Adventures in the Tara River Canyon of Montenegro (Part One)

Three hours away from the Adriatic coastline where the Bay of Kotor is located in, you will find Montenegro’s fun-filled adventure attraction, Tara River Canyon, in the mountains of the Durmitor National Park. The Durmitor National Park is listed as one of UNESCO World Heritage sites and is mainly renowned for white water rafting. Jeep safaris, zip-lining and canyoning can be done here. Literally, it’s like a paradise for adventure seekers.

My three days filled with adventures with Rafting Club TARASPORT was unbelievably thrilling for me. I got to enjoy the gnarly mountains with rugged moonscape scenery with their Jeep Safari tour and zip-line on the first day and then went white water rafting down the Tara River with some canyoning on the next day.

Rafting Club TARASPORT was so cool about including accommodations in our sponsored adventure package. They were closing up to the end of peak season, but they invited me to their adventure package to try out and review the potential new changes to certain tours as they were testing out new trails, finishing up last few tour groups and whatnot.

Not only that, they generously picked me up from the bus station in Foca City and then brought me to their hostel on the night before the first day with Jeep Safari and Zip line.

Jeep Safari

After a great night of sleep,  I woke up to a big breakfast in their cafe. It was so big that I couldn’t finish it. One of rare moments of me getting full with a big plate of food. I was told that I’m like a garbage disposal—my co-founder, John Hathaway II, said so.

At about 10:30am, the guides prompted me that the vehicle for the Jeep Safari was ready to go. I followed the group to the four-wheel-drive vehicle for the mountain range of the Durmitor National Park.

Since the guide later remembered to check in for my passport during the drive to the mountain range, we had to return to get my passport because we would be crossing borders of Bosnia and Herzegovina, so passport was required.

Keep in mind that the Tara River Canyon goes through the border between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, so you’ll also pay small fee to cross borders plus the entrance fee to the Durmitor National Park—be sure to bring enough cash for that as well.

The drive through the mountain ranges was utterly breathtaking. Braving the countless twists, turns and sheer drops of the incredibly precarious 45km back road from Žabljak to the village of Plužine, I couldn’t take my eyes off the narrow 1,800m-high road winds past grizzled limestone formations, alpine streams, rural oddities and eerie boulder-strewn fields.

Throughout the Jeep Safari tour, we made few stops for photo ops and some hiking off-road. The guides would write down some information and facts about Durmitor National Park. He pointed out that there are three heady canyons, 18 glacial lakes and nearly 50 limestone peaks more than 2,000m high in the mountain range.

Hey, why am I still blabbing here? I’ll let the rest of the photographs worth thousands and thousands of words do the talking. 😉

Zip Line

We wrapped up the day with some YEEEEEEHHHHHHAAAAAA! down the longest zip line in Europe over the world’s second deepest canyon!

You’ll start your zip-line from the Đurđevića Bridge above Tara River and canyon. You’ll be beyond impressed with the stunning view of the surrounding rugged mountains scenery and emerald water of the Tara River Canyon below.

Honestly, this is one of the best zip line experience I’ve ever had. I have to admit that the distance of the zip line plus the completely new perspective of the mountain range and Tara River Canyon really make the entire experience the best. Another evidence about that is that I actually had time to both take selfies and enjoy the view. With my previous zip line experiences, I had to pick either take selfies or enjoy the view.

This is one of must-do in Montenegro and Europe!

Final Thoughts

There’s no way you should miss out on having adventures with Rafting Club TARASPORT! They’re great and very communicative. They also offer plenty of activities besides jeep safari, zip line, rafting, and canyoning such as horse riding, climbing, cruising, and whatnot.

Not to mention that I felt completely safe and secure with what they do even though the drive through the mountains was kind of nerve-wrecking with the narrow paths on the edge. You’ll be in good hands with them!

Rafting Club TARASPORT

• Address: Igmanskog Marša bb, 73300 Foča, Republika Srpska, Bosna i Hercegovina
• Email: info@tarasportrafting.com
• Website: http://www.tarasportrafting.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raftingtarasport

Read next: Part Two