Rafting on the Neretva river / Photo by Thierry Joubert

The Legend of Konjic

This is the legend of Konjic and how it came to be the major settlement of northern Herzegovina. It’s a charming story and one of my favourite Bosnian tales.

A homeless nomad roamed through the village near Boracko Lake, Bosnia & Herzegovina. He asked the villagers for warm food and a place to stay. They not only shooed him off but grunted offenses at him. He continued on, seemingly unscathed by their remarks. He came to a widows home. Her husband had died several years earlier and left her with three children. The wanderer asked the widow the same question he had the other villagers. She warmly greeted him and invited him into her home for a meal.

Whilst they were eating he issued her a warning. “Thank you ma’am for your kind hospitality. I have an important message for you if you are willing to listen. The ground here will soon begin to shake immensely. The entire village will be destroyed as well as everyone in it. You must take your children on horseback through the canyon and over the mountain to safety. You will know you are safe when your horse stops and digs his hoof into the ground three times. This place will be your new home.”

The woman was startled. Confused. She didn’t know what to think. She said nothing as the man finished his meal and dozed off to sleep. When the woman woke the next morning the man was gone. There was worry in her heart. She thought of her children. Her village. She went and told her neighbours what the nomad had said. They all laughed it off as ridiculous and accused him of trying to scare off the village so he could loot the place.

The woman still struggled with the warning. She contemplated leaving but balked. At that moment her little daughter came running around the corner. An overwhelming sense of love came to the woman and in the same instant so did clarity of vision. She packed the children up on her horses and they left that evening towards the canyon. They traveled all night. By morning they reached the open valley of the Neretva River. As they slowly strutted through the alpine meadow the lead horse suddenly stopped. He became agitated. Bucked a bit. And then dug his hoof into the ground and scraped it three times.

As the horse stood up a tremendous roar came through the canyon valley. The tremor lasted several moments. The earth shook. The horses spun in fear. The woman was beyond herself. She dismounted in the lush fields her horse had led her to – this was to be her new home.

Re-opening of an ancient Ottoman stone bridge

An ottoman bridge / Photo by moslihh

The majestical place of Konjic is having a ceremony to re-open one of these ancient Ottoman bridges similar to those in Mostar, Visegrad and Trebinje that were bombed into oblivion by German forces during WWII. They are indeed a marvel of creation. News crews will be out on mass as well as the entire town to see it returned to its old glory. What troubles me though is that the value we place on a stone bridge is so overwhelmingly higher than the value we place on the irreplaceable miracles of Mother Nature in and around Konjic.

Failure to learn the value of a natural resource

Photo by Thierry Joubert

As an environmentalist and eco-tourism expert, I believe that Konjic and Foca are the most dynamic and beautiful municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is unbelievable potential here to develop eco-tourism and organic agriculture as a means of sustainable living for every citizen of Konjic.  The mountaintops of southern Bjelasnica, Visocica, Prenj, Bitovnja, and Crvanj bless the skyline. The Neretva and Rakitnica Canyons, carved out over millions of years by the patient flow of rivers, create an eco-system that is unmatched in southeast Europe.  Unfortunately the once thick forests responsible for the exceptional air quality, and home to some of the richest bio-diversity in Europe have all but disappeared due to rampant logging.

What has happened over the past decade is no less horrendous than the rape and pillage of the brutal war we lived through.  The most protected tree in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the endemic Munika, has been hacked off the mountain face of Prenj.  A senseless road has decimated the once primeval beauty of the strictly protected Rakitnca Canyon. Mini-dams which destroy vital riverside bio-diversity are being constructed in every corner of Konjic’s territory. All of this in the name of progress and development. I prefer to call it immoral monopolies.  I ask the citizens of Konjic, ‘what benefits are you gaining from the silent destruction of your beloved land?’

Pre-war plans damaged the Neretva river

Fish in the Neretva River / Photo by Thierry Joubert

I challenge anyone to find a river like the Neretva, or Una for that matter in continental Europe. The simple fact is that there are no more major potable waterways left. The Neretva is clean from its source to Dzajici near Konjic. Over 100 kilometres of gorgeous, crystal clear, drinking water.

Public opinion against pre-war plans to dam the Neretva river is over 70%, but that does not phase the local authorities nor the energy mongers in Sarajevo, Ljubljana, Vienna or Blagaj.  The question of the Neretva has been a political one for quite some time. The river is God’s blessing to us. It is neither a question of economics nor politics. It gives us life. Fresh air. It feeds our eco-system which gives us the best meat, fruit, vegetable and dairy products in the region. It gives us beauty. And who does not want to come and see beauty?

The damming of the Neretva is purely a moral issue, and morality is one thing that is greatly lacking in our difficult time of transition. We celebrate this opening of the Ottoman bridge with wide eyes and warmed hearts. I share that sentiment too, but how on earth can we not see the value of millions of years of Mother Nature’s work.  A creation that cannot be rebuilt. Cannot be replaced. When its gone. It’s gone forever. What legend’s will they speak of when we are no longer? Will we leave a legacy to be proud of, or one that our grandchildren will curse us for?

Further information:

• Bosnian version of this article
• Green Visions: Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Follow @greenvisions on Twitter