Rragam (Tropoja)

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Rragam
Rragami
Rragam (Tropoja) (Albania)
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Coordinates: 42 ° 25 ′  N , 19 ° 50 ′  E

Basic data
Qark : Kukës
Municipality : Tropoja
Height : 1,150  m above sea level A.
View from the Valbona Pass to the Valbonatal with the scattered houses of Rragam to the left of the creek bed

View from the Valbona Pass to the Valbonatal with the scattered houses of Rragam to the left of the creek bed

The small village of Rragam , sometimes also called Rrogam ( Albanian  Rragami / Rrogami ), is the third and furthest settlement in the Valbonatal in northern Albania .

The village lies at 1025  m above sea level. A. around seven kilometers southwest of Valbona . Around half of the route is paved. The rest of the way consists of a simple road, most of which runs through the wide gravel bed of the Valbona river . The scattered settlement extends over the northern foot of the slope a little above the valley floor. It is surrounded by the highest mountains in Albania: the Jezerca ( 2695  m above sea level ) in the north, at the foot of which the village is located, and the mountain range of Zhapora and Grykat e Hapëta in the south with the Maja Grykat e Hapëta ( 2625  m above sea level ) u. A. ) as the highest peak.

The popular hiking trail leads through the village over the Valbona Pass ( 1795  m above sea level ), which  connects Valbona with Theth . The Peaks of the Balkans long-distance hiking trail also  uses this route.

Path in the gravel bed of the river below the village

Rragam lies entirely in the Valbonatal National Park . One attraction of the park is the fir forest of Rragam ( Albanian  Bredhishtja e Rragamit ). The 70 hectare forest with spruce trees up to 120 years old and up to 25 meters high is the largest of its kind in Albania and is protected as a natural monument. At the western end of the valley not far from the village, the waterfall of Rragam ( Albanian  ujëvara e Rragamit ) falls over a rock face.

While the residents of Valbona are Muslim, the residents of Rrogam are Catholic since the village was settled from Theth. The village was not established until the late 1940s. In 1965 the farmers were collectivized. In 1991, after the fall of the communist regime, residents complained of overpopulation. The emigration set in rapidly in the 1990s, as everywhere in the mountains of Albania. Only a few remained; the school is closed today and in ruins. The tourism brought life back into the valley. In 2017 there were 33 beds in guest houses in the village. In 2018 the village was supplied with electricity again after eleven years.

Web links

Commons : Rragam  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Official map 1: 50,000 of the military cartographic office of Albania, sheet K-34-52-D, 2nd edition, Tirana 1988
  2. ↑ File: 2013-10-05 Valbona, Albania 8538.jpg
  3. ↑ Agjensia Kombëtare e Zonave të Mbrojtura: Bredhishtja e Ragamit ( Memento from May 9, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Fremuth: Albania. Guide to it's natural treasures . Herwig Klemp, [Wardenburg] 2002, ISBN 3-931323-06-4 , pp. 55 .
  5. ↑ Historia e Thethit dhe Prejardjha - Perla e Alpeve. In: alpealtheth.com. Retrieved April 11, 2020 (Albanian).
  6. ↑ Catherine Bohne: Dear New York Times. In: Journey to Valbona. March 31, 2013, accessed on April 11, 2020 (English): “Oh - and by the way, Valbona is not Catholic. The first person to settle permanently in Valbona 12 generations ago (one Selim Pretash, founder of the Selimaj fis or clan) received his land grant from the Ottomans in return for demonstrating his commitment to developing a community by building a mill. Ottomans tended to grant civil contracts to good Muslims, so hey-presto, the area became "Muslim." There is an enclave of Catholics - of whom my good friend Kol Gjoni (whose mustaches are truly fearsome!) Is one - in Rrogam, at the other end of the valley - they hopped over here from Theth some 50 or so years ago. They were trying (alas, unsuccessfully it turns out) to avoid the collectivization of their goats. "
  7. ↑ The Albanians of Rrogam - BBC report from 1991 on YouTube , accessed April 11, 2020.
  8. ↑ Erjola Keçi, Elisabeth Krog: Thethi & Valbona Valley National Parks, and Gashi River Strict Nature Reserve. Management plan . Ed .: European Union. June 6, 2014, p. 40 f ., doi : 10.13140 / 2.1.2620.8324 ( researchgate.net [accessed April 11, 2020]).
  9. ↑ a b It's time to explore the mountains. In: Tirana Times. July 13, 2016, accessed April 11, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Ministër i turizmit dhe mjedisit (ed.): Plani kombëtar sektorial i turizmit për rajonin e Alpeve Shqiptare. Plani i zhvillimit të sektorit . Tirana December 9, 2017, p. 122–124 ( planifikimi.gov.al [PDF; accessed April 11, 2020]).
  11. ↑ Tropojë / Fshati Rragam i Shalës prej 11 vitesh pa energji elektrike - Shqiptarja.com. In: shqiptarja.com. Retrieved April 11, 2020 .