Abandoned Bosnian village springs back to life as an adventure tourism centre

(18 May 2024)
HZ BOSNIA VILLAGE
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
LENGTH: 6'19
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Pecka, Western Bosnia - 11 May 2024
1. Wide top shot of village
2. Various of crumbling, overgrown village houses
3. Mile Terezija, elderly villager, standing outside his house, supporting himself on crutches
4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Mile Terezija, Pecka villager:
“After our tragic war, the old villagers died and the younger ones, some of them returned, but others did not.”
5. Terezija sitting on a chair
6. Close of Terezija’s folded hands
7. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Mile Terezija, Pecka villager:
“The village looked miserable, so miserable to make you want to cry, to cry.”
8. Group of visitors gathered around table outside Pecka Visitor Center
9. Close of sign above entrance
10. Various of visitors eating around tables outside center
11. Wide exterior of visitor centre
12. Group of children eating around table
13. Close of children eating
14. Boro Maric, Greenways co-founder, approaching a wooden cabin
15. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Boro Maric, Greenways co-founder:
“We told them (local authorities) that it would be good to set up an information centre, that the village is dying, but people are still visiting this area and there is no one to provide them with the information they need. We said we could do that and also other things to improve whatever needs improving around here.”
16. Various of Pecka Visitor Center surrounded by wooden cabins, tables and benches
17. Visitors standing next to table, information board with map of the area in foreground
18. Nikola Moraca, a visitor, watching his daughter in play area
19. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Nikola Moraca, Pecka visitor:
“We talked about it yesterday and I think that this is the only way in which villages can be brought back to life, because what Boro (Maric) did here, it impacts the local community, the people who grow and prepare food and similar. Yes, I think that this is the only way to save a village in Bosnia-Herzegovina from vanishing.”
20. Terezija walking on crutches
21.Terezija resting on chair
22. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Mile Terezija, Pecka villager:
“The village has been revived, it is full of life. The number of people coming here used to get smaller and smaller, but now people come, they go to the (source of the) Sana and walk through the village, pose questions, it is better than it was.”
23. Various of newly reconstructed houses
24. Maric walking outside Pecka Visitor Center
25. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Boro Maric, Greenways co-founder:
“Indirectly, we influenced the people who left the village 30, 40 or 50 years ago, we made them feel a want to return, to invest here; about 80 village houses have been rebuilt so far.”
26. Various of newly built village house
27. Terezija looking at information board
28. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Mile Terezija, Pecka villager:
“It is a starting point when people who hail from here return with their young, with their grandchildren or children, to show them where their roots are, where their grandfather or grandmother, their father or mother were born.”
29. Information board by hiking trail
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Near Pecka, Western Bosnia - 16 May 2024
30. Bridge at source of Sana River
31. Close of river
32. Wide of fire pit, benches and pergolas in forest clearing
33. Direction signs in forest
34. Various of waterfalls and moss-covered stones at the source of the Sana River
35. Direction signs in forest
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Near Pecka, Western Bosnia - 12 May 2024
36. Long, wide shot of climbing rocks towering over the village
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