Prokletije - Settlement, Economy and Transport

Settlement, Economy and Transport

The Proketije are home to Albanians, Montenegrians, Serbs and Bosnians, but they are only very sparsely populated. At the edges there are some settlements: the Albanian Koplik and the Montenegrian Tuzi in the west near the Skadar Lake; Plav and Gusinje in of the northern valley of the upper Lim river in Montenegro and Bajram Curri, the main town of the district Tropoja, in the eastern Prokletije. Even the somewhat more distant, larger cities of Shkodra, Podgorica, Đakovica and Peć create their sphere of influence and are frequently visited by inhabitants of the highlands for errands, administrative procedures and market sales.

In the mountains themselves villages only have up to a few hundred inhabitants. They are often pronounced scattered settlements without a clear core. Among the biggest are likely to be Tamara and Selca, both in the valley of the Cem and belonging to the community of the Kelmend. The community of eight villages - including Vermosh - comprises 6,600 inhabitants. Tamara today is the only place in the central mountains with infrastructure such as a secondary school. Tamara and Vermosh share a maternity hospital. Until the collapse of communism there were such facilities, for example, in the Shala Valley. Many residents of the villages in the interior such as Boga, Theth or Valbona live only in the summer months there, as these villages are cut off for many weeks during winter.

In addition to the seasonal migration, the whole mountain area is suffering from a severe brain drain, as its only agriculture income is scarce. Many leave to seek work and a little more comfort in the region of Shkodra and Koplik, Tirana or abroad. As the year-round population dwindles as the terrain becomes less accessible, there are few state or local government employees such as teachers. Local income comes from agriculture, semi-illegal forestry and tourism.

In a few places like Theth tourism has been revitalized by recreational hiking. With the help of GTZ, 40 private houses (also referred to as Guest Houses, or Han in Albanian) have been transformed into tourist accommodations or B&Bs. In 2010 there were 130 beds available in total - 100 more than in 2007. Additionally, hiking trails have been marked and trails maps and travel guides published. In the period from 2006 to 2009, the number of tourists rose from 300 to around 7,500 per year. Unlike in the rest of Albania, the increase was due to foreign tourists. Lakes such as Plav and Hrid also receive many tourists during the summer months. In many villages there are small hydro power plants that supply the village with electricity.

Many villages were already settled by the 15th century, and some valleys have been inhabited since the Stone Age. At the end of communism, however, several thousand people emigrated and depopulated the area.