The Prokletije, Montenegro's Accursed Mountains

The Prokletije are Montenegro’s toughest and wildest mountains, and the name gives fair warning. The national tourist board explains that it roughly means “the damned”, a nod to inaccessible summits, mysterious lakes and sheer cliffs, though it also calls the range the Alps of southern Europe. This is the country’s youngest national park, created in 2009 in Plav and Gusinje municipalities, and its ridges divide Montenegro from Albania and Kosovo where the Dinaric Alps run out in the south. If I could only do one big mountain trip in Montenegro, this would be it.

Summits above 2,500 metres

The board’s park page mentions more than twenty summits over 2,500 metres, while its hiking page talks of 77 peaks above 2,000 metres in Plav and Gusinje, three of them above 2,500. The two don’t tally and there’s no complete official list, so I give each as published. The highest is Zla Kolata, put at 2,534 metres by both National Parks and the board, on Bjelič above the Ropojana valley, alongside Dobra Kolata (2,528) and Rosni vrh (2,525). MONSTAT leaves it out of its table, which names Maja Rozit, at 2,522 metres, as the highest point in the Prokletije.

Above the Grbaja valley rise the Karanfili, with climbing and mountaineering, and paths lead to Volušnica, Popadija and Talijanka. I’m leaving out the park’s area, the one official number I came across is doubtful, and I’d rather wait for confirmation.

The Grbaja and Ropojana valleys

National Parks sums up the park as two valleys. Grbaja, at 1,100 metres according to Gusinje Tourist Board, is the start of the Grbaja-Volušnica-Popadija-Grbaja circuit, 10.2 km, moderate and about five and a half hours, which leaves from the Karanfil mountain hut, climbs Popadija (2,056 m) and Talijanka (2,057 m) and passes the prehistoric Magna Mater slab. Ropojana, which you enter via Vusanje, has Lake Ropojana, the Oko Skakavice spring, the Grlja canyon, waterfalls and prehistoric rock art.

National Parks also points to rock carvings on Vezirova brada and near Grbaja, and to listed monuments in the villages around the park, such as the Old Mosque and Redžepagić Tower in Plav, Holy Trinity church at Brezojevica and the Vizier’s Mosque in Gusinje.

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The high lakes, from Hrid to Abdija

The best known is Lake Hrid, at 1,970 metres according to Plav Tourist Board, which the national board calls the Lake of Happiness because tradition says a wish made on its shore will be granted, and you can see trinkets visitors have tossed in over the years glinting on the bottom. National Parks describes a linear 3.1 km path from the Plav side, easy and about an hour, and a longer loop from Babino polje via the Bajrović katun, the Bjelaja border post, Tromeđa and the Ćafa Bogićes saddle.

Higher still is Lake Abdija, at 2,054 metres, which Plav Tourist Board calls the highest lake in Montenegro, reached by an 18 km route rated hard and taking around ten hours. Down in the valley, Lake Plav is the big glacial lake.

Prices, season and the border

Entry costs €3 per person per day and covers the visitor centre and educational paths. A guide costs €40 for four hours and €80 for a whole day, a bike costs €3 per hour or €8 per day, and you can hire snowshoes, poles and tents. The visitor centre gives route information and contacts for local guides, according to the national board.

Hiking is possible from June until late October, and the board points out that snow patches can survive into high summer. A third of the Peaks of the Balkans, the 192 km trail through Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo, crosses the park. If a route crosses the border away from official crossings, whether in the Prokletije, on Hajla near Rožaje or elsewhere, permission comes from the border police on the side you’re walking into; you send their form with a passport copy and pay €2 plus €3 a head. The board gives no lead time, so I’d apply weeks ahead. Montenegro isn’t in Schengen, but Albania and Kosovo have their own entry rules, so check gov.uk before you go.

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Mountain food

National Parks describes a mountain kitchen of kačamak, gotovac and cicvara, cheese, jardum and whey, lamb and beef, cured meats and pies filled with cheese, meat or greens. In winter people drink raso, the brine from fermented cabbage, and the woods are full of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and juniper. The national board suggests trying wild garlic, one of more than 1,700 plant species in the park.