We're travelling around popular European country as wildfire flames tear through hotspot

Europe is currently grappling with a severe wildfire crisis with flames raging since late July driven by an intense heatwave. This year, approximately 440,000 hectares have been scorched by fires in southern Europe with key hotspots including Greece, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and Albania. The fires have resulted in fatalities: at least one person has died in Albania, alongside several in other countries, with hundreds injured and tens of thousands evacuated.

In Albania alone, 30 active wildfires are raging and there has been extensive damage to homes, crops and animals as well as evacuations from villages in the provinces of Elbasan, Vlora, and Berat. However, as the wildfires burn across Albania, the tourism industry is continuing as per usual.

That's according to three New Zealand tourists travelling around the Balkan country who say it's “one of the most incredible they’ve ever been to”. Phoenix Attwood and her fiance Benjamin Fisher have been in Albania since late July with their friend Conor Downey and spoke to the Express.co.uk about what it’s like to be a tourist amidst the fires.

The trio are currently in Përmet, and say that on the whole, their trip has been smooth, largely thanks to the reactions of the locals. They began their trip in Sarandë, on the Albanian Riviera where everything was "totally fine”, Ben said.

“We had heard before [we arrived in Albania] of the fires but we hadn’t seen anything. In Sarandë it was totally fine and we weren't conscious of it, but as soon as we started bussing to Gjirokastër we saw multiple points of smoke and fire across the mountains and we were a little more anxious then because it was definitely closer than we thought.”

The reality of the fires hit home when the group decided to go on a kayaking trip to the ‘Blue Eye’ in southern Albania - a popular tourist destination where the water from the natural spring is so clear you can see down to a depth of 50 meters.

Ben said: “While we were kayaking on Blue Eye there was this huge smoke plume creeping above the mountain,which was pretty freaky. That was a real wakeup call for us, we were all getting quite nervous.”

The plume of smoke swiftly grew in size and the trio decided to make their way out from the area and back to their accommodation.

One of the things that Conor says adds to the anxiety is a lack of clear communication.

He said: “The language barrier is a bit of trouble. We've just gone into the tourist information center and they pretty much didn't speak English and when they did, they were just like, ‘oh, we don't really know’. So it doesn't really seem to be much like of a network and information regarding where the wildfires are and how that will then affect us as travelers”

Despite the language barrier, Conor says Albanians have done their best to reassure the group.

“People in Albania are very nice and sweet; they're just very chill and going about their day even in terms of the taxis that we've taken, past wildfires. They're saying it's bad, but they're just kind of doing their thing anyway. So it seems to be that it happens every year, they're sort of used to it, but it's kind of a shock for us.”

He added that all three of the group are lucky to be in a privileged enough position to afford comprehensive travel insurance - and that the government in Albania has the situation in control.

Connor added: “It has been made pretty clear to us that local governments in Albania have been proactive in evacuating tourists, if and when it’s been necessary.”

Phoenix said: “Being from New Zealand, we don’t really deal with wild fires very often so I think that’s where some of the anxiety comes in. This is unfamiliar territory for us, whereas to the people here, it’s a lot more calming, when everyone else is calm and chill.”

Despite the anxiety of the fires all three agree that Albania is an amazing country to visit - and all three intend to come back one day.

Ben said: “It is such a beautiful place and we've just felt nothing but hospitality from every place that we've been to. We've just had so many incredible interactions with the locals, I mean, the food alone.

"If you're going to come to Albania for anything, the food should definitely be top of the list.”

However if the group returns - it won't be in the fire season again.

Conor said: "We have all definitely agreed though that if we were to come back to Albania, we would like to come back not at the same time of the year.”