Albania in Spring

For so long, many of us will have had no more than a tantalising glimpse of Albania — perhaps from Corfu or the Adriatic Sea — its distant and rugged hills full of allure, but not opportunity. Shackled for so much of the latter half of the 20th century by the isolationist and atheistic policies of the regime of the then People’s Republic of Albania, followed by economic difficulties in the 1990s (post communism), only in the 21st century has the new Republic of Albania emerged from the shadows to become a tourist destination of great potential. Indeed, with its unspoiled beaches, wild mountainous topography, delicious cuisine and an archaeological heritage fashioned over millennia through successive Greek, Roman and Ottoman occupations, the potential for tourism is rich and varied. So too is its natural history, which we will be excited to discover and enjoy on this holiday.

We begin our holiday with a flight to Tirana, Albania’s capital city, before travelling to the coast to spend three nights near the wildlife-rich Divjaka-Karavasta National Park. During our time here, we will explore this superb and little-known national park with its 4,000-hectare Karavasta Lagoon, the largest in the country and, with 5% of the world’s breeding Dalmatian Pelicans, it is of international importance. Naturally, these special birds will be a highlight, however the park’s marshes and shallow pools are teeming with other life. Greater Flamingoes can be present in their hundreds, with Pygmy Cormorants, Marsh Sandpipers and Caspian Terns. In the surrounding pine woods we will look for Collared Flycatchers, Subalpine Warblers and Nightingales. The Vjosë- Nartë protected area, to the south of Karavasta, is a huge complex of saltpans and coastal dunes around the Nartë Lagoon. This magnet for migrating birds can offer some of the best wader-watching in Europe, with Black-winged Stilts, Avocets, Spotted Redshanks, Kentish Plovers, stints and sandpipers in abundance, and Slender-billed Gulls, Collared Pratincoles and Stone Curlews amongst other highlights. Bee-eaters and Hoopoes will no doubt add a splash of Mediterranean colour!

The second phase of our holiday will be spent exploring the Valbonë Valley National Park, the gem within the Albanian Alps. Travelling there via a lunch stop in Kosovo, we will enjoy daily walks with the aim of discovering the wealth of natural history in these wild and rugged mountains. They hold a healthy population of both Brown Bears and Wolves, though these are elusive and hard to see, as well as Chamois and such avian stars as Hazel Grouse, Rock Partridge and Black and White-backed Woodpeckers. One spectacular walk ascends through vast Beech woodlands to the meadows above, which may hold Ring Ouzels, Black Redstarts, Wheatears and Water Pipits. Nutcrackers are possible here too, whilst after rainfall there is always the chance of a Fire Salamander! Botanically this area is also wonderfully rich. The meadows are covered in Green-winged Orchids while the fascinating Coralroot and Bird’s-nest Orchids are common in the Beech woodlands alongside an array of other possible alpine species. As the trail climbs higher the landscape opens out to reveal breathtaking views of snow-clad peaks, with Maja Jezercë the highest of these at over 2,600 metres. Our guesthouse is located in the valley, beside the River Valbonë, and we will be served traditional cuisine here.

After three nights in the mountains, the time will come to bid farewell to this wild region and wend our way southwards, back towards Tirana. However, one more treat lies in store. The ferry journey across Lake Komani has been dubbed by travellers and guidebooks alike ‘one of the great boat trips of the world’! A trip of two hours or so will see us cruising between towering peaks and sheer cliff faces, across a region in which no roads or power lines connect its few hardy resident farming families to the outside world. We end the holiday with a night in Shkodër, allowing us to enjoy some excellent birding on the way and around the lake here, along with a visit to the castle. The following day we will be in easy striking distance of Tirana where we end our explorations of this wild and little-known land.