Located on the border of Montenegro and Albania, Lake Skadar is an sapphire-blue lake surrounded on all sides by imposing mountains. It’s a great place for aquatic recreation, such as boat trips, or the titular kayaking. The entry point to the National Park is the small town of Virpazar. We learned from a local that parking in the town is free, though many of the tour operators will advertise free parking as part of their offering. These are generally best avoided.
There isn’t a huge amount to see in Virpazar, save for a monument. There are, however, several dozen stalls all offering some variety of water-based entertainment. Sunset boat trips are fairly popular, but we chose to rent kayaks instead. We picked a stall at random, then following a quick negotiation and explanation of the route, we were heading down to the riverbank to find our boats.
We found our boats, and discovered we had one lifejacket to split between four, so in solidarity, we decided to leave it behind. As soon as we put out to the water, we disagreed on the route we were told to take. My stubborness won out, and we headed to the right.
As we headed deeper and deeper into a forest, it became clear that my stubbornness was fuelled by stupidity, not knowledge, as this was the completely the wrong way. I laughed it off, and we turned around, and went the correct way.
The path follows a a river, and at one point you can split off onto a smaller river, which was recommended to us by the people we rented the kayaks from. The smaller river has beautiful reeds and lily pads on both sides, and it eventually opens up to the wide expanse of Lake Skadar.
This lake is particularly beautiful, with tall mountains hugging the azure waters of the river. It’s massive too, and it’s impossible to see the entire lake, even from as far in the middle of the lake as we dared to venture.
You have to be careful sharing this large space with other water vehicles however, as we found out! As we were heading towards a bridge, we noticed that a larger motor boat was heading straight towards through our path. Stupidly, we thought we’d turn left, and pass the boat before it gets to us. We learned the bitter lesson that rowing is slower than an engine, when the boat rammed into our side. Fortunately, we were fine, and after exchanging pleasantries (curses?) with the man steering the boat, we were on our merry way.
This is a beautiful part of an already incredibly beautiful country, and kayaking on the blue Lake Skadar is an experience not be missed.
We May Roam 