The municipality of Kotor Varoš occupies an increasingly important place on the tourist map of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Numerous waterfalls, the most famous of which is Skakavac, mountain rivers Duboka and Cvrcka, Vilenska vrela, rainforest, waterfalls, water mills are only part of the tourist offer of this municipality.
Twenty kilometers from Kotor Varoš is Skakakavac, one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Bosnia and Herzegovina. After half an hour of hiking through the forest with gentle ascents – a sight worth every effort. Unspoiled nature, dense forest, clean mountain water, a breathtaking waterfall.
ĐURO NARIĆ, mountaineer
“Skakavac waterfall is visited annually by 4,000-5,000 tourists and hikers and nature lovers. It is 25 meters high and is one of the most beautiful waterfalls in BiH. Next to the waterfall there is a tunnel, a rainforest, the river Duboka.”
The jewels of nature, the Skakavac waterfall and the Duboka river canyon, will be declared a protected area by the Spatial Plan of the RS. It is absurd that the relevant ministry in this area gave permission for the construction of a mini hydropower plant.
Locals and mountaineer associations are expressly against the construction of a mini-hydropower plant, close to the Skakavac waterfall. In the Coalition for the Protection of Duboka, they say that only a few individuals will benefit financially, while their interest is exclusively in the protection of nature, life and the river from which water can be drunk. A lawsuit was also filed against the relevant ministry for issuing a permit for the construction of a mini hydropower plant.
TOMO DUBOČANIN, president of the Coalition for the Protection of Duboka
“There would be an ecological disaster. In this river we have brown trout, crayfish, it would be automatically destroyed from this river, birds, the whole plant and animal world would change”.
BORO KUZMIĆ, resident of Duboka
“The land through which the pipeline should pass is private and our position is that we will not sell a single inch or allow any work.”
In the area of Duboka, 23 mills used to work, today only three. One of the remaining millers says that the mill is everything to him, that he lives thanks to it. For him, the hydroelectric plant and the destruction of the nature reserve mean the end of life in the village, but also the end of tourist visits.
MIRKO NADIC, miller
“I would tell all the authorities not to take away our water. If they take away our water, we are left without life, we have to leave our birthplace.”
The tourism organization Kotor Varoša says that in the coming period, they will provide access to another attractive waterfall “Pod kotlom”. The Cvrcka river and the Vilenska vrela stand out as an attractive tourist potential of this municipality.
NEMANJA KNEŽEVIĆ, Tourism Organization Kotor Varoš
“On the Crcka River, we have the Fairy Springs, a beautiful area that the famous Leonardo DiCaprio was convinced of and published photos of the Wicked Vir.”
On his Instagram profile, the Hollywood actor supported the fight to save rivers in Bosnia and Herzegovina and, along with a photo of the Wicked Vir, said that clean rivers are more important than electricity, BHRT writes.
