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In the hills above Tragjas village in Vlorë, south-west Albania, I’m working after a farmer known as Sofo, with a glass of raki in a single hand and a triangle of pan-fresh petulla within the different. Nightfall is leaching daylight from the sky, we’re late and the goats should be milked.
Sofo and his spouse Dhurata are internet hosting us for dinner at their rustic “restaurant”. We stroll to the farm from the street by means of knotty grass, gorse and rampant sage – and are greeted with lashings of raki. Dhurata palms me a wedge of petulla crammed with do-it-yourself goat’s cheese (a standard dish of fried dough, it’s made when a child is born – and a brand new niece is being celebrated) and I hurry off behind Sofo. Earlier than we sit all the way down to platters of grilled greens, meatballs and zgara (grilled meats), there’s milking to be executed.
“That is what occurs in Albania,” says our information, Elton Caushi. “Individuals need to offer you issues on a regular basis and it slows you down.”
It’s true. All over the place we go, doorways open and dialog and the provide of refreshment observe. Travelling round I meet hikers, campervanners, a bunch of scholars from the College of Bristol exploring by automotive, and a semi-retired British couple who’re biking the nation from top-to-toe. All of them don’t have anything however reward for Albanian hospitality.
I’m right here with tour operator Intrepid, to pattern a part of their nine-day journey, run in partnership with Meet (the Mediterranean Expertise of EcoTourism). Meet encourages residents in protected and weak areas to develop genuine experiences that profit conservation tasks and native communities. Lodging is in guesthouses, small accommodations and agriturismos, and experiences are regionally led.
Lately Albania has begun luring sunseekers to seaside resorts together with Sarandë, Himarë and Vlorë. But it surely’s a rustic of spectacular pure magnificence and ecological significance, as our go to quickly reveals.
The total itinerary takes within the teal waters of Lake Koman and tranquil, beach-fringed Shala River within the north of the nation for elegant dips. There’s additionally an non-compulsory hike to Mollë within the foothills of the Albanian Alps, in addition to time within the capital Tirana and the seaside resort of Vlorë.
Moreover measuring and monitoring the customer footprint, Meet’s involvement with the tour has elevated engagement with native individuals and dispersed spend into native communities. The place we keep, our actions, what we eat and the way we get round (by electrical car and on foot, bicycle and boat) has been forensically assessed.
Our journey features a cease at Berat’s hilltop fortress complicated, which has roots going again to antiquity; it’s as beautiful as any I’ve seen, with many of the buildings courting from the thirteenth century. The historic centre and two Berat codices found within the crypt of the famend Onufri Museum are protected by Unesco. Town’s oldest church, Holy Trinity, has panoramic views over the Drinos river valley and furrow-footed Shpirag massif.
Whereas Lake Shkodër (additionally Skadar and Shkodra), which is shared with Montenegro, is one among Europe’s largest chook reserves, we go to a lesser-known however equally necessary reserve at Divjakë-Karavasta nationwide park, two hours’ drive south of Tirana. Wealthy in biodiversity, the park has recognized about 25 species of mammals, 29 species of reptiles (together with sea turtles), 29 of amphibians and 230 species of bird. Its chook rehabilitation centre, the one one in Albania, has handled pelicans, eagles, owls, buzzards and storks.
Karavasta’s lagoon ecosystem, inside the park, is residence to the under-threat Dalmatian pelican – one of many world’s largest freshwater birds – and a haven for migratory species. We spend a few days exploring its estuaries and paths by boat and bicycle, overnighting on the small three-star Hotel Pelikan lodge, on the sting of the park.
Our first view of the wetlands and birds is from the highest of a wood viewing tower over a picnic lunch. On the way in which there, Elton calls in at a village home for a wheel of lakror (a well-liked Albanian pie) and a jug of frothy salty yoghurt, or dhallë.
On the tower’s base provisions are distributed. “It’s an unorthodox venue,” says Elton, “However the surroundings is nice.” I observe him up, dhallë in a single hand, cutlery within the different. Elton unrolls a rug and we sit within the sunshine consuming flaky pastry filled with onion and tomato, washed down with tart milk. Afterwards a flamboyance of better flamingos takes to the sky.
On the rehabilitation centre the ranger on obligation, Ervin Allushi, tells us that the primary group of British chook lovers visited in 2016. “Now we have pygmy cormorants, little egrets and 255 pairs of golden jackal. One group got here simply to see these,” he says.
The variety of Dalmatian pelicans has risen from 27 nests in 2014 to 85 in 2020, however information {that a} new airport is because of open late subsequent yr at Vlorë, 45 miles south of Divjakë-Karavasta and inside the protected panorama surrounding a lagoon, has startled conservation organisations. Intrepid Journey’s Ance Švajnzger says: “Not solely does the airport pose a possible danger to the wildlife, it additionally gained’t have a optimistic influence on rural Albania except travellers eat, keep and store with regionally owned companies.”
We take a small boat alongside a brackish river delta to identify the birdlife, pausing to look by means of binoculars on the sandy island the place pelicans nest.
The following morning we cycle on a boardwalk by means of a pine forest to Babunjë village, the place Eva and Adriatik welcome us into their residence. Adriatik, a woodworker and stonemason, reveals us his workshop, and we drink Turkish espresso as we watch how he chisels stone.
Lunch is hen pilaf, stuffed aubergine and duck in yoghurt soup. It’s definitely freshly ready: “I killed the hen and duck yesterday,” says Adriatik. “The wine is from my neighbour. My different neighbour is on vacation. Subsequent time I’ll serve you his wine – it’s higher.” We go away with armfuls of recent pomegranates.
Our immersion in nature, significantly within the nationwide park, has been a spotlight; our insights into rural simplicity an sudden bonus. At Sofo and Dhurata’s farm, the place cheese is matured in a goat pores and skin, pots cook dinner over coal and teepees of flame and neighbouring farmers play the flute, I really feel like I’ve stepped again in time.
Again within the UK, after I converse to Arnau Teixidor from Meet, he tells me he’s excited in regards to the organisation’s partnerships in Albania – not simply due to the work to guard Karavasta lagoon: “It has this uniqueness and a personality that’s onerous to search out in Europe now – conventional methods of doing issues and artisans that present an understanding of the place.”
After 5 days within the nation, I knew precisely what he meant.
The journey was offered by Intrepid Journey; its nine-day Albania Expedition begins at £1,280pp, together with lodging, some meals, actions and native transport
