Tag: Durmitor National Park

Jonathan and I had included Durmitor National Park in our itinerary because we wanted to spend a couple of days walking through its dramatic section of the Dinaric Alps. The guidebooks promised limestone peaks, alpine meadows, coniferous forests, glacial lakes and deep river valleys packed into a relatively compact landscape. We were aware that the park’s most imposing feature is the Tara River Canyon, which runs for more than 60 kilometres and contains some of Europe’s deepest gorges, so we wanted to see that.

I would note that there are brown bears in the area, but Jonathan, the experienced mountain walker, had promised me that we were unlikely to come across one. If a bear did appear, my plan was to remind Jonathan that wildlife management fell naturally within his expanding portfolio of responsibilities anyway. I’m pleased to say that we didn’t encounter a European wildcat, a grey wolf or anything larger than a shrew. There are Balkan whip snakes and nose-horned vipers in the area, the latter being the most venomous snake in Europe, but we didn’t encounter any of those either. I remain unimpressed that the park authorities allow all these creatures to wander around unsupervised, but Montenegro appears to have adopted a relatively relaxed approach to reptile management.

Durmitor became a national park in 1952, although Black Lake had received protection as early as 1907. The Tara River Basin was recognised as a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1976 and the national park was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980, with its listed boundaries expanded in 2005. Admission cost €5 each, which I regarded as slightly sub-optimal when the mountains had already been there for millions of years. However, the money helps to protect and maintain the park, so I handed it over with reasonable grace and chose to regard myself as a minor environmental benefactor.

We were doing two walks during our visit, the one to Black Lake that I’ve posted about, and another sedate walk to the top of a mountain that was even higher than Beeston Bump Mountain in North Norfolk. More of that second walk coming soon.

We had arrived in Žabljak in good time, which left us enough of the afternoon for a walk around the area.

I was excited to see some wildlife early on, this is a common shrew.

We were walking to Black Lake, known locally as Crno jezero, which is the largest and best known of the 18 glacial lakes scattered across Durmitor National Park. The lake was created by glaciers that once moved through the Durmitor, eroding its limestone landscape and leaving behind water-filled hollows when the ice retreated. It is now one of the park’s principal attractions, helped by the convenient fact that it is exceptionally beautiful and relatively easy to reach.

Black Lake consists of two adjoining glacial basins called Veliko jezero, or Big Lake, and Malo jezero, or Little Lake. They are connected by a narrow, shallow channel when water levels are high, but this can dry out during summer and leave two visibly separate lakes. Big Lake covers the larger surface area but reaches a maximum depth of only around 24.5 metres, while Little Lake descends to approximately 49 metres and consequently contains more water.

One of Black Lake’s more unusual features is that water can flow through the connecting channel in either direction. During periods of high water, particularly following the spring snowmelt, it generally passes from Little Lake into Big Lake. As levels fall later in the year, the flow can reverse and carry water back towards Little Lake.

We went for a pleasant meander around the lake and the terrain was easy-going.

The path was relatively clear until just after here.

There’s Jonathan, an experienced mountain walker, leading the way on the trail.

We headed up into a forested area. Well, Jonathan did, but I came back as it was too steep and I’m not Alex Honnold.

I found another route which wasn’t quite so steep.

This came out at the Little Lake.

I thought that this really was quite beautiful.

I was so excited at all this natural beauty that I agreed to appear in a photograph. There are limits to my tolerance of such frivolity, so readers should not interpret this as the beginning of a lifestyle-influencer phase.

Just as I was having a lovely time, we reached this sign. I considered the words “dangerous trail!” to be highly sub-optimal, especially as we were so far around the lake that it would have taken some considerable time to get back.

I like woodland walking, but it seemed to be quite moderate in difficulty to me, it was the sort of route that even Richard could do.

There were some lovely views of the lake.

This transpired to be the dangerous bit and I can’t say that I was surprised and delighted by this little arrangement, but I was very brave. As to whether Richard could do this, which is one of the internationally recognised grading schemes, I’d suggest not.

There weren’t any sheer drops, so it was fine and I didn’t need to complain. Much. I’d add that I was pleased to see the “dangerous path!” sign the other way, so that it meant that the worst was over.

And a bridge leading us back to the start of the walk and it’s one of the most beautiful trails that I’ve done.