economy. Local residents, represented by an NGO, TOKA, have moved to block the projects by filing a lawsuit against the government. Nevertheless, in September 2016 bulldozers moved into position in the Dragobi and Maskollata regions of Valbona National Park.
You can find out more about the proposed hydroelectric projects in the Valbona Valley at www.toka-albania.org.
Wildlife and plants
The biodiversity of the Prokletije mountains in Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro is extraordinary, from large carnivores to raptors to clouds of butterflies, and one of the most spectacularly rich flora of anywhere in Europe.
Mammals
Prokletije is home to small numbers of Europe’s three large carnivore species – brown bear, grey wolf and Eurasian lynx – with their distribution limited in all cases to the remotest areas of the range. Crucial to the survival of these iconic species in the region is maintaining effective wildlife corridors – the so-called Balkan Green Belt along the border areas of Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo as well as between Albania and Macedonia (part of the European Green Belt initiative) which EuroNatur (www.euronatur.org) has been working to protect and strengthen since 2004. Encounters between humans and bears are very rare; in more than 15 years of hiking in the Balkans the author has never seen more than a few paw prints in the snow, and some scat.
The Eurasian lynx survives in small numbers in Prokletije. A critically endangered subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, the Balkan lynx, survives in very small numbers in Prokletije and in the border area between Albania and Macedonia – there are thought to be as few as just 35 individuals left, making it one of the rarest cats on earth.
Other more common mammals include wild boar, roe deer, chamois, fox, pine marten, common dormouse and Alpine shrew. Bat species inhabiting the caves of Prokletije include the Mediterranean horseshoe bat, Geoffrey’s bat, greater mouse-eared bat and others. The Eurasian otter, categorized as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List, is also present.
Man on a donkey near the Pejë Pass, Albania (Stage 10)
Reptiles and amphibians
Several species of snake inhabit the Prokletije mountains, two of them venomous. These are the nose-horned viper, known locally as poskok or nëpërka me bri in Montenegrin/Albanian respectively; and the common viper or adder, known locally as šarka or nëpërka e malit. The nose-horned viper is the more venomous of the two (it’s Europe’s most venomous snake), and also the more aggressive; it is either light grey or brownish copper, with a dark black zigzag pattern along its back, and is easily recognizable by the prominent soft horn at the end of its snout. The common viper is generally around 55cm, with a zigzag pattern along the back. (It is worth mentioning that both the nose-horned viper and the common viper also occur in other, more frequently visited parts of Europe – for example, the former is found in northern Italy, while the latter is Europe’s most widespread venomous snake, and is found in the UK.) Other species of snake include the large whip snake, Balkan whip snake, Dahl’s whip snake, Montpellier snake, grass snake, dice snake and the tiny worm snake.
Snakes are very unlikely to strike except in self-defence (for example, if you step on them), and walking boots and hiking poles will usually alert a snake of your approach and give it time to slither off. See ‘Safety in the mountains and what to do in an emergency’ for more information.
A number of lizards are common in Prokletije, including the Balkan green lizard (which grows up to 16cm or more in length), green lizard, Balkan wall lizard, Dalmatian algyroides (unmistakable, with its striking, blue-coloured throat), slow worm and Prokletije rock lizard – the latter a species endemic to Prokletije and known only from a few isolated locations.
The amphibian you’ll probably see most commonly hiking the Peaks of the Balkans Trail is the fire salamander, easily recognised by its bright yellow spots. Other species found in Prokletije include Alpine newt, Balkan crested newt, Balkan stream frog, Albanian water frog and yellow-bellied toad.
A useful resource for identifying the reptiles and amphibians of Europe is www.herp.it.
Fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) on a trail near Plav
Birds
Prokletije is very rich in birdlife, with high mountain areas particularly important for breeding raptors and Lake Plav providing a significant area for waterfowl and migratory species. Some 161 different species of bird have been recorded in Prokletije National Park (Montenegro) and 179 species recorded in Kosovo.
Raptors to look out for in the mountains include the golden eagle – a huge bird, fairly easy to identify by its long wings, long tail and sheer size – the short-toed snake eagle, Bonelli’s eagle, griffon vulture, common buzzard, goshawk, peregrine falcon and European honey buzzard. The latter is more closely related to a kite than to the common buzzard, and has an extraordinarily wide colour variation – generally in imitation of other birds of prey inhabiting the same area.
Prokletije is a particularly good area for rock partridge, and you also have a chance of seeing the Eurasian eagle-owl – one of the largest species of owl, with huge ear tufts – Eurasian scops-owl, hazel grouse, red-backed shrike, yellow-billed chough, Alpine chough, wallcreeper, ring ouzel, white-winged snowfinch, Alpine accentor, horned Lark, European nightjar, rock nuthatch and common crossbill. Several species of woodpecker are present, including the lesser-spotted woodpecker, grey-headed woodpecker and the endangered three-toed woodpecker.
On or around lake Plav, look for grey heron, great crested grebe, black-necked grebe, little grebe, great bittern and corncrake. The lake is home to the largest breeding population of corncrake in Montenegro.
Journey to Valbona have prepared a very useful checklist of birds in the Valbona Valley, based on information from the Albanian Ornithologist Dr Taulant Bino, which can be downloaded from www.journeytovalbona.com (select ‘About’, then ‘Birds’).
Butterflies
The Prokletije mountains are incredibly rich in butterflies, with 130 species having been recorded in Prokletije National Park in Montenegro alone, and 129 species recorded the area of Prokletije in Kosovo (to put these figures in context, there are just 67 species of butterfly in the UK!). Butterfly species recorded along the Peaks of the Balkans Trail include common swallowtail, scarce swallowtail, twin-spot fritillary, lesser-spotted fritillary, small tortoiseshell, mountain apollo and several species of blue including northern blue, turquoise blue and mazarine blue.
Plants
The Balkan peninsula constitutes one of the richest plant areas in Europe, with an estimated 7000 or more species of plants – a figure which includes numerous endemics and, because the region was not under permanent ice caps during the glacial periods of the Quaternary era, a number of Tertiary relics (species that were more widely distributed during the Tertiary Period).
Around 2000 species of plant have been recorded in Prokletije National Park in Montenegro, of which some 225 species are endemic. At least 1650 plant species were recorded in Theth National Park in Albania, 85 of which are rare or threatened, and four endemic; and over 1500 plant species in the area of Prokletije located in Kosovo.
