2026-08-26 · about 1 min read
The defile between Trebeshinë and Dhembel
The Këlcyrë Gorge (Gryka e Këlcyrës) is the canyon cut by the Vjosa west of the town, between the mountains that AKT names around Këlcyrë. The town's own name comes from 'Klisura' — narrow canyon — which tells you how central the defile is to the place.
You will often read that the gorge is thirteen kilometres long and a thousand metres deep. Those figures trace to an uncited Albanian Wikipedia article that carries no references at all; no official source states any dimensions, so we print none.
Uji i Zi, and the spring it is not
AKT lists Black Water (Uji i Zi) among Këlcyrë's attractions as a natural spring, and that is the extent of the official description. A Wikidata item classifies it as a karst spring in Këlcyrë municipality.
Colour, depth, temperature and discharge claims circulate widely but appear in no official record, so they stay out of this note. It is also worth saying plainly: this spring is not the famous Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër) near Sarandë, a different karst spring entirely. Search engines and language models mix the two up constantly; no other page we know of disambiguates them.
Seeing the gorge, and whitewater honesty
The gorge can be seen from the road that follows the river, and the town's community portal at kelcyre.org carries local context for a visit.
As for whitewater: no river section, difficulty grade or season is advertised here until an operator, guide qualifications and safety arrangements are verified. The park's declaration protects the river; our sourcing discipline protects the accuracy of what we say about it.
Read next: the gorge and its town
Town context lives at kelcyre.org and in the two-towns note; the sourcing status of river activity is in rafting seasons.