I firmly believe that we riders/travelers/visitors should give back to the places we enjoy on our adventures. Especially if we are allowed to do so for free, on motorcycles and using projects such as the Trans Euro Trail which takes us through wonderful nature and shows the best the countries can offer.

The Lurë National Park in Albania is an amazing opportunity for us to help. The off-road track through it is absolutely epic and the scenery and views as well. Spending a night up at the lakes will take you to a different world.

The fragile ecosystem of the park has been damaged by illegal logging, series of forest fires and government negligence. This resulted in massive deforestation around the lakes which you pass riding on the TET.

To change that we founded the Trees for Lurë together with Dorjan Bulku & local scout organisation Scout Tirana 1.

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I went to Lurë National Park for the first time in 2018 when I rode home from India following the Trans Euro Trail which passes through it.

When I was leaving, I picked up rubbish (as I usually do) but this time I also shot a short video. When I rode down to Fushë Lurë I met Dorjan in his Landrover, going in the opposite direction.

Since then, Albania is like my second home.

In 2019 I came back to Lurë to check the rubbish situation after the previous cleanup. I was pleased to find almost no rubbish there!

When I arrived in Lurë, there was a forest fire, and I decided to join Aden, Gzim, Imer, Festim and others who were fighting it . Strangely, there was no support from authorities, which I could not believe but it is the reality.

I asked Dorjan about the Lurë history and what happened to the trees. What I heard was not a very uplifting story and we ended up brainstorming what we could do for the national park.

I met with local scout organisation Scout Tirana 1 and that meeting in Tirana was the beginning of the Trees for Lure project.