Wilderness Resort Bosnia and Herzegovina: lighthouse project for the start
Munich, 10. March 2008
Since the end of 2004, we have been working on WildernessResort, which will be established in Eastern Europe. There you can still find large tracts of natural land, populated by wolves, bears and lynx. The core of our provision is “muscular” outdoor activities. We do not dispute the fact that many a hotel resort is taking up this trend. But there is a fundamental difference in coming across the tracks of a squirrel or those of wolves and bears, whether riding, cross-country skiing or snowshoe walking and in letting raw Nature allow you to breathe in deeply, far away from ski lifts, residential areas and roads. And any similarity certainly ends when it comes to sleigh dog teams, white-water canoeing or our tracker team.
Our provision is filled with the challenge of genuine original experience. This also applies to our concept of wellness, culinary arts or personal coaches. You will find more details in the enclosed summary.
At the beginning of March 2006, when Amir Jusufbegovic, in his capacity as managing director of Vivendi Germany in addition to other businessmen from Bosnia, was asked by the deputy ambassador for Bosnia and Herzegovina for investment ideas for the country scarred by war and poverty, he suggested we present the resort concept to the embassy in Berlin.
To put it mildly, we were horrified when Mr. Jusufbegovic tried to persuade us to consider Bosnia as a site. Had he understood nothing at all? A five-star resort in a war zone? And allowing 1½ years of development work to evaporate in a cauldron of conflict?
But perhaps we were the ones who had not yet understood, who did not realise what WildernessResort could be. We already found it reckless enough, pushing through a privately-funded national park with adjacent lodge, together with the local population and probably against the concerted interests of the timber, paper and hydropower lobby and of whomever else besides, before it was once more too late. But perhaps our previous approach had not gone far enough.
We could still change alter our prejudices. Bosnia possesses natural treasure which is unique in Europe. Wild rivers of drinking-water quality abounding in fish, large populations of wolves and bears and landscapes of incredible beauty.
And what about the effects of the war? Making a snap decision, we obtained our own impression of the situation on the spot, in autumn 2006. On our detour of around 1 000 km over Bosnian roads, we got to know extremely friendly people, unbiased towards foreigners. As a tourist you do not have the feeling that the people are going to go for their throat at any moment.
But there is another side to it, too. Everywhere there are mine warning signs at the side of the road. Everywhere, ruined houses shot to pieces recall the horrific images of the most recent war, and the white markers of the Muslim graves testify to the ethnic conflicts.
What exactly do we intend to do now?
The core of our concept is to set up a sufficiently large nature reserve and to add an environmentally friendly luxury resort to it. The decisive advantage of a five-star resort is that, in the situation with considerably fewer guests and thus less visitor pressure, there is considerably more personnel to be employed, which is of great significance to the local population in the mostly economically underdeveloped, rural, barely accessible peripheral regions. Also that is the only way of justifying the high investment in innovative, environmentally friendly architecture which ought to be self-apparent in such unspoilt natural countryside.
Resort and reserve could then produce a benefit of both people and nature, as they open up new development prospects for the people of the region, through improved education and the creation of tourist jobs, for example.
But Bosnia is largely unknown as a tourist country or is even seen in a negative light and also does not have a destination with great appeal. WildernessResort brings this appeal with it and aims to see that high expectations and hopes aroused in the population groups are not disappointed in the actual area, by creating a modern tourist infrastructure.
One thing is beyond a doubt – right now Bosnia needs “lighthouse projects”. As a tourism project which attracts attention, WildernessResort should have the potential to provide the initial internal and external spark to set things in motion.
Speaking with investors about Bosnia as a potential location for our wilderness resort in the luxury category, we are facing a lot of problems: a country of minefields1,2,3, expulsion4, misery among refugees, hostility towards the homecomers5,6, the infliction of unspeakable cruelty on women and children during war7, poverty and hopelessness, corruption8, endangered natural treasures9,10, an apartheid system in many schools11,6 and at work6,12, organised crime, nationalists, war criminals profiting from those circumstances6, a rate of unemployment over 40% and an evaporation of international interest 12 years after the end of the war…
That is the reason, why we decided instead of hiding the problems to put them right on the front page of our Executive Summary right among the top qualities of this beautiful country.
For more detailed information feel free to visit our link list at www.wilderness-resort.de and then click there on the “links” menu bar.
As to see on the front page of our ExSu, we have chosen three potential locations: the surroundings of Drina valley with Sutjeska National Park near Foca, the upper Neretva valley southeast Konjic and the Unac valley southeast Martin Brod in Kanton Una Sana at Bihac.
We decided to display the whole issue in the web instead of talking in hidden cabinets far from the public eyes. Under BOSNIA TODAY we try to show a modern country, with a genuine natural heritage and the most hospitable people. Feel free to visit (www.wilderness-resort.de or www.wilderness-resort.ba).
Contact:
Matthias Schwahn (project manager)
STORYLINER leisure and entertainment
Wolfgang Ohnes & Matthias Schwahn GbR
Pappenheimstr. 7
D-80335 München/Munich
Germany
Tel ++49 (0) 89 – 599 476 12
Fax ++49 (0) 89 – 599 476 20
eMail info@wilderness-resort.de