(13 Aug 2017) LEADIN
An ambitious project is aiming to open up remote villages in the highlands of southern Albania to the outside world and to tourists wanting to discover the spectacular natural beauty and rural way of life of the more isolated parts of the country.
STORYLINE
The Albanian highlands, a hot spot for goats and a cluster of small villages where time appears to have stood still for decades.
Sheep's milk is still carried to the local cheese maker by donkey, elderly villagers hike into the mountains to collect wild oregano and other herbs while ancient rituals are still observed.
But the area's attractions are many. Crystal-clear streams run through sheer canyons and stone Ottoman-era bridges still arch over gullies, untouched for centuries. At sunset, shepherds drive their flocks through the fields to small corrals for milking.
And now, the country's National Coastline Agency wants to link the village of Nivica in the highlands to the nearby coast that lies just over the mountain. The plan is to open them up to the opportunities of tourism.
"We are doing a pilot project on the concept of how to connect rural communities very close to the coastline but never been helped by the coastline tourism. So this pilot concept would like to connect the coastline areas with the mountain areas just behind the coastline and open them up to tourism," says Head of the National Coastline Agency, Auron Tare, who is leading the project.
And like everything in the Balkans, the region is steeped in history.
"Apart from the landscape, the reason to come here is because of the stories. This is a place where Roman troops travelled, this is a place where Normans travelled, this is a place where Ottomans travelled. World War I, World War II. There are many stories to be connected to this area. Plus the wonderful landscape, and also the untouched life. Here you see people milking their sheep and their goats as they did 4,000 years ago," says Tare.
He adds that although tourism has a lot of benefits he's aware there are also downsides, such as destroying local culture or the environment. Therefore, he insists, they'll conduct the project slowly and without too much disturbance to locals.
The area is still far off the beaten track. Many of those living on the coast have never even heard of Nivica.
But the village square has been cleared of rubbish and stonemasons are hard at work on the village's biggest single project: a new guesthouse, scheduled for completion next spring.
After casting her eye over the building, Lorena Sinatrakaj of the National Coastline Agency says she believes locals are becoming more receptive to opening the village up to tourists.
"People working with cows and goats and working on vegetables and all this stuff. And now they are trying to touch the idea of tourism that they had no idea about that. And they are prepared I think and available to work on that," she says.
For Dallandyshe Merio, a local woman who left the village two decades ago and moved to the southern port town of Vlora, the project has brought such hope to the village that she is considering moving back.
"I'm happy that the village has come back to life again. Before, everyone was gone. People are coming back and rebuilding. There is life here again," she says.
For now, visitors are mainly young backpackers from European countries hiking along Albania's ancient trails and camping in a field just outside the village.
This time next year the picture could be very different - with the hope that tourists will come from all over the world and be able to stay in comfort.
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