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                                Geography and Climate of KOSOVO           

The young Europeans

Geography

Kosovo is situated in the central part of the Balkan. In the Southwest, it is bordered by Albania, in the West by Montenegro, in the North by Serbia and in the East and Southeast by Macedonia. Kosovo covers a surface area of approx. 10,900 km² and is characterised by an average altitude of 800 m above sea level. From the geographical point of view, Kosovo can be subdivided into two large regional flat units: The north-eastern part is referred to as "Rrafshi i Kosovës", the south-western part as "Rrafshi i Dukagjinit.

Climate

The climate of Kosovo is predominantly continental, resulting in warm summers and cold winters with Mediterranean and Alpine influences (average temperature within the country range from +30 °C (summer) to –10 °C (winter). December and January are regarded as the coldest months, July and August as the warmest months of the year.

Forests in Kosovo

Forests rich in flora and fauna covering about 60 % of the territory of Kosovo, this comes as a result of climate change , pedological and hydro which have affected the diversity of flora and fauna .All Kosovo's public forests are national resources which are protected by law.

Mountains in Kosovo

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Kosovo is surrounded by several high mountain ranges. The northern part is occupied by the Kopaonik mountains (above 2,000 m). In the southern and south-western part of Kosovo, at the border to Macedonia, the Mali i Sharrit mountains are located (above 2,500 m). The western part of Kosovo (border to Albania) includes parts of the Alpet Shqipatare/Albanian Alps mountains and the Mali i Moknes. These areas are characterised by rocky material, high mountains and deep gorges.

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  Mountains of Kosovo <gallery>
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  Gjeravica

Tourism in Kosovo

Kosovo, although there is no sea, tourism has enough resources to create the opportunity for the development of tourism in other forms including cultural and natural heritages.

The most visited places for tourism are: Prizren, Mirusha waterfall, White Drin source, Rugova Gorge, Gadime Cave and some other parts not forgetting the lower part of Kosovo Vermica, which except natural beauty with mountains, river Drin and two water sources and delivers best among specialties from fish.

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  Prizren
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  Mirusha Waterfall

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  Gadime Cave
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  Brezovica

Hiking in Kosovo

Since they started hiking they noticed that in addition to poorly marked hiking routes there is also lack of accurate topographic maps. The only available maps with reasonable accuracy (1:25,000) are old army maps dating back in the 1970‘s and they are hard to find. Considering that most one-day hikes in Sharr or Cursed mountains are relatively difficult (and there is no mountain rescue service available) this is a major safety concern for foreign tourists and novice hikers.

During 2011 they plan to change this and their strategy has following four pillars: Field data collection: Points of Interest and registration of trails with GPS and GPS enabled devices Editing and Online sharing: Google Map Maker, EveryTrail, etc. Marking of hiking trails in accordance with international best practice Data processing in GIS and Cartography Hardcopy Map Publishing

By joining / supporting Hiking Njeri you can contribute in development of tourism in Kosova and make hiking much safer activity.

Notes

Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. Kosovo's independence has been recognised by 106 out of 193United Nations member states.

References

"Geography." Geography. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.kosovo-mining.org/kosovoweb/en/kosovo/geography.html>. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gjiganti.com/kosova/turizmi/>.

"Pyjet." Pyjet. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.rks-gov.net/SQ-

"Highest Mountains Kosovo." Highest Mountains Kosovo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.geonames.org/XK/highest-mountains-in-kosovo.html>. "Geography." Geography. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.kosovo-mining.org/kosovoweb/en/kosovo/geography.html>. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.gjiganti.com/kosova/turizmi/>.

"Pyjet." Pyjet. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.rks-gov.net/SQ-

"Highest Mountains Kosovo." Highest Mountains Kosovo. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://www.geonames.org/XK/highest-mountains-in-kosovo.html>.