White Water Rafting in the Tara River Canyon with "Jennifer Lawrence"

Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2016--Zabljak

I went rafting for the first time in my life today.  It was surprisingly without a fear factor.  It was just a fun ride that occasionally got jumpy while remaining in contact with my seat on the side of the boat at all times.  The water raft rides at amusement parks are scarier than going over these real rapids.

The Tara River Canyon is said locally to be the deepest in Europe and the second deepest in the world (after the Grand Canyon in the US).  The big difference is that the Tara River Canyon is narrow like the canyons I passed through on my way here from Sarajevo.  The section we visited today is within the boundaries of Durmitor National Park which I also visited yesterday.

There were 8 of us on the trip.  A young French couple who both just got degrees in agronomy engineering, a young British lady who is in the navy there, a young couple from Germany (she a bored-out psychologist who is doing something else now and he an IT professional), and a Russian couple in their 50s (who never talked to anyone except each other).  Why "Jennifer Lawrence" in the title?  Because the young lady from Germany looked just like Jennifer Lawrence.    It is an amazing resemblance, and I asked her, "I guess you get told often that you look like Jennifer Lawrence?"  She denied it had ever happened.  She knew that JL is an actress, but she didn't know what films she had made.  I even went so far at one when we were talking about careers to turn to her and say, "You don't have to admit to being Jennifer Lawrence if you really are her; just make something up."

Our day started at 9:30 at the tour office where we were picked up in a van.  The driver took us to a farm house near the river where we put on zip-up water shoes, life vests, and helmets.  We signed a form stating our names and countries, and we designated whether we wanted chicken, lamb, or vegetarian for lunch.  Then we loaded the boat on top of the van and headed for the river.

There were other rafts entering the river at the time we got there.  My estimate is that there were at least 8-10 rafts making the trip today with each having  eight passengers and a guide.  We had 4 men and 4 women in our group.  The guide put the four men in the front four seats--two on the right and two on the left.  The four women followed behind us.  We each had a paddle for rowing, and the guide had a paddle for use as a rudder.  We were ready for rafting the Tara River.

The river is absolutely beautiful.  The water is perfectly clear.  One person said that they have water monitoring stations every 2 km (1 mile) or so, and that it is the only river in Europe where the water is safe to drink.  Because it is late summer, all the snow has melted, so the river was not as deep as it would be in the spring and early summer.  At times, it was maybe only slightly less than 1 m (3 ft.) deep.  But that had a positive effect for rafting since it created white caps as the water flowed over bigger rocks that were on the bottom of the river.  Much of the river bottom was covered with small, smooth stones in the most beautiful colors--red, green, black, and white mostly, but with an occasional orange one, too.  We saw a few fish, but it was mostly clear water with nothing in it.

Our guide spoke few words of English.  Essentially, he said, "Everybody," or "Right Side," or "Left Side," or "Stop."  All were commands for when we should paddle.  To let us know if we should paddle faster, he said it faster as if the repeating "Everybody" represented the drum beat which can guide rowers.    Our group was quite coordinated with our rowing patterns.  Watching one boat in front of for a while was like a comedy with every rower doing his own thing rather than all being in a rhythm together.

There were a number of rapids we went over.  Most of them had white caps.  But going over them meant just bouncing up and down a bit since we were sitting on the inflated sides of a rubber raft.  Occasionally there would be a drop of maybe a meter or 1.5 meters (1 to 1 1/2 yards) that would be more fun.  Sometimes, we would get splashed with water, but not a lot.

We made two stops on the river.  One was to see a waterfall.  The other was to go swimming.  Even thought the water was VERY cold, we all jumped in.  Those of us wearing shorts just pulled them off and went into the water in our underwear.  At the swimming spot, there was a high cliff that several climbed so they could jump into the river from there. 

After 2 1/2 hours on the river, we pulled to the side where the van was waiting for us.  We took off our gear and headed back to the farm house.  There, they served us a typical Montenegro meal.  I ordered the lamb, because there are lambs everywhere around here and I figured it would be most typical.  I got three chunks of lamb meat on the bone with boiled potatoes and a rice dish (that was tasty and had onions, tomatoes, and sweet peppers in it).  There were also tomatoes and cabbage for a salad.  I skipped the cabbage, but I ate about 8 slices of tomato since they were fresh from the garden.  The potatoes were just too plain, but the young guy from France eventually put some vinegar on his which he said gave them some taste.

On the way back to town, we stopped one more time at the bridge that spans the canyon.  Some people (including me) walked out to take pictures of the river where we had rafted.  Others had a beer or ice cream.  There was a zip line there that some people were riding across the canyon, but no one in our group did because we only had a 20-minute stop and because we were all tired.

We were back in town at 4:00--6 1/2 hours after we left.  It was a good tour with a good group.  Everything was included in the price of 45 Euros (about $50), so there was no awkward moment where the guide or driver expected a tip and people wondered what others were going to give.  That made the end so pleasant.  We just said good-bye to each other and went our separate ways.

I spent the evening inside the apartment.  I was tired from the day, and I knew I needed to get to bed early, since I have a bus to catch tomorrow at 7:26.