Tara Packrafting: Unique adventure in Europe's deepest canyon

Nenad and Pavel led a great half day pack rafting excursion through the Tara Canyon. Informative and friendly experts. Excellent views!

Our pack rafting tour with guide Nenad was absolutely incredible, it was truly an unforgettable experience for us. As beginners, Nenad made us feel safe and directed us clearly at all times. It is such a great experience navigating your own raft, and we loved the adrenaline! The scenery was absolutely spectacular, and it was fun being able to stop and swim and take in the beautiful scenery. I would recommend Tara Expeditions to anyone visiting the Tara River in Montenegro. Thanks so much again for this experience!

Incredible experience packrafting on the Tara River. I had done white water grafting on a group raft a few times before but this is a whole different experience. Super fun! You’re in control of your own individual packraft so having paddling experience is helpful. Highly recommend Tara Expeditions and packrafting if you like adventure!

It didn’t need to be like this. My wife and I booked Nenad as a small group, but it turned out just to be us. We are both fit and decent swimmers. Whilst we had not pack-rafted before, we have rafted, paddle-boarded, been canyoning etc, collectively activities that suggest this wasn’t an entirely novel pursuit. The Viator ad specifically says “No experience, no problem”, as long as you are “moderately fit” etc. The kit was good, the safety briefing the expected (but adequate) 30 seconds of “if you fall in, swim to the side or wave and I’ll come and help you”. This was fine. The instruction, however, was effectively non-existent - it happened in the less than a minute it took me to get into the water after my wife had got her boat into the water. Nemad had not asked whether or not we had done this before to judge how much instruction might be needed in the still water where we got into the river. All I heard was “let’s go”. The boats were good quality, but were very sensitive and skittish. It was obvious my wife hadn’t got the hang of it in the first minute of paddling, so I shouted forward to Nemad. I was ignored and he paddled into the rapid. We went through the first rapid (not aggressive, but white water and my wife going sideways) to the next flat water. I called to Nemad again to share further instruction. He said he had already given instruction, we were behind schedule and “let’s go”. We are on the water less than 5 minutes at this point. The current took us through the next rapids, similar to the first, but my wife sideways again in these very tippy boats. In the next flat water, I paddled over to Nemad and said he needed to give more instruction. He said that he had already given instruction, that “everyone” “got it” by this point and that we were running late. I insisted that he give more instruction. He watched my wife for a second and should “you are lazy paddling – you need to stop lazy paddling”. I later translated this to her (I am not an instructor and wanted to defer to our guide) as drive the paddle more deeply, rather than at the surface, and pull more strongly. We drifted into the next rapids and into the next flat water. I again stopped Nemad and said we needed a small amount of time on flat water to practice and gain confidence. Nemad was more concerned that we were saying his initial guidance hadn’t been perfect, recoiling at the criticism, said we were late and needed to go – we could stop at the next beach, beyond the rapids. As we went through the rapids, Nemad was ahead (fine, but rarely looking back), my wife was going through OK and I was back-paddling to make sure I stayed behind her. My back-paddling meant I went sideways, hit a rock and fell into the river. This was fine, fun, not a problem, so I gatherer my paddle and the boat and started to swim out of the current and towards the shore. Nemad arrived, held my boat and I jumped back in. All fine. As we exited the rapids before the beach. Nemad paddled himself to the beach and got out. My wife – having lost confidence by going through various rapids sideways, without instruction and seeing me fall out – was paddling towards the beach, but the current was taking her beyond it. She called for help / instruction, but Nemad yelled back that the beach was “just there” and turned away. When she got close enough, she stepped out into thigh-high fast running water and lost her footing. The current took her boat and paddle and she jumped to retrieve them, but was now up to her neck in the fast water and was scrambling for the kit (boat and paddle) so that it did not all float downstream. She called for assistance again, so I paddled towards her and a tourist from a group raft that happened to be on the beach ran towards her, into the water and helped her with the boat and paddle. I paddled to the shore. Nemad, looking away until this point, went and retrieved the boat and paddle from the tourist who had helped my wife. The three of us (Nemad, my wife and I) had a reasonably heated discussion on the beach. I was angry, but calm, my wife was angry and frightened and Nemad was offended that we disagreed that his initial instruction hadn’t been up to scratch. Nemad was also offended by the tone – he was keen to be “respected”. Our tone was angry, but there was nothing offensive, or incorrect, in what we said. Nemad focused on wanting more respect. At this point, Nemad said that he wasn’t sure we should continue to the end of the itinerary, as the rapids would become more pronounced further downstream. This was HIS observation / recommendation, although he later says we simply decided to end the tour early, not that we felt unsafe and felt compelled to end the tour because of this – simply that we chose not to continue. While Nemad was calling for the transport to pick us up at the next beach, a km or so downstream (but still well before the Tara Bridge), I spent time – since we would need to paddle there – to talk my wife through the very basics of the paddling. We paddled downstream to the getting out point under much better control (despite the built-up loss of confidence). We got out and were taken back to the start point and returned out kit. At this point, I had a conversation with Nemad about what had gone wrong. I said that there had been zero assessment of experience, inadequate instruction at the outset, no practice on flat water to trigger initial necessary remedial correction. I said he had appeared to be very aware of the time from minute 1 on the water, since we entered the water late (despite us arriving half an hour early) and that he had been more focused on making up time (presumably to meet the return driver) than giving guidance. I said it was a problem that he had refused to respond to requests for instruction (there had been some – and some performative stuff at the very end which he was recording) and that this had caused the draining of confidence. I also said that his inattention when my wife was struggling to get the boat to shore, needing the intervention of a bystander undermined our confidence that he was paying attention to safety. He refused to acknowledge any validity in any part of this. He said “I would apologise if I felt it was right, but I don’t, so I won’t”. That is verbatim. He then asked me if I had felt safe. I said that this was missing the point – a group should go at the rate of the least confident, feel the security of the least secure. I also said he had caused the loss of confidence by his lack of guidance. He said that he was an excellent river guide. I said that I thought he had fallen short of reasonable expectations and was missing the point. When I said I would be seeking a refund, Nemad said that he would give us a full refund, but would not be able to do so because he had not been paid by Viator. We think a refund is warranted, because he failed to provide the tour advertised – very specifically the “learn strokes & safety before you paddle” and “[we] ensure you move at your own pace”. Neither of these happened – and these caused the subsequent problems. More importantly, we think Nemad should acknowledge that he hadn’t set the tour up properly in terms of assessment or instruction – I will say with confidence, not arrogance, that my 2 minutes of guidance (vs formal instruction) on the penultima beach before our exit was more thorough and effective for my wife than anything that Nemad had bothered to do – not because of anything positive that I did, but because of the lack of anything useful from Nemad, who instead kept on insisting how good he was and how perfectly he had done everything, despite our requests from minute 1 (initially polite and eager before developing into frustration, fear and anger). Nemad and I subsequently exchanged WhatApp messages in which I said I would be writing a negative review and complaining to Viator, seeking a refund (subsequently offering to waive the park and river fees he had paid). Nemad replied that I was “blackmailing” him by saying I would leave a negative review and seeking a refund. I disagree. I was simply explaining the steps I intended to take following what I believed was an unsafe and poorly delivered tour. Ironically, Nemad threated to publish videos of our argument – with the aim of embarrassing us – to discourage us from making a public complaint. So far, Viator have offered a 10% refund (I presume about half of their commission) and just appear to have copied and pasted what Nemad has written to them (similar to what he wrote to us directly) about us simply deciding to terminate the excursion early. This could have / should have been a great activity, BUT Nemad didn’t do his job properly at the beginning and is too arrogant to recognise any of the (initially very polite) feedback. It is this arrogance that makes me worried that someone could drown whilst Nemad focuses on his watch and being given adequate respect than the enjoyment and safety of his clients. Viator haven’t covered themselves in glory, either.

Amazing! We didn’t know what to expect but this tour was everything and more! Our guide was very friendly & the trip was very well organized. The tour was very private and ended up being my partner and I (the river was also extremely quiet too, we started at 10am) value for money could not beat. Both of us had never pack rafted before and were a bit nervous but the instructions and guidance was clear & the level of rafting was perfect for a first time. The rafting time lasted 2.5hrs and the pickup was smooth. Our guide also recommended a lovely restaurant close by & other activities. If you’re in the area highly recommend booking!

The whole experience was absolutely amazing from start to finish. We had a blast. Our guide Pavle was great, he went above and beyond to help us with everything including helping us organise things beyond our tour. Nenand’s communication prior to and during the tour was also perfect. They were both lovely and very helpful. I would definitely recommend booking with these guys if you are coming to Montenegro. I would do this again!

We did the 3-day packrafting expedition on the Tara River and it was hands down the best trip of our lives! The equipment was top-notch - everything from the packrafts to the wetsuits was high-quality, modern, and incredibly clean. Our guide, Nenad, was absolutely fantastic. He is a true professional who prioritizes safety above everything else. He gave us a thorough briefing, kept a close eye on everyone through the rapids, and made us feel 100% safe the entire time. Exploring the breathtaking Tara Canyon in your own packraft is an unforgettable experience. If you want a perfectly organized, safe, and thrilling adventure, book this tour and ask for Nenad!

Very safe and friendly tour operator, quick to respond. Absolutely stunning rafting trip. Thanks very much!

A once in a lifetime experience! Was amazing from start to finished and very well organised. Nenad and his team took good care of us and made sure we had a great time as well as keeping us safe at all times. Hotels and food were down the river were perfect! Highly recommend - 5* trip! Thank you

Our guides Nenad and his colleague Milan exhibited a high degree of professionalism and thorough attention to detail in preparing the equipment and teaching us how to navigate the few rapids along the route, as none of us had prior experience. One of us is anxious about water and did the tour as a passenger with one of the guides, deeply enjoying the experience. The equipment was in excellent condition and the logistics perfectly organised, including a lunch. This allowed us to fully enjoy the remarkable beauty of the Tara and its surroundings, and to observe the wildlife. All in all, a great experience!