Rafting In The Tara Canyon

My alarm was set for 5:30am, it is going to be a big day. I am off for a 3 1/2 hour drive to the Tara Canyon for an "One day high rafting adventure" hosted by a company called the Waterfall rafting center. I had driver and was the only passenger for this trip. Caroline not keen on the idea of rafting elected to spend the day in Kotor.

Though I slept a good way, a memorable part of the transit journey consisted of leaving and returning to the bay of Kotor, a spectacular sight as we wend our way round the bay and up the mountains.

Also etched in the memory were the dams and tunnels as we got closer to the Tara Canyon. Here the road runs over a dam which is used to store water for hydroelectricity.

The views from the dam wall are quite spectacular looking down the vertiginous wall face and into the gorge.

When I arrived I was greeted by my friendly host and offered some breakfast. The provided breakfast and the lunch was quite hearty with good choices comprising vegetarian, meat and fish options. It filled any any energy deficit caused by the rafting.

Looking around I had some subtle pangs of envy for those who elected to stay here. The accommodation looks good and the group of people staying seems to have bonded well. Despite being the 'intruder' I did develop some friendship though by making an effort to socialise, and became popular as I ended up being the strongman up front on the raft !

The river runs past the lodgings, it is tantalising with its transparent blue green colours and mild churning white water in the centre. Lovely lilac flowers adorn the banks in places.

The company was professional in its approach to rafting. We were methodically given our armour comprising helmet, wetsuit, lifejacket and paddle. Careful instruction on land and water was provided to ensure we all had a good time.

The river was not running high so the rapids were benign as far as rafting rapids go, no doubt suiting the less adventurous ! This did not stop me from enjoying the river and its canyon. The setting is gobsmackingly beautiful.

The Tara river canyon is long and deep, ranked up there in the worlds statistics for long and deep rivers. It borders Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Withing the Durmitor national park it's so special it's listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. I highly recommend a day or even better multi-day rafting trip down its waters.

We had some stops along the way to frolic in the water, playing in the waterfalls or jumping off a rock.

At the conclusion of the rafting some of us (moi inclusive) braved the giddy height of the bridge and jumped into the turbulent waters below. All praise for a great day of rafting with this company.

Upon return to base, we were given a great meal and it was time to leave - for me anyway. On the way back I needed to stop for mother nature and the driver dropped into a place that he knew of nearby. A church on some neatly kept grounds. Rather innocuous outside:

This building is the Piva Monastery hides a treasure inside and holds a fascinating history. The interior is ornate to say the least. My camera and photography technique doesn't do it justice. (see my Flickr reference below for more shots.

For more detail I'm stealing the blurb from the visit-montenegro site:

The monastery Piva is located in Pluzine. It is considered to be one of the most important Orthodox monasteries in Montenegro. Long time ago it was located at the spring of the River Piva, in order for it to be moved later to another location because of the construction of a dam and accumulation lake for the needs of hydro – electrical power station. The movement of the church lasted for about 12 years and what is characteristic for this monastery is that the old church has been transferred stone by stone (the old church was un-built, and from that same stone a new church in another place was built),9 kilometers away from Pluzine, in village Goransko, near lake Mratinje. From the walls of the church 1.260 square meters of paintings was removed and once again put back.

The monastery church of Uspenja Bogorodice was built between 1573 and 1586 with a lot of effort invested by Herzegovina metropolitan Savatje, later a Serbian patriarch. Beside the architectonic value, which this church has, its value is also seen in its pictures. Unknown Greek painters painted majority of the pictures in years1604 and 1605. The upper part of the monastery was painted by pope Strahinja from Budimlje who on a very visible place painted Bogordicinu himnu (Holy Mother of God’s anthem). Lower zones are work of painter Kozma from distant 1626 year. This painter also did majority of icons on a gilded iconostasis.

Well this side trip put a made for a very pleasant conclusion to the day's activity.

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