Issue 09 · 2024
I spent my first night in Albania on a beautiful beach.
The only downside: the rubbish scattered all along the shore – TVs, shoes, plastic bottles and much more everywhere.
I usually collect the rubbish around my vehicle when I travel, but on this beach I could have filled a whole bin lorry and it would hardly have made a difference.
It’s a real shame to see nature treated like this.
I believe this will change as the country becomes wealthier and priorities shift.
The trip in numbers
Year — 2024
Country — Albania
Distance — approx. 500 km
Diesel — approx. 100 l · €135
For the first time I actually had to use the sand ladders and dig my way through the mud ...
All over the country you still see remnants of former industry – oil pumps and other rusty machinery.
It’s a bit reminiscent of the Rust Belt in the USA.
Honestly, Albania could just put the Mercedes logo on its national flag.
The vehicles are everywhere. Most trucks are old Mercedes models, and it’s the same with cars – old, new, battered, brand new.
As long as there’s a star on the bonnet!
The Mercedes T1 and even the LN2 (like my truck) are still in daily working use here – 30 to 40 years after they were built!
Tirana as a city was interesting, but not necessarily worth flying there just to see it.
There’s a large, beautiful mosque and a few old socialist-era buildings – but that’s pretty much it.
Tirana’s city buses were apparently bought second-hand from Germany.
All the signs inside are still in German.
I parked at the Fridolin campsite in Elbasan because I wanted to make some modifications to the truck.
But the local garage didn’t have the right equipment to lift my wheel properly, so I moved on after one night.
The great thing about Albania is that you can still experience real freedom here. You can drive and camp pretty much anywhere.
Sadly, there’s also a lot of rubbish in the landscape. Locals simply throw their waste away anywhere,
so nature is littered with rubbish everywhere.
Originally I wanted to drive into the mountains ... but it was raining, and at some point I had to choose between a ford crossing and driving through a village. Neither was an option with the truck, as the heavy rain made the river so fast that it wasn’t safe.
So I looked for another route on the satellite view and decided to try it. Unfortunately, after a while the track turned into a steep, single-lane gravel path. Because of the rain the ground was wet, and the truck would have had no safe grip – it could have slid into the gorge. So I decided to turn back.
Unfortunately I had already gone a little too far, and two wheels dug themselves into the mud. Luckily, at that spot two mounds of earth protected me from sliding into the gorge, which reduced the risk somewhat. After two hours of pushing stones, digging, laying sand ladders and placing big branches, I managed to get free in reverse. After about a kilometre of reversing I could finally turn around.
Lesson learned.
I’d barely made it down the mountain when I saw three guys stuck in the mud with their 4x4 and helped pull them out.
I was already completely covered in mud from my own adventure, and unfortunately our tow rope was too short at first. Luckily, after a while a local Albanian came by with a longer rope, and the truck could show what it’s made of.
I didn’t even feel any strain – the truck simply pulled the off-roader out.
At Borsh beach I met Melli and Attila and spent a wonderful evening with them.
We talked a lot about our trucks, the build and the habitation boxes, and about travelling and life.
They’ve built an incredibly exciting and impressive truck – completely different from mine – which made it especially interesting for me to see!
