From Nivicë in the direction of Tepelene there is a huge canyon: Nivicë canyon. We drove past this canyon in 2018, and even just seeing it from above, it was clear it was very big and beautiful. We didn’t have the time to explore it back then, but now we did. We went down part of it from the road near Progonat, where the river Perroi Gures flows in to the canyon. You can follow a path down the canyon, next to a beautiful waterfall, named Peshtures.
You can follow the path but soon it became so steep that we would need climbing gear. We also followed the river Peshtures upstream, through a nice valley. It was obvious that very few people go there. Albania has so much to offer to tourists but almost none of it is actually exploited. Which is fine by us of course, but a missed opportunity for the Albanians. We drove on and camped at a meadow near the footpath to Nivicë which starts halfway between Tepelene and Nivicë.
The next day we walked part of the foot path, through the trees and bushes. The path was in very bad shape at two riverbeds, making them hard to cross. We came across a wooden bridge that could’ve featured in an Indiana Jones film. It crossed the canyon and we could see how beautiful the canyon was below us.
The river, rocks, threes and lianas. The path led up another hill, but quickly disappeared . We decided to go back and down in to the canyon through one of the riverbeds.
We followed the river in to the canyon and felt we could have been somewhere in South America already, such lush green!
We walked on, wading through the river until the canyon became wider again and it really was time to go back before it got dark. Incredible that this isn’t a well known tourist attraction. We felt really lucky, having the chance to explore it.
