A detailed map of the landmine situation in Bosnia

A detailed map of the landmine situation in Bosnia

6/13/2023 8:37:44 AM

No map will be 100% accurate. There are still mines being discovered in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark that the Germans placed there in WW2 and they supposedly kept meticulous records.

But not only were those records not always properly kept, sometimes they got lost. And even if they didn’t get lost, the mines themselves can have shifted and changed location. And of course the Germans weren’t the only ones placing minefields there (especially in the Netherlands and Belgium).

In (former) Yugoslavia the situation is much worse. Not only are there far more parties involved, they also were far less diligent about record keeping, and far more documentation was lost. In such a country (and former Yugoslavia is but one example, Cambodia is infamous for it, so are many places in Africa and elsewhere in Asia) I’d not venture off the beaten path, especially alone without a native guide who knows the area very well.

And even then, watch your step.

6/12/2023 1:31:50 PM

The wikipedia article on Land mines in Bosnia and Herzegovina has a rough map that shows where the majority of mines are:

enter image description here

This really only shows that you will potentially encounter mines all over the place. And because there is issue of any sort of unexploded ordinances, it would be impossible to have a completely 100% accurate map anyway.

But in another article about the mines There’s an app for that (my emphasis)

Thanks to a European Union initiative, Bosnia and Herzegovina Mine
Action Centre, with the assistance of the BiH Armed Forces, Norwegian
People’s Aid, UNDP and EUFOR, successfully defined 8,525 suspected
micro-locations and 118 mine suspected areas were registered out of
the country’s 145 municipalities. The Mine Action Centre defined areas
of these locations for future land release operations.

Knowing the locations of these mines can be lifesaving. Part of the
initiative has been to create a mobile phone application that allows
citizens to be aware of and avoid the locations of mine suspected
areas throughout the country.

The article has links to the app for both Google and Apple app stores. This would seem to give you the latest information on the situation. Note that the excerpt says "suspected areas". Again, this hints at there not being a definitive location of all areas with mines.

But I’d say he best advice would be not to go where locals don’t go, and to ask locals whenever you are in a new area.

And as per the comment from @Traveller, another good resource is BiH Minefield Maps which has downloadable maps showing areas of suspected mines etc, and covers the entire country. However, there are 2 important notes on that page:

This map shows areas with known contamination of mines and unexploded
ordinance. Information is provided by BHMAC. All other areas are to be
treated with caution. Updated information is available from BHMAC.

Symbols and drawn objects represent approximate mined areas. To date
only 60% of mined areas have been identified.

Here is some excerpts from a random location:

enter image description here

enter image description here

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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