1st Vikos Crossing

Thirty five people, eleven children aged between 6 and 15 years old, as well as a baby of 16 months, Luka, among them, managed to cross the Vikos Gorge as part of the activity of the land beyond, held for the first time on Thursday, the 12th of August 2010. The crossing started from Vitsa, Zagori.

The team bearing a light daypack with a small bottle of water and some fruit,  a t-shirt and a towel, a jockey and a walking stick – called gklitsa -  entered the gorge from the Monodendri stairs – called skala – and walked throughout the unique and monumental Vikos Gorge, which is very rich in biodiversity and ecological value.

Vikos Gorge with a total length of 12 kms is one of the world’s deepest canyons, its slopes full of rare flowers and herbs. In the cold Voidomatis springs, a little before ending the crossing and climbing to exit the Gorge in the village of Vikos (Vitsiko village), having already walked for six hours, the most courageous, took a dive.  The team also visited the Information point of the National Park of Northen Pindos (NATURA 2000) in Aspragelloi, as well as other neighbouring Zagori villages. We visited the waterfalls of Papigko, called Ovires,  and attended the inauguration ceremony of articles made of wood and of the Mushrooms collection held at the time in the Natural History Museum of Vitsa. A special t-shirt was given to all members of the team to bring it back home and to remind them of their accomplishment.