Living on a DIY riverbed island in the mountains of Kosovo

[Matt Derrick]

Living on a DIY riverbed island in the mountains of Kosovo

JUNE 1, 2015

http://vandogtraveller.com/living-on-a-diy-riverbed-island-in-the-mountains-of-kosovo/

There’s a guy who has built his own island on a riverbed at the foot of the Prokletije Mountains in Kosovo. I got his attention and he waved us across.

Let me show you…

You walk through some bushes
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You get to here
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Then you have to cross the river
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There’s this guy that lives here
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He spent 2 years making his own island on the river bed
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It’s kind of like a hotel
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It has guest beds
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and sports facilities
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A washing machine
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An ensuite bathroom
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Garden
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A place to chill
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This is where he sleeps
There’s also a fire and chimney in here

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I asked him why he’s done this and he told me to close my eyes and listen to the river. But who is this guy? he didn’t speak much English and I can’t speak any Kosovan Albanian, but from what I could understand, he’s a dentist or dental technician. He did have good teeth.

What do you reckon? would you live here?

 

[Kal]

Interesting. I would be worry about a lot of rain and the river rising and then flooding. Doesn't seem like a good place to sleep. So no I wouldn't sleep there.

 

[Rob Nothing]

it.. does seem a little bit level with the water

can you imagine finding this guy by accident?? It's true, I would like to take a little break after that.. sounds great, looks great, but I think I'd have to sit down and laugh.

 

[Andrea Van Scoyoc]

I would so live there.

Good on him. I'd love to do that.

 

[Sip]

I'm probably gonna take some heat for this but fuck it, we're a community that values free speech:

I feel like he is a douche for fucking with the river like that just so he'd have a 'cool' place to camp. When he gets bored of it, dies, or gets kicked out or whatever, the fucking island he made will still be there, altering the flow of the river, having unforseen consequences for that body of water far into the future. What if trees and such grown in, and start daming up the place? He seems like a selfish prick thats not much better than people who thin out forests to the max to have "houses in the woods". Fuck that.

 

[Andrea Van Scoyoc]

Won't catch shit from me, Sip.

I can see both sides.

It's awesome, but you're right.

 

[iamwhatiam]

I'm probably gonna take some heat for this but fuck it, we're a community that values free speech:

I feel like he is a douche for fucking with the river like that just so he'd have a 'cool' place to camp. When he gets bored of it, dies, or gets kicked out or whatever, the fucking island he made will still be there, altering the flow of the river, having unforseen consequences for that body of water far into the future. What if trees and such grown in, and start daming up the place? He seems like a selfish prick thats not much better than people who thin out forests to the max to have "houses in the woods". Fuck that.

yea..that was actually one of my first thoughts too. try doing that in any major salmon spawning streams in the US or Alaska at least and you'd catch major heat

 

[Tude]

Interesting but has issues with the water - went and looked at the large steep mountains and there has to be some run off there! However I like how it was presented - comparing it to a hotel. Guest beds LOL! Have to go take a look at what else the writer/photographer has done.