Ferguson and family explore Bosnia and Herzegovina's beauty

By: Edward Ferguson, British Ambassador to BiH

Usually, we go to the United Kingdom in the summer to see family and friends. But this will be our last full summer in Bosnia and Herzegovina as my mandate ends in August next year. That is why this year we decided to take the time to discover new parts of this beautiful country and to visit some old favourites.

In June, we spent a few days in the Una-Sana Canton. On the way there, we stopped in the historic town of Jajce. That town is one of my favourite places in BiH. The former capital of the Kingdom of Bosnia, with its beautiful medieval fortress that was home to the last Bosnian king, Stjepan Tomašević. Today, Jajce is equally known for its waterfall, at the place where the Pliva meets the Vrbas, and as the host city of the second session of AVNOJ, on 29.11.1943, when the decision was made to establish Yugoslavia on federal principles. We spent the night in a cottage and watched fireflies dance on the shores of Lake Pliva.

After that, we headed north to discover the jewel called Una National Park. Thanks to the great team at Kiro Rafting, all five of us, including my one-year-old daughter, went rafting and swam in the vividly green Una, perhaps the most beautiful river I have ever seen. The Romans were right to call it "the only one". We had a great time as a family – we camped on the banks of the stream and explored the surroundings, including the mighty Štrbački buk waterfall.

Last week, I took a few more days off. We made a list of places we wanted to see and visit. First and foremost, we went to Treskavica again. We had climbed it before, but this time we covered half the way in a Lada with 4x4 drive, which is an experience in itself. Because of that, we had more time to explore the mountain top. We hiked around four lakes on Treskavica and even swam in one of them.

The next day, our friends Amel and Arijana Mekić and their daughter Tajra invited the whole family to Lake Jablanica. We had a wonderful time, catching frogs and swimming in the lake, jumping off the boat. We were not deterred by sharing the lake with quite impressive water snakes (they convinced me they were not poisonous!). As we have often concluded in BiH, the hospitality of our hosts knew no bounds. The day ended with roasting a whole lamb. A Balkan paradise!

We spent most of that week in and around Sarajevo. This included large amounts of ice cream on Baščaršija, and I fulfilled the most important goal of the week, which was to remove the training wheels from my two older children's bicycles. We also managed to climb to the top of Trebević with our three-legged Yorkshire terrier, and the whole family went for a picnic at the top of Čavljak.

The last trip was to Višegrad, to see the famous bridge of Ivo Andrić, the bridge on the Drina. The drive was beautiful, first across the Romanija plateau, and then south through the stunning river gorges. We did not regret it, the beauty of the bridge is a reminder of the rich and sometimes tragic history of this country.

Unfortunately, BiH does not always make the best use of what it has. Roads are an obvious problem. At the beginning of the year, we drove from BiH to Greece, via Montenegro and Albania, and returned via Macedonia and Serbia. Based on this "unscientific" study of 2500 km, I can state that BiH has the most beautiful landscapes, but also by far the worst roads in the region. In every country we visited, except BiH, we saw major construction projects underway. It is incomprehensible to me that politicians in this country cannot even agree to fix the roads.

What I noticed is that people here are surprised when we tell them we stayed here for vacation. And I don't understand why. We really enjoyed discovering Bosnia and Herzegovina. I am always surprised again by the fact that, around almost every corner, we discover a fortress, a monastery, a mosque to see, or a spectacular mountain, lake, or river to enjoy. Travelling through this country has been a reminder of its enormous potential, as well as the generosity of its people. After several months filled with frustrations, it is good to be reminded of why and what we are working for.