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Nested at the altitude of 1636m, amazing glacier Prokoško Lake at Vranica Mountain with its highest peak – Nadkrstac at 2112m above sea level is the ideal hiking destination for any true nature lover seeking for amazing scenery, untouched nature and understanding of Bosnian rural/nomad village life.
As locals call it, “mountain eye”, this amazing – Prokoško glacier lake, being surrounded by numerous shepherds huts famously called “Katuni”, and Vranica mountain peaks, where some of them are way above 2000m, is where you want to be at one moment of your life.
Region of Vranica mountain is completely safe from any perspective of mines. Sarajevo Funky Tours will NEVER conduct trips to any areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina having ANY risk at all from perspective of mines.
Safety of our guests and ourselves, is our most important priority.
Guide
English speaking local-expert guide and driver. Guide in different language available on request.
Food
Local lunch at Prokosko lake. Vegetarian options available.
Free pickup on request
If you are staying in the old town of Sarajevo meet us at our office. If you are bit away from us, please let us know and we can organise advance pickup.
All Transfers
All tour transfers are provided by Funky Tours.
Taxes & Flexible Cancellation Policy
No hidden costs. VAT 17% included in the price. Cancel 1 day prior for full refund or change dates anytime.
Availability
Tour is available from March to November, while during the December to February it is available as snowshoeing experience.
Group Discounts
For bigger group bookings, discounts are available.
Insurance
Travel insurance is not included. Please buy it at home country.
Guide Tipping
Tips are not included in the tour costs. If you receive excellent service, please consider tipping.
Private Tour
All tours are shared, unless specifically booked as private.
Logistics
We’ll have to start our journey quite early from Sarajevo at 8 AM in aim reach town of Fojnica as early as possible.
Fojnica, town historically known for healthy thermal waters and gold mining, is home to Franciscan Monastery dating some 650 years ago. Today it is location which “most likely”, is home to the oldest written document on human rights – Ahdnama” written some 550 years ago after Ottoman conquest of Bosnia in 1463.
However visit to this place is optional and requires advance arrangements and is not covered in the standard tour, which is focused on nature explorations of Vranica mountain and Prokoško lake regions, but can be arranged on request.
As soon as we leave Fojnica, we start our 16 km long, macadam and totally forested drive, with plentiful of small creeks crossing our way, to reach Prokoško Lake and get to see why this area is nicknamed for “Bosnian Swiss”.
Glacier made, Prokoško Lake is “nested” at 1636 m.a.s.l, with number of old, shingle covered, shepherd’s wooden huts – Katuni at its vicinity and amphitheatre of Vranica mountain behind, are definitely something not to miss for any nature lover during the trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina. No doubt about it.
As soon as we arrive at lake and dozen of photos already taken, we’ll get ready for our hike and pack up some of the local specialties, most importantly local bread, sheep cheese and locally made tea.
Before start, visitors are free to explore region of the lake itself and maybe get lucky to see endemic species such as Vraničko Zvonce (Edraianthus niveus), Bosanska Zvonička (Symphyandra hofmannii) or the famous endemic amphibian Triton, which only lives in Prokoško lake (Triturus alpestris reiseri), discovered in 1891 by Othmur Reiser, ornithologist of National Museum in Sarajevo, when this species are was named after him.
Our goal that day is to do roughly 3 hour hike and climb up the Vranica mountain peak – Nadkrstac, at 2112 meters above sea level. Starting point will be at Prokoško lake at 1636 meters above sea level, what will give us roughly 500 meters altitude gain.
Mountain of Vranica is full of small, clean and cold creeks running down the cascades which makes scenery looks like “water heaven”.
Depending on which period of the year you are conducting this tour, please note that Vranica mountain is very famous for various kinds of mushrooms, cranberries and blueberries so some of them can easily be on our “food menu”.
Once on top, stunning views with numerous mountain plateaus and peaks in our eyesight will surely take our breath away. Then, our 3 hour hard work will pay off and we’ll finally get to taste food and snacks we brought all the way up, enjoying amazing scenery.
After rest, it will be time to head down, and this time will be bit easy and different trail will be taken. It will take us around 2.30 hours to be back to the Lake.
As soon as we are back to Prokoško Lake we’ll organise coffee break, something unmissable when out in these areas. We’ll learn more about how certain types of Prokoško cheese are being made, how general shepherd life at Vranica mountain looks like and what happens when winter season is there. Cultural insight is quite important, to understand how life was, and is today. Free time at the village.
Village itself has unique mosque, possibly highest one in whole of Europe at altitude of 1666 m.a.s.l. and is possible to visit.
Later on we go back to Sarajevo for around 2 hour transfer, expecting to be back around 8 PM.
What Do I Need to Bring?
This day-tour is ideal for middle hikers and will offer some of the regions most amazing scenery, especially views of Prokoško Lake area.
For people with low physical level who are not capable of hiking at this level, but heavily interested to experience natural and cultural beauty of this region, we can organise this tour as SUV/JEEP journey which will cover great amount of amazing sights and will deliver amazing sightseeing experience.
Franciscan monastery of the Holy Spirit is a Bosnian Franciscan monastery in Fojnica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was founded in 1668 and it includes a library of ca. 12,500 volumes, including 13 incunabula and 156 works written in Bosnian Cyrillic. It is a designated National Monument of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
