnian breakfast dishes the next morning, our rafting guides arrived, introduced themselves and loaded us into a van headed across the Montenegro border to our put-in spot on the Tara River. What ensued was an exhilarating day of getting to know some class 4 rapids on a very intimate level. Due to the perilous nature of this activity for any kind of electronics, images of the rafting itself are missing from the record, so please enjoy a couple of general images of the Tara above. The Tara and the Piva are two of the cleanest rivers on the face of the planet, and both are safe to drink out of directly; in fact, Piva is derived from the Slavic word meaning “to drink”. The Balkan Conflict decimated industry and economy throughout the entire region. An interesting silver lining to this awful link in history’s chain is the near complete lack of pollutants present in the beautiful Tara and its tributaries. Swollen with recent snowmelt, we scooped handfuls and filled water bottles directly out of the lively river in between sets of belligerent rapids. At long last, we paddled up to our camp’s beach and slogged back up to the lodge for some celebratory draft beer from the aptly named local 'Raft Brewery'.
×