Cloudy mood, moody clouds

After a quiet, and still rather frosty, night, we moved on to the Bijambare Protected Landscape.

The area is known for its sinkholes and caves, of which the latter there are eight. The main is Srednja bijambarska pecina, with a length of 400 meters. This is the only cave open to tourist, and you get a little 25min tour with a guide.

Of the roughly 1400 species of bats worldwide, almost 2%, that is to say 24 species live in the caves of Bijambare.

Now, these caves are nothing like Postojna Cave in Slovenia, which you have visited with me last year, but for this area they are very significant nonetheless.

Since it was still early afternoon, we decided to do a little more driving towards Srebrenica.

It seems like Google Maps is rather confused in BIH in general and in this Eastern area of the country in particular.

We were sent over some very despicable "roads", a couple of doubtful bridges and generally through terrain not suitable for me or any other car, really, but a quad or a high-clearance 4x4.

Yeah, I donˋt think so

By the time we got to the camp we had set our sight on, both my human and I were ready for a drink.

And because the drive up here was so much fun, we stayed for two nights, just to make it worthwhile. But also because we were very warmly welcomed, once again, by the landlady Vesna and her cute mongrel.

Mmmhhh, letˋs see if you are ok...

Two minutes after that... And two minutes after that...

Besides going for a nice long walk through the forest, hearing some weird grunting noises of an unidentified animal, there really wasnˋt much to do but enjoy the peace and quiet of the place (and hide for a couple of hours while a heavy storm with a bit of hail blew threw in the afternoon.

The next morning we were off to Srebrenica, our last stop in BIH..

You will most likely have heard the name before in regards to the genocide that happened here in July 1995.

Over 8300 people, mainly men and boys between the age of 14 and 65, were executed in the area of the city in just a few days.

Just 5km outside the city, you can visit a graveyard for those who have been killed. Currently, some 6000 people are buried here and every year some more graves are dug to receive the remains of victims who have just been found or identified, usually out of newly discovered mass graves.

My human spend over five hours visiting the graveyard and the adjoining memorial center, so you can imagine the amount of information and stories to be absorbed here.

If you have read the post from Sarajevo, you have some understanding of the war that raged in the former Soviet Union in the 90s (you might have been in the known before that, granted).

Srebrenica at the time was an enclave controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and was declared a demilitarized "safe are" by the UN Security Council.
Canadian troops came in to enforce this, being relieved by Dutch forces after a while.

Belongings of the people who were transported off

The signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement

Some 5000-6000 people found temporary shelter in an old battery factory, which was the base of the Dutch forces at the time

The situation kept escalating, though, and in the spring of 1995, the Serb army leader Radovan Karadzic issued a directive with the words "to create an unbearable situation of total insecurity, with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica".

The enclave fell to the Serb army in the course of an organized and premeditated attack in July 1995.
Around 15.000 people, mainly men and boys, decided to flee and try to reach free territory. It was later called the Death March. Roughly two thirds were captured and killed.

All these shoes were later collected along the route

The route of the Death March

The rest of the population sought refuge at the Dutch base, with very little success.

There is a lot of controversy as to the role the UN and the big global players had in this atrocity. Whether they could have stopped it or not, whether they could have done more to safe people.

To this day, some of the main perpetrators of the genocide are celebrated as heroes in certain parts, rather than being prosecuted. Also, there is a lot of institutionalized denial of the genocide that happend here.

Prominent political figures openly play down the enormity what happened here.

Sound depressingly familiar.

Springs of healing water outside Srebrenica

From Srebrenica, we made our way across the border to Serbia to visit the Tara National Park.

They took the inspection very seriously coming into the country, checking my humans papers with a magnifying device and an officer actually boarding me, opening cabinets and the wardrobe. The only place where someone could have been hiding, under the bed, he didnˋt check.

After a quick stop in Bajina Basta to change some money and buy a SIM card, we spent the next three days in the National Park, which was declared in 1981. 80% of the park is forest and there are 290km of hiking paths.

The River House, symbol of Bajina Basta

Free education with your SIM card

Unfortunately, the weather forecast wasnˋt good and it was determined to deliver as promised.

Perucac dam, 93 meters high

Perucac lake, created by the dam, a well-loved holiday destination for Serbs

The best view point in the park, or so they say

But, since we were here already, my human went on hikes every day anyways, decked out with all the rain gear she has, even bought a new umbrella after hers was stolen in the War Photography museum in Dubrovnik.

Possibly the ugliest thing she makes me carry

There are many view points around the park and some "mountains" above 1500 meters.

But as expected, there were no views whatsoever, only thick fog and rain. The sun came out hesitatingly for an hour or so over the course of three days.

Yes, it is a view point

She did not bother climbing up the look out, no point

Thanks for the warning, but there was no risk of using it

One of the better moments

On the way up we had two of those coming towards us. Backing up downhill in the rain on a terrible road was as much fun as I had these past few days.

Most of the trails largely run along forestry roads and only seldomly through the actual forest, which doesnˋt make for the nicest hiking experience, weather aside.

So all in all, we were not overly impressed, I have to say.

He went for a walk with my human for a few hours

Just outside the park lies Mokra Gora, a tiny settlement from where you can catch a renovated old narrow track railway, riding for an hour one way through many tunnels and mildly interesting scenery.