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16th July
We got the early bus to Foca, it was only a couple of hours journey, I really wanted to do rafting there and en route Stevie found a rafting company that organised a night and day tour. This would sort out our accommodation, activities, food and transport. We arrived at the bus station and it was deserted. Feeling abandoned we looked to our Lonely Planet for guidance. We managed to find a resturant and point at the tour company somethin like Erjan in the book. Luckily he knew exactly what we wanted. A quick chat with a taxi driver we were on our way. The first stop was wrong, but 2 minutes around the corner we were dropped off at the tour company.
We didn't have any Euro's for Montenegro after the tour, so I decided to quickly head to the bank to change my money. I forgot my passport, so technically they couldn't change it up. I played dumb and managed to get the exchange.
We booked the over night rafting tour and within an hour were on board a mini bus with a Spainish family and heading to the camp in the Tara River Canyon. The drive was a few hours. to get to the camp we had to go into Montenegro, follow the mountain round back into Bosnia. We then stopped at the end the track and unloaded our bags onto our backs. It was a 5minute walk down a dirt track and we were on the river bank with a waiting raft. We carefully loaded all our backpacks onto the raft and headed to the other side of the river to our camp for the evening.
On arrival we were greeted with a free shot of Raki. it was rude not to accept so we all put it down the hatch feeling it heat up our stomachs as it went down. The guide showed us to our accommodation. It was a cute little wooden hut. We set our bags down and explored the camp. It was very picturesque, these mini brown huts with window trays holding flowers and green shutters lined the banks. Below was a mini path and stone bridge. It was a great setting. At the back of the camp were squat toilets and the front housed the heating area. We relaxed for the rest of the evening around the camp before having a group meal with everyone on the tour around an open fire. We got ready for bed pretty quickily after as the power for the site got switched off quite early and then it was pitch black, using our shins to guide us to the toilet in the night.
17th July
We could have a lay-in as the actual rafting didn't start until around 11am. So we took our time and enjoyed the fried egg and ham breakfast accompanied by some strange condensed milk. We packed up our bags and headed to the main hut to put on our wet suits, shoes and helmets. We were joined by another two groups. In our raft was the 3 of us and 2 Serbians, I think. We loaded our bags onto the raft and headed down river a short while and stopped on a bank to off-load our backpacks into a van that would meet us the other end.
We tucked our feet under the rafts rope to get a secure footing.......let the rafting begin. The Tara River Canyon/gorge is one of the deepest in Europe, but the only one you can raft down. So this was a must on our list and we were excited to get started. I was at the front with the Serbian guy leading the pack. It was a nice day and the river was calm. Every couple of 100m the river would turn into low grade rapids. Although every now and then we would get caught up in a couple of really exciting ones that literally soaked us or pushed us into the boat. It was great fun, but hard work at some points especially pushing through the rapids. We came across a deep placid part of the river, where our guide said we could get in and swim. We were all a bit hesitant until be pushed Stevie in. That was the push everyone needed. Within a few minutes we were all in the river. It was freezing... not as cold as Akaroa dolphin swimming in the winter in New Zealand, But cold enough for it to shock the system. We floated on our backs for a while taking in all in, then came the mission to get back into the raft which was alot more difficult than it sounds. We continued down the river meeting up with the other touring rafts. This ended up in a water fight between rafts. Which annoyed the other touring companies. Clearly we were on the fun raft.
We stopped off to see a famous waterfall and pool, it was freezing, but all the other groups loved it. They all jumped straight in for a photo opportunity. We couldn't be left out so we took the plunge. It wasn't that cold when we got in. Probably because our bodies got use to the cold from when we were in the river.
We continued our journey down the Tara Gorge and crossed the border into Montenegro. What an awesome way to enter a new country. We finished the tour at another camp around 250m over the border. Afterwards we discovered that the river has snakes in. We probably wouldn't have swam if we knew. We had a warm shower and changed into clean clothes before tucking into the included lunch. This was so nice. It was like a 3 course meal. A tasy soup, then a slow cooked potato and beef stew like dish. It was so good.
We couldn't let our food go down as we had to trek to the top of the canyon to the main road so we could catch the bus heading to Prodgorica at the border, this trek was tiring. The estimated time of arrival went by and we started to get worried that we had missed the bus. So I walked down to the border crossing to see if I could get some info when I saw 4 other backpackers waiting for the bus for about 2 hours. So clearly we hadn't missed it. I headed back to get Stevie and Georgie so we could all wait together. 15 minutes later the bus arrived. Luckily there was just enough room. We got talking to 2 female backpackers from Switzerland who had done the sensible thing and booked a hostel prior to arriving in Prodgorica so we tagged along with them when we arrived to see if the hostel had space as it was late and there was nothing around.
Luckily the guy had room for all of us. We negotiated a good price of 20euros for all 3 of us to have our own room with free wifi, towels, tv and aircon....Result. Settled and hungry we headed out to a local pizzeria for late dinner before finally getting the time to relax..
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