You will be provided with a wetsuit, watercraft, helmet, and life jacket. From the tourist, only attentiveness and good mood are needed.
How to reach the starting place?
The route starts in the village of Mezhybrody, near Skole, which is 100 km from Lviv. Travel time to that place will be about 1.5 hours. This is where the rafting begins, because it’s located near the confluence of two rivers. Stryi and Opir, where the rafting takes place, are the rivers of 1+ category. Taras Biloshytskyi explains that in general there are rivers of the categories from 1 to 5.
From the confluence of Opir and Stryi rivers, participants raft a distance of 15 km to the village of Hirne. This trip usually takes 2 to 4 hours. You can pause halfway.
Due to the rain, the rivers Stryy and Opir are full of water and restless, which was lucky for the team «Your city. Your country». On the Dnister, rafting is calmer, and this river is accessible all year round.
Who is this recreation for and what things are necessary to bring?
Parents and children can take part in the rafting, and the rainy weather won’t be an obstacle, as it greeted, for example, the team «Your city. Your country» this time. Taras Biloshitsky has taught thousands of people to hold an oar correctly for as long as 20 years. Interestingly, he is a conductor by previous education, and at the age of 12, took an oar for the first time.
For the rafting, you need to wear a thermal suit over thermal underwear, which you need to take with you. You’ll also need to have a pair of shoes and one more, which you won’t fear to soak in, as well as a changeable set of clothes.
«During the last 20 years, I’ve seen how people’s attitudes have changed: initially, there was drinking, then eating, and now we are talking about real emotions, new cultural interests are emerging. The number of people I’d like to raft with is becoming bigger and bigger», – adds Taras Biloshitsky.
How much does it cost?
A one-day rafting with lunch costs UAH 850 for one person. You will be provided with a wetsuit, watercraft, helmet, and life jacket. Beyond that only attentiveness and good mood is needed. Children under 6 can raft for free, and for half price if they’re up to 12 years old.
In addition to being accessible to very young children, people with disabilities can also float. For them, it’s organized for free, usually on the Dniester river.
The organizers also include lunch in the price of the trip. It’s difficult to turn this down after three hours in a boat. You can have a snack directly in the camp.
The rafting, by the way, can take up to two days. Such a type of recreation will cost UAH 1,900 per person. This includes rafting, food, and an overnight stay in a tent camp. Those who want to spend the night with more comfort can stay overnight at the hotel or guest house in Skole. There are many of them for different tastes there.
What else is nearby?
On a trip to the Skole area, you can also play golf for free, as well as meet a carver who makes paintings from wood. It’s Yurii Hesh who creates realistic paintings on wood with the help of cutters. Like the 3-D effect, animals, and historical events come to life on them. Mr. Yurii’s paintings can be purchased at the Museum of History and Local Lore in Skole. There are also many historical exhibits, and in the basement, there are reproduced torture chambers of NKVD (People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs in USSR), where members of UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) were questioned. In addition, the locals are still proud of the legendary figure of Zakhar Berkut, a literature hero connected to this area.
You can also visit the Palace of Hredli, where the information and tourist center of the Carpathians is planned to be created, as well as take beautiful selfies near the unusual house, which has patterns painted with light blue and gold colours on its walls, fabulous windows, pigeons on the roof, and figures of flowers in the yard.
If you have little time, but still want to go to the mountains, you can go to Parashka, Lopata and Kudriavets mounts. These peaks will open the landscapes of the Skole Beskids before your eyes. A popular route for a one-day mountain trip is Mount Lopata in Skole, which is 1210 meters above sea level and 9 kilometers to the top. The ascent begins from the recreational zone «Pavliv Potik«, near the bridge over the cool river Opir.
You can read more about visiting Skole here.
Olha Koval
Translated by Vitalii Holich
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