Kayaking on the Crn Drim – an experience you must not miss!

Stories on Kajak.mk are increasingly being written by the water. Summer is coming, bringing with it the desire to dive into the water and enjoy the warm sunshine. The pandemic is slowly but surely losing its grip, and our team hopes that by the end of this year, things will return to normal.

The same hope is shared by everyone involved in tourism and hospitality. Every story that was paused by the pandemic is coming back to life.

Such is the story of Kosta Hiohi, the man who presents the Crn Drim River to tourists in the best light. Kosta lives and grew up in Struga. He spent part of his life in Romania, where he studied at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, specializing in water sports such as kayaking, canoeing, rowing, and sailing.

From a young age, he fell in love with these water sports and over time began defending his title as a national champion — first in the pioneer, cadet, and junior categories, and shortly after also in the senior category.

In 2001, he represented Macedonia at the World Championship in Poznań, Poland, and later at the European Championship in Milan, Italy.

Kosta says that simply by living near the water, it was only natural for him to join the club hangar back in 1989.

Today, besides being a professional athlete, he also organizes tours for all interested tourists. His sports club Solaris from Struga has existed since 2009. It was formed on the initiative of several enthusiasts — lovers of nature and outdoor sports activities. The goal of forming the club was to better promote the potential that the city of Struga has in terms of sports tourism, but above all, to share beautiful moments in nature with those who, for various reasons, had not yet been motivated to engage in sports.

That’s how they came up with the idea to organize a mountain bike marathon, purely for social and hygiene reasons, which they call “Bela di Supra” after the Vlach name of the village Gorna Belica, from where the marathon starts.

The idea to organize a kayaking tour under the motto “Sport for All” is personally Kosta’s, with the goal of finding an interesting way to promote...

“Crn Drim is a beautiful river that captivates with its natural beauty along its course. What you see in the town, where the river is lined with stone slabs along the quay, is completely different when you are upstream,” says Kosta. “Suddenly, you find yourself in a wild environment shaped by nature, giving you the impression that you are in a primeval forest. The kayaking tour passes by the villages of Vranishta, Lozhani, Dabovjani, Tashmarunishta, the Tesnec area, Bigor, all the way to the village of Globochica.

What is particularly interesting is that you paddle over the old submerged village of Globochica, which was completely flooded in 1963 due to the construction of the hydroelectric power plant of the same name. During the kayaking, the group encounters beautiful flora and fauna — species that disappeared from the town due to melioration processes — herons, cormorants, otters, river turtles, and more,” he adds.

Kosta is especially proud that in just six months over 400 enthusiasts have experienced this adventure, and the number continues to grow daily, which motivates them to enrich the experience even further.

Last year, they organized the kayaking marathon "Paddling for the Rare" for the first time, in support of people with rare diseases, and they plan to make this event a tradition that will grow into an important sports event in the coming years.

For more information about kayaking with Kosta, click HERE.