The second day on Cress island we drove to the north end of the island. There is a sanctuary for the endangered griffon vultures, in a small village called Beli. We drove around 20 km and the last several km are a narrow single lane road - partially with a
vertical drop to the water a few hundred meters down. Fortunately, as the
tourist is over there isn't much traffic.
These birds are the only vultures
that nest in the cliffs directly above the sea - sometimes as little as 10
meters above the water.
When the chick tries it's first
flight sometimes things go bad.- the young bird ends up injured on the beach or
in the water. The sanctuary is to provide those and other injured or poisoned
birds a new chance at living.
There were five young but fully grown
birds at the facility in a large cage. You can only see them through holes in a
wooden wall to provide them a more natural environment.
After viewing the birds we took a hiking trail up the hill toward an old village named Niska -which is an abandoned village with stone buildings falling in- and return to the start point.
Only 6.65 km with about 350 meters elevation gain/loss but a good short hike. The area is quite steep and very rocky. Some places there are nothing but rocks with trees poking through. Fences are generally made of rock - plenty available.
