#accursed mountains
We invite you to come along with us on a virtual journey as we join two mountain shepherds on their daily duties to a remote family hut in the Accursed Mountains of North Albania. Also known as the Albanian Alps, these wild mountains are home to the fierce Kelmendi tribe and their descendants.
In this episode we drive one of Albania’s most incredible roads to reach the once-inaccessible villages that lie beyond.
We visit the historic ruins of the Kelmend region’s oldest church and learn how the tribe fought off the Ottomans and the communists, holding onto their Catholic beliefs and traditional values for centuries.
We follow to shepherds for a day, battling with heavy rain and unforgiving wind. We venture through the mountains to a remote shepherd’s hut. Here we find our guide’s family tending to their livestock and seeking shelter from the elements. We are invited in for rakia and Turkish coffee and even get to sample some yogurt from their herd of goats.
Join us on this unique journey as we discover more of the fascinating Albanian Alps, on YouTube NOW! Click the link in our bio or swipe up in our Stories!
If you enjoyed the video please don’t forget to Share, Like and Subscribe, or consider joining us on Patreon to help us keep on creating content
This film is a behind-the-scenes look at a photographic project we are working on in the North of Albania; you can view our other work from this project over on @lbjournals.
Join us as we embark on a journey to reach one of Albania’s most remote villages, nestled within the mysterious Accursed Mountains.
In this episode we explore the mountainous wilds of Northern Albania. Setting off at sunrise, we struggle with the hostile terrain over four hours of intense hiking, accompanied by our guide, before reaching the small village of Mregu. Cut off from the rest of the country, this village is home to only a handful of residents, lying around 3 hours from the nearest city with no road access.
Here we meet one of the village’s last remaining residents, who welcomes us into her home and shows us her way of life. We learn about the challenges of remote mountain living, how to live entirely self-sufficiently, and about the depopulation of this incredible area as Albania speeds into the 21st century.
We conclude this episode with a stay by the incredible Komani Lake, an intense lightning storm and some crazy driving through the city of Shkodër as we make plans for our final days in Albania.
Join us in this mini documentary as we discover a unique way of life hidden within the Albanian Alps, on YouTube NOW!
If you enjoyed the video please don’t forget to Share, Like and Subscribe, or consider joining us on Patreon to help us keep on creating content
Big thank you to @undyingheads for the music, make sure you check them out!
Photo essay available to view over on our lbjournals website
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Our boots crunched over loose, rocky scree and a vertical incline that threatened to topple us over at any minute. The track we were following was unlike anything we’d hiked before; less a path and more a trail carved out by the resilient villagers who lived at the top of this mountain.
We had journeyed to the Northernmost corner of Albania until the road could take us no further; here we left the van and met our guide who would take us to meet the villagers living in some of Albania’s most remote regions, places only accessible on foot or by mule.
At this altitude in the Albanian Alps there was no vegetation, nothing to suggest this area would support life; the closest thing to trees were the makeshift poles supporting a thin electricity wire than ran from the bottom of the valley to the peak above us. We followed the path arduously, gasping for breath and legs screaming in protest while our guide, who’d been traversing these mountains since he learned to walk, sailed ahead of us.
Men twice our age passed us with ease, taking their mules to the top to fetch hay, and we doubted whether we’d ever make it to the end of this 2km near-vertical climb.
But then, mercifully, the ground began to level out, and a luscious green pasture spread out before us, covering the plateau. This was the last place on earth we’d expected to see people living, yet unbelievably a dozen or so houses were spread out across the vast fields where horses and sheep grazed.
It took another hour or so to reach a homestead which looked like it might be inhabited; many of the rest were crumbling ruins, long abandoned as their owners headed for the city. A middle-aged woman greeted us at the door, wearing a white head scarf and modest clothing; she was clearly surprised and excited to have visitors. She immediately invited us inside for coffee, and set about pouring glasses of rakia from a bottle shaped like a crucifix.
We were in awe of her home, which was furnished with beautiful polished wood items and an ornate wood burner in the center. We inquired how she had managed to get it up here, and she recalled hauling it up the same track we had taken, carrying it on sticks along with her husband on their shoulders. The same would’ve been true for every item of furniture in their house, making this otherwise ordinary house suddenly look quite impossible.
After drinks, Age (Aga) happily showed us around her property; she had vegetables and dried mountain herbs in her larder, dried cuts of meat in her barn. She kept sheep for their milk, churned this by hand to make butter, and knitted clothes and rugs from their wool. Her water came from a spring and her income came from raising cattle. Every part of her life was fascinating to us; our minds boggled at the length and difficulty of the journey we had taken, hours from the nearest city with amenities, right up to this woman’s house that would be ordinary if not for its exceptional location atop a mountain.
It was still incomprehensible, even though we’d completed the journey ourselves, and we imagined her and her husband making their monthly trip to Shkodër then hiking back up the vertical path with their supplies; it was a world away from simply visiting the supermarket. From this vantage point we could see dozens more houses scattered across the mountains in even more unlikely places, and we were curious whether anyone still lived in them and what their stories were.
We said goodbye to Age, who still had much work to do before the sunset, and began our painstaking journey down the other side of the mountain left in complete and total awe.
This is an excerpt from an ongoing documentary project about the residents of the Albanian Alps, one of the most inaccessible regions of Europe. The video of this adventure will be out on YouTube on Sunday, and the full photo essay will be available to view on @lbjournalssoon.
Join us as we explore Albania’s lesser-known alpine town in the foothills of the famous Accursed Mountains- otherwise known as the Albanian Alps.
In this episode we explore what the town of Puka (Pukë) is all about. One of the highest towns in Albania, there is plenty of breathtaking scenery to absorb, with the Albanian Alps serving as a perfect backdrop to the newly renovated town centre.
Despite its small population, there’s tons to see and do as we highlight by meeting two local guides and budding hoteliers. We explore the stunning surrounding area before meeting with international charity 1 More Tree. Here we learn the importance of sustainable tree planting in areas such as these as well as learning of the devastating effects of an invasive caterpillar species that is plighting Albania.
From here we meet up with Marie Shkjau, owner of Devin Agrotourism farm in the village of Qerret I Madh. Here we discover how traditional living and rural life can be combined with tourism to create a very special experience for anyone lucky enough to venture to this corner of Albania. We sample some local organic cuisine and preserves, and of course some rakia!
If exploring the North of Albania excites you as much as it does us then check out our friends’ page @northexperience_al.
Join us as we discover the most beautiful area of Albania you’ve probably never heard of, on YouTube NOW!
If you enjoyed the video please don’t forget to Share, Like and Subscribe, or consider joining us on Patreon to help us keep on creating content
