Hello and welcome to this edition of our Blog, from Čardačani, in the north of Bosnia and Herzegovina, written by an immigrant (me), as I am neither a tourist or a citizen here.
This post might be “truncated” by your email server, because it’s a bit long. We recommend reading through your browser. There should be a link to that automatically generated 😀
Last week I asked in a short poll, about the format you prefer when reading these weekly updates from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
As a result, the following format will now be adopted as the “House Style”
It has been a rather busy week here, most of it based in the studio/office, as I plan the post “heatwave” period. There’s a project that needs realisation! I’ve also managed to get into Banja Luka for a meeting with a visiting podcaster from the Netherlands, who is travelling around the region, collecting content for a future podcast series for Radio Netherlands, that’s focussing on Peace Building here in the western Balkans. As the series is under Embargo, I am not allowed to elaborate, but it should be an interesting listen. If you can either speak or understand Dutch, you can check out their website.
The How
In the video above, I talk you through how our site is structured and how to navigate around it to find the information you are interested in. I hope this of use?
The Wall
There’s a new mural in Kralja Alfonsa XIII street in Banja Luka.
This seven and a half by ten metre mural, by Nataša Konjević is part of an initiative by the "Center for the Environment" and it’s "July without plastic" campaign.
"The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness and appeal to people to use plastic as little as possible, primarily single-use plastic, such as straws, garbage bags, and bottles. Everything that we will use and throw away decomposes in nature for hundreds of years".
The mural shows a girl who is smelling flowers, but is actually holding a bouquet of plastic waste in her hand.
On our Living in Bosnia and Herzegovina Podcast sometime ago, we talked to Banja Luka born muralist Nataša.
You can listen again below:
The Vlog
Our vlog (that used to be on YouTube) has been resurrected, and will now only appear here and on Vimeo.
We asked for a new name for the vlog from our subscribers, and we have decided on “Postcard from Bosnia”, the suggestion from Christian Payne, who also has his own newsletter here on Substack, so please do check him out 😀.
So Congratulations Christian, something will be winging its way to you very soon. Bosnian Post does take time but hopefully the wait will be worth it!
The “Merch”
We are always looking at ways we can fund our Blog, Vlog and Podcast production through support from our subscribers, and how we can add some form of value in return for that support. So, we have launched a small “merch” shop, where you can purchase something and we get a portion of the sales price 😀. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, it gets delivered 👍.
The Birds
Bird watching is a tourist attraction here in BiH.
In the above video, we travel through the Hutovo Blato
Hutovo Blato is a nature reserve and bird reserve located in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is primarily composed of marshlands that were created by the underground aquifer system of the Krupa River. It is fed from the limestone massif of Ostrvo that divides the Deransko Lake and Svitavsko Lake.
The reserve is on the list of BirdLife International's Important Bird Areas. It is the largest reserve of its kind in the region, in terms of both size and diversity.
It is home to over 240 types of migratory birds and dozens that make their permanent home in the sub-Mediterranean wetlands surrounding Deransko Lake.In the migration season, tens of thousands of birds fill the lake and its surroundings.
The Food
Harvested from the garden
The Drive
Due to the extreme heat at the moment, the centre of Banja Luka seems so deserted. Hardly anyone out during the days, and so the roads seem empty as well. We drive from the cathedral down to the part of town called "Malta". At least you can experience what we see when we start our drive back home to the village.
The Future
We are planning to attend “Day of the Pirogi” at Čelinovac, a Polish village not too far away from us.
Hopefully a super insight into one of the minority groups in this country.
The Garden
Because of this ferocious heat and sun, we have to try and protect the veggie garden as much as we can. As you can see, what we normally have as an expanse of pure lush green, is now just brown and dead (almost). This green covering sheet is the best we have 😒
And Finally
If you want to read back editions of the newsletter, listen to previous podcasts (we have quite an archive now), or catch other content, all this is available on the web interface, just like a regular blog.
Oh, and please share the newsletter with friends, relatives and colleagues using the button below.
Tamara and I appreciate your faithful readership, your comments, and your generosity!
THANKS SO MUCH ❤️
Beautiful 😍