The whole area of Konjuhe and a beautiful village of Japan (1090m), already known to the public because of its unusual name, located just below the Vasojevićki Kom, close to the clear mountain rivers Mojanska, Desna and Perucica, represent the starting point of the many hidden hiking and biking trails that have yet to be marked, promoted and valorized. One of these natural gems that are less known, but offer more beauty than some other more popular places are the mountain Mojan and complete border area with Albania, from Carine all the way to Grncar in Gusinje. In this text we present a circular trail that we will take to reach Mojan and return through Vucji jarak, Gornja voda and Đurovica.
Starting point is the bridge at Jošanica (930m), next to Dago’s tavern, where we follow Mojanska river upstream via gravel road all the way to the katun Mojanska (1133m) which is situated on the left bank of the river just below Ogorela glava (1561m), at the foot of the Komovi mountain. At this place there is a crossroad where the northern branch of the road leads to Carine (though this road is not connected for motor vehicles) and the southern branch goes to Surdup and ends there. We start our long climb at this southern branch of the road, and very soon we reach the ruins of the former military building (1207m), from where we continue through a visible footpath, first through an overgrown meadow and then through a steep section of the old beech forest, after which we reach another meadow (1450m) situated exactly between Vujeva mountain and Surdup. At the end of the meadow starts almost straight up and very steep rocky ascent that locals call Skala which leads to Mojan (1845m).
The central part of Mojan is one large pasture, a glacial cirque as big as a football field which is surrounded by three sides with the peaks of small Mojan (2103m), Veliki Mojan (2157m) and Suvi vrh (1960), while the west side remains completely open towards Carine, and through this side Mojanska river flows. The source of this river is exactly here, and this is where it collapses into hundreds of meters deep abyss forming fabulous waterfalls, which are especially beautiful in late spring when the snows melt. Long ago here and on Vujeva mountain there wer numerous katuns here, settled by the oldest families of Kuci tribe, but two centuries ago Skadar Pasha (Turkish ruler) has made a decree by which Mojan was given to Albanian tribes, while Kuci withdrew towards Bindza and Carine. The remains of stone made huts, architecturally typical for this area, are still visible all around.
Through this meadow we continue southeast towards the top of the Great Mojan which is located on the border with Albania. The top of Mojan offers a magnificent view of Komovi and Prokletije, and after conquering this peak we continue below Mali Mojan towards the abandoned katuns Vucja rupa (1853m) and Gornja voda (1880m) which are located below the peak of Paunova (2086m), and these locations are also covered the remnants of the stone lodges.
From Gornja voda the trail continues under Ilijina glava (2165m) and passes through major area of crumbling rocks, after which there is a large pasture clearing of Đurovica (1873m) which is situated on nothh, below the peaks of Zijevo (2129m) and Đurovac (1968m). From Đurovica we descend to katun Ravni, where border military base was once located, and from katun Ravni (1560m) there is a gravel road that goes through village Miskovica zari (1050m) and leads to the end of this mountain circle, and returns to Josanica.
This is a route of exceptional beauty and goes through the border area that geographically belongs to the mountain ranges of Komovi which has recently become a protected zone of regional park of nature Komovi, ad is declared an Emerald site, which belongs to a network of Emerald network sites important and protected due to significant biodiversity habitats, as per Bern convention.
This trail rack is part of the frontier trail of the former Yugoslav National Army (JNA), which over Asanac, Biograd and Lipovica leads all the way towards Prokletije. The path was continuously maintained by the soldiers, but today it has been irresponsibly left to decay, so it is not marked and in some places it is no longer visible among overgrown grass or stones. This means that you should not take this trail without GPS track log. Moreover, this is a truly wild and desolate place, prone to fog and stormy weather, a habitat of wild beasts, so it is recommended that you never go alone through here.
Water springs are marked on the map.
By the end of 2017 the plan is to start up the students recreation and mountain lodge and camping site in Josanica, fully equipped with all the outdoor sports equipment, bicycles, kayaks, fly fishing gear, snowshoes touring skis, with a sports field, so people will be able to spend the night here and enjoy the exploration of Komovi and surrounding mountains at affordable prices.
UPDATE: WWW.MOJANADVENTURES.ME
Exploration of this trail has been supported by National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro.
