Time to head north as we have to meet some family in Slovenia in a week or so. Google maps showed a water station along the road, so we thought we should top up our fresh water tanks.
When we got to the watering station it was already in use… by another expedition vehicle! A couple from Germany were returning home after spending the winter in Greece and most of their time in Crete.
After filling up our tanks, we started looking for a place to spend the night. We found a flat spot on a dirt road, just off the highway.
The following morning, just as we were packing up to leave, a police car with two policewomen rolled up next to Rosie. They asked what we were doing and when they heard that we were tourists on vacation said “no problem”. They stopped on the way back to the road and talked to someone in a van, so we think we may have been on private property and the owner called the coppers.
Martin Brod is a small village within the Una National Park. It is known for its waterfalls, and they are very dramatic, especially at this time of year as spring melting has raised water levels.
Martin Brod is located in the southern end of Una National Park. We wanted to have a look at the Strbacki Buk falls in the northern end of the park. We stopped for groceries along the way, in a town called Kalen Vakuf. Another sketchy bridge led from the road we were on into the town.
There were some interesting ruins on the hill behind the town, but to far to walk to and we don’t have our bikes (coming soon!).
The town of Kulen Vakuf, like so many other towns we have visited in Bosnia, has a memorial to victims of the 1992-95 war. It seems like every small town has a similar memorial and very few towns were left unscathed. We have noticed, as we drive almost parallel to the border with Croatia, that there are a tremendous number of abandoned houses and buildings. We had heard from locals that many people left during the war and never came back. Now we can see physical evidence of this.
The road north from Martin Brod is a bit strange. It started off as a two lane paved road, then went to a single lane dirt road, then back to a paved road, then back to a dirt road. In one place a cliff face overhung the road, with a river on the opposite side of the road, which necessitated a gradual inching forwards in Rosie so that we didn’t scrap off one side or go for a swim!
We turned off the main road at the town of Orasac and headed towards Strbacki Buk where the falls are located. The road was paved, but only a single lane. There were lots trees and cliffs bordering the road, so we decided to not go all the way to the falls and stopped at a private campground “Camp Saud”.
Saud (the Bosinian owner), and several neighbours, each operate a campground in their backyards. Each property is a couple of acres in size and they encourage tourists to set up camp. We ended up in Camp Saud because as we were driving down the road a car coming in the opposite direction stopped and asked us if we were campers. We had just made the decision to not go all the way, so said “sure we are”. “Follow me” was the response. He turned his car around and sped off. We followed, at a more sedate pace, until we caught up to him at Camp Saud. “Park anywhere”, so we drove into the back yard and parked next to the river.
Saud’s family has owned this property for 500 years. He, his wife, father and grandmother live here and run the campground during the tourist season. If we understood Saud correctly, this part of the park gets 100,000 tourists during the summer months, and the campgrounds are fully occupied! It seems that the campground brings in some much needed income for Saud and his family. They also sell honey, in a variety of health-related formats (non of which seemed particularly tasty), so we just bought one of the standard “flower honey” jars.
Below are photos of some of the neighbouring camp grounds…
Our original destination was a parking lot within the Una National Park. We didn’t know if we could stop there overnight, so the stop at Camp Saud was an easy decision. We decided to walk up the road to see if we could make it to the park, and it turned out it was only a few more kilometers up the road.
