Hiking through the wild heart of the Western Balkans
20 days on the wild side of the Western Balkans: While trekking on the newly opened High Scardus Trail, our author Simon crossed lonely mountain ranges, drank rakija with local shepherds, and created lasting memories. Read all about his experiences on this long-distance hiking trail like no other.
A short final climb over karst slabs and grassy heaps, and I've made it: I am standing on the broad main ridge of the Galičica Mountains in the west of North Macedonia. On one side Lake Prespa glistens in the sun, on the other, the mighty Lake Ohrid stretches out below my feet. I look back to the towering massifs in the north, their peaks still lightly covered with snow. I have just spent almost 20 days trekking the High Scardus Trail, along lonely shepherds' paths, across craggy peaks, through traditional villages, and along wild mountain ridges.
The Trail: Between wilderness and a rich culture
The High Scardus Trail really took me into the wild heart of the Western Balkans: Stretching over 20 stages and about 300 kilometers, this newly opened long-distance hiking trail leads from the Šar Planina mountain range over the Korab massif – the highest peak of the Western Balkans – all the way to the Galičica National Park. While hiking along the borders between Kosovo, Albania, and North Macedonia, not only did I experience lonely, wild landscapes, but also the cultural diversity of a region in south-eastern Europe that stands between tradition, a conflict-ridden past, and the journey towards a modern future.
The experiences of the past weeks are going through my mind while next to me Rezarta Bare is mastering the last steps up to the ridge. Based in Albania, she is an advisor for a tourism project at the German development cooperation organization GIZ, developing the High Scardus Trail together with colleagues from North Macedonia and Kosovo. She has offered to join me on the hike on the last two stages of the trail.
![GIZ Tourism Advisor Rezarta Bare in Galičica National Park](https://img0.oastatic.com/img2/72154751/800x-s/variant.jpg)
The Western Balkans won't let you go
On the last two stages, the High Scardus Trail unfolds its full splendor once again! The dream hike on the Galichica summit ridge high above Lake ...
"It is hard to believe that a European region that has such spectacular mountains and nature to offer- and at the same time sees hardly any visitors- still exists," Rezarta says, as she pulls out her smartphone to capture the scenery. "You can trek here for days and meet only a few shepherds, if any, along the way."
It is a difficult balancing act: The solitude and the wild landscape are precisely what drew me to trek the Western Balkans, but there are few opportunities for the local population in the region. No jobs other than traditional cattle farming and poor infrastructure have led to more and more young people turning their backs on the rural regions in the mountains on all sides of the borders to seek their fortune elsewhere – including other European countries. "The High Scardus Trail is supposed to give the region a push-start for developing tourism," Rezarta explains and she shows me her vision:
"The trail draws hikers come from all over the world and they sleep in mountain huts and family-run accommodations, buy local products, some may take a mountain guide, others local means of transport. And once you've experienced the stunning landscapes and warm hospitality of the Western Balkans, you're guaranteed to come back. It won't let you go!"
Experiences that stick
I can't help but think back to the two shepherds, who on a rainy day in the Šar mountains invited me into their simple shelter so that I could warm up by the fire with Turkish coffee and homemade rakija, a local grape brandy that inevitably builds friendships. Or to the farmer in the Korab Mountains, who whipped up a stew of vegetables and sheep's cheese for me seemingly out of nowhere in his simple accommodation at almost 2,000 meters, before forcing on me half a loaf of freshly baked bread and his last apples from the valley as provisions for the next day.
Rezarta is right, these experiences will stick with me for a long time.
![Rustic mountain stay in the traditional shepherd style in the Korab Mountains](https://img2.oastatic.com/img2/72155238/800x-s/variant.jpg)
One of the biggest challenges from the very beginning, Rezarta explains, has been to create the necessary infrastructure so that hikers can walk the trail safely and with a basic level of comfort. "In some villages, overnight accommodation first had to be built, and around 300 kilometers of trail had to be marked. If it hadn't been for the help of so many guides and local tour operators right from the start, this would never have become a reality."
This might be one of the things that impressed me the most about hiking the High Scardus Trail: How well the project walks the fine line between new infrastructure and maintaining the authentic character of the regions it passes through.
To coordinate all this, the project teamed up with the Austrian consultancy, Trail Angels, who have experience developing long-distance trails such as the Alpe-Adria Trail or the Lynx Trail. The result is a total of 20 varied stages that lead from the mountain valleys in the border region between northern Macedonia and Kosovo over Mount Korab, the highest peak in the Western Balkans at 2,764 meters, almost to the Greek border in the south.
![View over Mavrovo National Park from the summit ridge of Mount Korab](https://img0.oastatic.com/img2/72155186/800x-s/variant.jpg)
Five mountain massifs and six national parks
In Ohrid, the picturesque city with its historic old town on the western shore of the lake, we meet Anica Palazzo, a colleague of Rezarta's at GIZ in North Macedonia. Anica was among the first people to propose the High Scardus Trail and has been coordinating the project from the very beginning.
"We wanted to create opportunities for the people in the region and we knew a trail could do this. We had the experience of supporting the development of the Peaks of the Balkans trail”, she explains. This 192 km long circular hiking trail turned the remote and forgotten Prokletije Mountains into a known and popular hiking destination, attracting tens of thousands of outdoor tourists to the region every year. “We hope that the High Scardus Trail will have a similar. if not bigger success”, says Anica. "The trail is longer, connects five mountain massifs, passes through six national parks, and takes the hiker through beautiful towns and a fascinating cultural landscape."
![Shepherd Naum Dzajkoski, GIZ Project Manager Anica Palazzo, and GIZ Tourism Advisor Rezarta Bare in Ohrid](https://img3.oastatic.com/img2/72155194/800x-s/variant.jpg)
We are standing outside her little house, on the terrace with a view over Lake Ohrid, and are waving at Naum Dzajkoski, a shepherd who is usually out with his animals on the high meadows on the slopes of the National Park. Today he brings Anica fresh sheep dung for her vegetable garden. He offers us a ride in his beat-up car to the village of Velestovo higher up the mountain, where today's section of the trail begins.
Arriving at his small farm, he presents three shot glasses and a bottle of rakija and reports in fluent English that there are fewer and fewer young people interested in traditional shepherding these days. "That's why it's so important for me to talk about my work, about the traditional cheese dairy and the landscape conservation we do. Hikers can come by my place and I show them my sheep, my work, and they can taste my cheese and enjoy some refreshments before their hike."
Extraordinary encounters
Local shepherd and storyteller in the mountain village of Velestovo, directly by the High Scardus Trail. Try local cheese and learn all about ...
It is precisely these encounters that make the High Scardus Trail such an extraordinary experience. When Naum recounts the time when this region was still part of Yugoslavia, when he talks about the challenges of reconciling nature conservation, economic development, and tourism in the national park, when he enthuses about the flowering alpine meadows in early summer, the solitude high up in the mountains and the multitude of wild herbs and berries in summer, you are drawn closer to this region and its people than you ever could otherwise.
The last day on the trail: Breathtaking views over Lake Ohrid
The crowning finale: first steeply uphill to the mighty Magaro peak and then steeply downhill to the Orthodox place of pilgrimage Sveti Naum on the ...
On the morning of our last day on the High Scardus Trail, we start early at the spacious hut of the Ohrid Mountain Rescue Service at the Livada Pass. Passing mighty beech trees, where Yugoslavian border guards in the 1980s carved their names and messages into the bark, the path leads us up to the high cirque below the rock walls of the Magaro, the highest point in the main Galičica ridge.
At the summit, it begins to drizzle, but the view over the two lakes and deep into the Albanian mountains takes my breath away.
A good thousand meters below, on the shore, lies the Orthodox monastery of Sveti Naum, an important place of pilgrimage for the Christians of the region and the endpoint of the High Scardus Trail. Although technically I am still on the trail, I am hit by a wave of nostalgia for the past three weeks- the unique mountains, the solitude, and especially the kind-hearted people.
![Rezarta Bare on the alpine meadows overlooking Lake Ohrid](https://img.oastatic.com/img2/72156805/800x-s/variant.jpg)
I ask Rezarta what the trail means to her personally. "The biggest success is that we have brought together people and stakeholders from all three countries to jointly create an experience that makes this incredible heritage accessible to visitors from all over the world," she says after a moment's reflection.
“Not long ago, Albania was a country closed off from the world with massive surveillance on the borders. Today, travelers from all over the world love how open, and friendly, yet still relatively unexplored this destination is. Everyone who visits us, and who hikes the High Scardus Trail, contributes to the further development of this region. It's a real blessing - for the hikers and for all the people here."
![High Scardus Trail leading over a high plateau in the Korab mountains](https://img1.oastatic.com/img2/72156882/800x-s/variant.jpg)
The refreshing wind urges us to set off, further over the mountain ridge and then down to the lake. In my head, I try to draw a conclusion for myself too, but I can't manage to put into a single thought the variety of impressions, the unforgettable views and encounters, the warm-heartedness of the people, the mystical plateaus, the taste of fresh sheep's cheese and olives, warming mountain tea and wild oregano. Rezarta was absolutely right about one thing: I definitely will be back.
Find out more about the High Scardus Trail on the official website: www.high-scardus-trail.com
Watch the video below to get some more impressions of the stunning nature and landscape along the High Scardus Trail.
![](https://img1.oastatic.com/img2/77717557/800x-s/variant.png)
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