Skakavac Falls

Skakavac Waterfall The last time I stood here, the waterfall wasn't moving. It had frozen solid, the whole rock face sealed under ice, white on white. That was winter. Six hundred-odd days have gone by since then, somehow, and this time the hillside around it is still green, just starting to edge toward the yellow of late autumn. Same waterfall, same spot on the trail, and it looked like a different place entirely. Standing there again, mist coming off the water and landing on my face, it was hard not to think about how much time had actually passed while I wasn't paying attention. Getting There Skakavac sits about 12 kilometres northeast of Sarajevo, above a village called Nahorevo, and at 98 metres it's one of the tallest waterfalls in the Balkans, even though the flow itself isn't huge. It was made a protected natural monument back in 2002. From the city, take bus (or minibus) route 69 from Sutjeska station and ride it to the last stop. From there, follow the signs toward the waterfall, about 4 kilometres of walking to reach the park entrance, and then another hour or so of trail beyond that to actually get to the falls. If you walk the whole stretch from the bus's last stop rather than catching a ride partway, the road passes a lot of local houses, with sheep grazing along the fields on either side. It's an easy, pleasant walk with decent scenery the whole way, not a hardship at all, just longer than the alternative. If you'd rather skip some of that road walking, you can arrange a lift to the actual trailhead and start hiking from there instead. From that point, the round trip to the waterfall and back runs about three hours. Once you reach the falls, you've got two ways back: retrace your steps the way you came, or cross over near the waterfall and loop around to rejoin the trail near the entrance. Either way gets you back to the road, where you can wait for the bus back into the city or arrange a ride. Worth Knowing Before You Go The waterfall freezes into different shapes each winter, which is part of why locals keep coming back to it season after season, it genuinely looks like a different place depending on when you visit. Summer and early autumn show it at its greenest, with the surrounding forest doing most of the work, since the flow itself is on the modest side compared to its height. If you're using a map app, searching "Skakavac Waterfall" gets you close enough to plan a route, whether that's the full walk from Nahorevo, a shorter hike from the trailhead, or something in between depending on how much walking you're up for that day.