In late August of 2018, we took a canyon exploration tour in the Osumi canyon. We rate it a creative/10. Staying at the Berat Backpackers Hostel in Berat, Albania, we saw an opportunity to take a canyon adventure tour with a local company. It was relatively unclear what this tour consisted of, but Courtney and I were up for an adventure. The tour was 45€, or 35€ if we passed on the lunch. We passed on the lunch, because even 35€ was a particularly expensive tour for Albania. We were picked up at 9 in the morning, and spent an hour careening through the Albanian countryside. We shot around the sharp corners with such velocity that everyone on the bus was ready to throw up by the time we arrived. The company traditionally specialized in whitewater rafting, but water was so low in the summer that rafting was not an activity they could offer. We geared up in full wetsuits, life jackets, and helmets and took off for the river. When we reached the bank, the guide threw himself backwards into the gray water. We shrugged and all followed suit, lifejackets splashing and the current whisking us downriver.
“Good thing my hiking boots are waterproof!” I called to Courtney after being submerged. They were technically waterproof, but I was kidding. Optimistically those boots will dry by September.
The tour consisted of half floating on our backs and half stumbling over the rocky shore - it became clear very quickly that this tour was a creative solution to whitewater rafting without rafts. As a bonus, we were all given bottles of water that we got to carry for the next two hours. Most of us shoved it down the front of our life jacket and helplessly watched it float downriver when the bottle become dislodged. Halfway through the tour, we all stopped and the guides passed out plastic cups. “What are these for?” Courtney whispered to me. “Probably raki,” I guessed, assuming they were giving us all shots of locally made alcohol like our tour the previous day offered. I was wrong.
We played a game on the bank where everyone hangs a cup from their mouth, and water is passed from cup to cup with no hands.
Yeah I don’t know why we didn’t guess that.
It was strange but fun, then we unceremoniously moved on to another sequence of floating and stumbling. A bit further down the river we came upon a beautiful waterfall. This is the only photo of it that we have - so you will just need to take our word for it.
Near the waterfall, we all circled up and followed the guide’s lead on a yoga session. This was an absolutely hilarious experience, and one we did not expect any more than the water cup game. I would give anything for a photo of our group of 12 people squeezed into long wetsuits participating in this surprise yoga class.
After another distance we came to the end of the tour - we had to do was climb up a steep narrow trail out of the canyon. Now, this would have been no problem - but let me remind you we are in tight full-body wetsuits plastered to our legs with waterproof hiking boots securing a liter of sloshing water weight to your feet. What an experience. Courtney and I ate canned tuna on rice cakes (our staple meal) and bought ice cream while the group ate a quick lunch. While the canyon adventure wasn’t what we were expecting, we had a great time, and the hilarious randomness of this tour will surely make for a great story.
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