Day 6. Zabljak

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Royston Vasey

To our surprise the place didn't seem any better in a different light of day so Tess decided we should leave them here locals and move out before we were made into the next mixed grill. Baggsey me Tess' kidney. So we checked out and started hunting for a new apartment. So after we settled our bill which took all our Euro as they don't take credit cards even though they display a vast range on there door that they take. we headed of to the bank to cash in our traveler cheques. If you decide to ever come to Montenegro, especially Zabljak just bring cash as they don't change traveler cheques. Not even the post office. Nor do any of the hotels we asked so off to the hole in the wall. Hope Budva changes them.

After viewing a couple of hotels and alpine style cabins we came across the Durmitor auto camp and managed to get a whole house for 20 Euro a night on a beautiful mountain side. This place can be found just out side Zabljak on the Slatina road. Drive past the campsite signs and go 100 yards further up the hill. Its beter here than in Zabljak and he will give you a schnapps and sell you a slightly useful map. For more information here is his details. WWW.DURMITOR-AUTOCAMP.COM. WWW.DURMITOR-APARTMENTS.COM. That should do. If you are that interested you will find the rest yourself.

Just another little note. We decided to take a half hour walk to the Black Lake through the Durmitor forest and take a leisurely walk round some of the lake, stopping for a bite to eat then take a different path back through the forest. Was that a laugh I hear. They won't get lost, after all they do have a piece of paper that passes for a map and a compass. A top of the range compass but not much use with a pointless map.

Need I add anymore to this story. After all we had been told there are bears and wolves in the forests and to prove it we were shown the bears he had shot and made into rugs and the skulls of the wolves that had crossed his path, so keeping this in mind we carried on.
Back to the story. We kept a heading east as the map said would lead us back to our apartment, but for some reason we must have gone a few degrees off course. This took us to a steep incline that we managed to tackle in the hope of seeing our destination from the top. But once we reached the top all we saw was more forest so we headed down the other side . It was was then I noticed a disturbed termite mound then some fresh pooh along the path we were walking along, then we saw some very distinctive prints. I know I am not a hunter but there was no mistaking these as fresh bear print and pooh. No more than half hour old. So I came up with the idea of turning round and heading back sharpish, before we ended up being bear nosh. Suffice to say Tess agreed with the plan without too much discussion. Thankfully here we are safe and well back at our green house on the mountainside, the only memento of our lucky escape some bear pooh on Tess' shoe, which she reckons will frighten off any other would-be wild attackers.

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