Arriving at Lake Shkodra Resort, with a good choice of organised tours in the office, I was very keen to book our first organised trip for the two of us. I was eager to give Steve an opportunity to sit in a passenger seat without a steering wheel in front of him and for me time off from poking my head out of our passenger window to simultaneously yell and instruct “Go, Go, Go”. I chose a trip to Lake Koman with a pick up of 8am.

Lake Koman was artificially created, being one of a series of three dams on the River Drin (fed by both the Shala and Valbona Rivers) built in the 1980’s to supply most of Albania’s electricity, Our transport arrived, an old Mercedes Saloon driven by Edwin; Steve settled into the passenger seat with Stella between his feet and I got comfortable in the back.

Steve and I could see that we were aiming in the direction of our first campsite, the other side of Shkodër, when the driver took a right hand turn down a newish bypass, completely avoiding the City. We made a note of the bypass and wish we had known about it when we were towing the caravan. In retrospect, driving through the city, we did alright.

On the way we passed various animals roaming in the road including cows, goats, donkeys and one small tortoise. I noticed that Edwin didn’t slow down passing any of the animals and when we overtook a coach he told us the passengers were from Poland. I wondered how he knew that and where the people were being taken.

We reached a large car park at the entrance to a long tunnel through a mountain. Other coaches with more Polish passengers were parked up and their passengers were now on foot. Our driver Edwin drove through the tunnel, barely slowing down whilst waving to and exchanging greetings with people he knew. As we drove through we passed the groups we’d seen in the car park walking to make their way to the other end.

At the other side, when Edwin had parked, we got out of the car into what was a cramped area with a couple of restaurants/bars and the Koman Ferry terminal to Fierze. We had 20 minutes or so spare, so of course we spent them in a bar and made use of their ‘comfort’ facilities

As we sat admiring the dam and view, we saw the Fierze-Koman ferry arrive. We had no idea how the cars were going to find any space to drive out, as the small car park was now full of vehicles, let alone negotiate the tunnel. Unfortunately we weren’t there long enough to find out.

Lake Koman Ferry (Albanian: Trageti i Komanit) is a passenger ferry service operated by several local companies along the Koman Lake The line is known for its scenic views of the mountain gorges, unscheduled stops along the way for serving locals, and the peculiar atmosphere of both locals, foreigners, and even animals being fitted on board up to full capacity. The journey is described as one of the world’s great boat trips.

At almost 10am we joined a queue to get into one of the transfer boats for a cruise along the lake to our destination. It wasn’t long into our cruise before we began to see quite a few bits of floating plastic debris and it reminded me of our visit to Ston (Croatia) for a contrasting reason. At Ston we were told Croatia has excellent refuse disposal with none of it released into its shores hence their water is clear and unpolluted producing the best mussels and oysters. That is until the wind is in the wrong direction and refuse arrives by sea from Montenegro and Albania when they wait for the wind direction to change and send it all back again.

Our destination was a bay in the lake, I think it’s called Peace Island. The boat trip was around an hour and a half and, apart from the regular floating pieces of debris, quite picturesque. The mountains we passed had unique formations and the lake lots of twists and turns with hidden caves and interesting coves. We arrived into a shallow shore for our boat to be pulled up on to a pebble beach for us to get out, explore the unspoilt beaches, beach bars and make our way to the “second house” for lunch. I was amazed at the number of boats and the number of tourists, well over 200, on the trip, mostly Polish.

Seated in a purpose built tourist restaurant filled with trestle tables and bench seating, I queued at the bar to get some drinks for us which was manned by Edwin. This is when we found out he and his family own that house (one of three), and he introduced us to his wife and son. Ah, that’s how he knew the nationalities and number of guests to expect! Everyone involved in the restaurant, bar and lunch service was keen to know we were happy and were keen to be able to do anything at all to enhance our experience. Our lunch was delicious, consisting of different courses starting with vegetable soup, a basket of bread, which was followed by mixed salad and a cheese dish, then vegetable filo pancakes, a main course of roast potatoes, the most delicious grilled trout ever and finishing with dessert. As each course was served we were asked if we had had enough and wanted any more. I needed a doggy bag, a fan and a spray of cold water but I didn’t voice that.

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After lunch we crossed the bridge from house #2 to seek refuge from the sun in the restaurant’s beach bar, run by Edwin’s son. There was little wind and we were all getting hotter and hotter. We were told the water in the streams running either side of us would be cold. Eventually I walked over to the nearest one and still wearing my shorts and t shirt over my bikini plonked myself down it, in a sitting position with my legs straight out, feet submerged. It was only up to my waist but the coolness was instantly refreshing. I scooped handfuls of the fresh clear water to douse my overheated face, neck and arms. The water was freezing, similar to entering a plunge pool after a sauna. It was wonderful, although now on the verge of hyperthermia I’d had enough and got out after only a few minutes. I thought if I got my clothes wet that would help me stay cool. I returned to the beach bar, joining Steve and Stella again for a soft drink not worrying about my clothes dripping on to the ground. There’s no photo, I think Steve was too comfortable in the bar to move.

We did do a little walk about tour of the island and took a few photos of the various bridges as they all appeared to be constructed from recycled wood, one even included a garden fence panel, and thrown together. They were slightly rickety, completely irregular, but apparently safe.

It was eventually time to leave, having spent three hours on the ‘island’ and we queued up (a new novelty for us) for our return boat journey. Our boat didn’t get us very far before as it got stuck in the shallow pebbled water whilst trying to turn to face the correct direction. Hearing shouting and instructions, we didn’t understand what was going on, but seeing the gestures we immediately understood that we should all get out and wait for replacement transport. Being last on, we were at the front with plenty of spray my side to keep me cool. The return journey of course followed the same route but there was still plenty to see and admire especially the Dam full on.

Arriving back at the ferry terminal Edwin’s car was now ‘buried’ in the centre of other parked cars, so we waited at our usual bar (it was our second visit so we were now regulars) whilst he got himself sorted out from the day’s trip and his car freed to take us back. Our drive back was more spectacular for me as Steve was once again on the side of the road with a drop. Again we passed herds of animals roaming the route and Edwin kindly stopped at panoramic viewpoints for Steve to take photos.

I must be honest here, well you wouldn’t expect anything else from me. Of all our trips over the past nine months this was the first time we were part of an organised trip, and more unusually in a crowd. We have been blessed to see so many of nature’s natural beauties all to ourselves. Yes, we took lots of photos and yes, we did something different, but on reflection there was no narrative or information either way on the boat for us to learn anything about where we had visited without resorting to Google. We didn’t like to see the various pieces of plastics in the lake. I wondered how efficient it would be to have the debris collected or whether the lake is a constant receptacle for refuse disposal. I did not enjoy having to think how to while away several hours on the ‘island’ when in my opinion it was too dangerously hot to explore in the open. Nobody burns on my watch! I did discuss the lack of sun shade cover with Niko from our campsite and he said at the weekends Peace Island is so full there is no space for additional sun shelters.

This trip was a full day, most of it transfer time to arrive at a beauty spot for lunch and a 3 hour stop over.

If we were only on a week’s holiday I would probably have enjoyed the trip to the full, however, in light of the length and quality of our travels to date, I didn’t feel that day was one of our better ones and it’s made me very wary of booking future organised trips, especially without prior consultation with Steve.

View from the Cockpit

Usually we research our trips, this one we did not, however it was a nice day out, and we got to see the Komani Ferry docking and unloading. Apparently the ferry sunk a few years ago, with all cars on board. I can’t find it on the internet, but I can believe it. In the campsite reception there’s a book on off-road trails in Albania, suitable for walking, motorcross biking and driving in a 4×4. I had a brief look, and on one of the trails the description of the route made mention of the numerous gravestones and memorials to those that had died on that route. I think we will stick to the roads, as we don’t want to punish the Poacher anymore than necessary. From what we did see on our drive to Koman “Road” is a pretty loose term over here. I look forward to our next drive out, when we will visit the South of this country, potholes permitting.