Location: 26 km to the North-East from
Tirana
Height: 1,613 meters
Area:
29,384 hectares
Mount Dajti overlooking the capital of Albania is deemed as
"balcony of Tirana" and offers a beautiful view of the capital.
The National Park Mountain Daiti (Dajti) covers an area of 29,384
hectares of the mountain range in the east of the Albanian capital
Tirana. Here you can see the panorama of the entire city. You can
get here by car or elevator, which takes tourists to the top.
Despite the fact that this is an ecological park, here you can find
several restaurants and bars overlooking the capital.
In
addition to hares, foxes and wild cats, wolves, bears, European
boars live here. It is quite clear that they can be quite dangerous
if you unexpectedly go out to them. To avoid this, you can simply
bring along objects that produce a metallic sound. Animals are
unlikely to want to meet people. Instincts will take their own and
they simply run away.
To get to the Mountain Dajti National
Park, you need to take a public bus at the Tirana’s watch tower to
Porcelan (30 Lek). From here you can go uphill for 1.5 km, or you
can wait for the free bus (runs every 30 minutes, 5 minutes). You
can also take a taxi from the city, but a trip from Tirana can cost
about 600 lek.
It is believed that the name Dajti comes from the
Greek goddess Diktynna. Other mountains also bear her name.
Traces of prehistoric settlements have been found on the Dajti.
Remains of various fortifications from later times have also been
discovered.
Large parts of the mountain have been protected
as a national park since 1966.
The mountain is
part of the Kruja Range, a long line of mountains stretching from
Shkodra to south of Tirana and rising abruptly from the coastal
plain. The chain is cut by deep river valleys. The Dajti is bounded
in the north by the Tirana River and in the south by the Qafa e
Priskës pass (954 m above sea level), to which the Mali i Priskës
(1365 m above sea level) connects. Little Lana rises on its western
flank. In the north of Dajti rises the small peak Maja e Tujanit
(1531 m above sea level), which makes the mountain a kind of double
peak. The summit Maja e Dajtit (1613 m above sea level) is separated
by a saddle, and there are three more elevations on the long
southern ridge with heights over 1500 m above sea level. A. follow.
The mountain consists mostly of limestone.
On the west side,
several ledges between 700 and 1050 meters give it a striking
appearance. Above these rocks at the northern end of the mountain is
a four-kilometer-long and around 400-meter-wide terrace, the Fusha e
Dajtit. Another steep slope is between 350 and 500 meters high. At
the back the mountain drops steeply to a height of less than 1000
meters. Then it runs out flat in the valleys behind this first
mountain range.
The mountain can be reached
via a narrow mountain road that winds up to Fusha e Dajtit and also
serves to develop the national park. From this small level you have
an excellent view of Tirana and the plain, which is why it is also
called the balcony of Tirana.
Since June 2005, day trippers
can also take a gondola lift from the eastern outskirts of Tirana.
This first cable car in Albania for the transport of tourists was
built by an Austrian company and, according to its own advertising,
is the longest in the Balkans.
As a military restricted area, the summit cannot be climbed. There are also radio and television broadcasting systems. It is possible to climb the Maja e Tujanit without hindrance.