I booked a trip to the old Yugoslavia in 2019 with my two sons. We went to Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina. As I was mapping out all the routes we would be taking on Google Maps, I noticed a strange territory about half the size of Bosnia (within Bosnia) that bordered Croatia to the north, Serbia to the east and Montenegro to the southeast. When I looked more closely into it, I understood that this area was in fact a self-proclaimed republic, called Republika Srpska, that had a constitution, a parliamentary-style government, and a police force.
We could have easily avoided Republika Srpska from Mostar (Bosnia) on our way to Dubrovnik (Croatia), and it would have only added about 5-10 minutes to our trip, but what’s the fun when you can drive through a self-proclaimed republic knowing that this could be a one-time thing that you won’t ever get to do again!
After debating it with myself for a whole entire 5 minutes (including a bathroom break and a quick phonecall to my girlfriend), I wholeheartedly decided to venture into this mysterious republic during our upcoming trip.
I did some research on Republika Srpska and found out that it was a relatively autonomous territory that was formed in 1992 by Bosnian Serbs, led by Radovan Karadžić (Karadjich), who disagreed with the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the independence of Bosnia. These Bosnian Serbs thought that they were better off joining the Serbs in Serbia, under Slobodan Milošević (Miloshevich), who was determined to take control of Yugoslavia amidst its fragmentation into independent republics.
From 1992 to 1995, Bosnia was at war with the Serbs and the Croats who both wanted a piece of Bosnia. Finally, in December of 1995, the war ended and Republika Srpska was officially recognized in the Bosnia and Herzegovina constitution. Its capital is Banja Luka in the north. It’s interesting to note that Sarajevo was split almost in half, with the larger portion of the city in Bosnia and the smaller portion and suburbs in Republika Srpska.
“Srpska” literally means “Serbian”. People speak Serbian and use the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (the name of the republic is Република Српска, or the Serbian Republic). There is a boundary line with “welcome” signs but it is merely an administrative demarcation that is not controlled by police or military. You can freely drive across the border without any issues.
I circled the place where we crossed the border into Srpska territory. If it hadn’t been for a “welcome” sign, we never would have realized that we were there. We drove through rugged mountains and we saw nothing unusual. Just an occasional chapel in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road, with dogs and sheep running around as if they had managed to chase all humans away. In some places, the roads were extremely narrow and if you crossed another car, you had to decide if you were going to let the other car pass through or if it was up to the other driver to offer that courtesy.
We then got back into Bosnia and drove on a very scary road by a cliff. I have driven on many small unpaved back roads that are littered with craters and cracks, but there was an extra element here that made it a little more stressful: one wrong move and you ended your trip at the bottom of a Bosnian cliff! When I finally reached the Croatian border that afternoon, the border guard told me to turn around and go back to another border crossing about 80 kilometres from there. Yes, that’s right, I actually had to get back on that same crazy road! The border guard was nice enough to point the border on my cell phone so I could map my way there, but it was quite an experience. He said that only local residents were allowed to drive through this border.
After Dubrovnik, we visited Kotor in Montenegro and drove to Split (Croatia) through Republika Srpska again. I had mapped out a different road that took us through small towns. It was a very nice drive except for one thing: as we were driving through a quaint little hamlet, a police officer told us to pull over. Of course, he didn’t speak a word of English and he didn’t react too warmly to the few phrases and words I blurted out in a very broken Serbo-Croat. I always try to learn a few things before I visit a foreign country. The officer seemed kind of angry about something. I showed him my passport and the car rental papers so he would realize that I was just a friendly guy who meant no harm to anybody. Unfortunately, this didn’t appease him. Another guy soon joined him and luckily, he spoke English. He wasn’t wearing a uniform, though. He understood our situation and explained to the uniformed officer that we were Canadian travelers who had rented a car in Slovenia.
Perhaps to save face, he told us that it was illegal in Republika Srpska to drive a car without headlights on during daytime. I quickly turned the lights on, asked him if we were all good, and he let us go.
My theory is that there weren’t a lot of cars with Slovenian license plates in this area and that is the only reason I got stopped. When Yugoslavia collapsed, Slovenia fought back against the Serbs and managed to declare their independence very early on. Perhaps Slovenians are still not fully welcomed in Republika Srpska yet.
At any rate, I’m happy to have visited this republic and look forward to another adventure off the beaten path!