The untamed Vjosa rushes through the landscape, meandering as it pleases, changing its course here and there. It overcomes gorges, flows down hills as waterfalls, washes around rocks that stand in its way. It spreads out as a torrent in the valley or ripples through white pebbles. In the process, sediment is transported, causing sand and gravel banks to form the riverbed and the banks. Its disobedience makes it the last of its kind – a wild river like the Vjosa no longer exists in Central Europe.
The Vjosa rises in Greece – under the local name Aoos – and finally flows through Albania. It covers a distance of over 270 kilometres. Since the Vjosa in Albania has not been straightened or built on by humans and only a few villages have been settled there, a unique biodiversity has developed that is typical for the local landscape: In the Vjosa valley, floodplains keep the soil moist and provide habitat for plants, fish, mussels, goats and birds. More than 1000 animal species have been documented in the Vjosa – including endangered and rare ones. For example, the IUCN-listed endangered Egyptian vulture, which rarely strays into Central Europe.
For a long time, the Vjosa was threatened by planned dams. It was only in March 2023 that the Albanian government placed the 12,000-hectare Vjosa Valley under protection as the first European wild river national park, protecting it from oil drilling, gravel extraction and the hydropower industry. But conservationists remain concerned: despite such promises, power plants have been built on the equally protected Vjosa tributary Langariça. Furthermore, since November 2021, the Albanian government has been building Vlora Airport in the Vjosa delta near the river’s mouth in the Adriatic Sea. Albanian nature conservation organisations are taking legal action against the construction because important resting and breeding sites for more than 60 bird species, in particular flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans, are located in the immediate vicinity.
According to the national park, however, only local agriculture and a small amount of fishing are to be allowed in the Vjosa area – and above all sustainable tourism: the Vjosa National Park was opened at the beginning of 2024. Tourists can go rafting, hiking, camping, climbing in canyons or swimming. The beaches of the Adriatic, thermal baths and an archaeological park offer plenty of other activities. Guided tours, for example on horseback, workshops by locals and local Albanian dishes are also on offer. The latter include soup with meatballs, spinach pies and a dessert made from sheep’s milk and cinnamon.
Website of the national park (English): https://www.vjosanationalpark.al/
Photo: The Vjosa – the last free-flowing river in Europe. Credits: © Gregor Subic
