Telegraf crew sailed to Liberland that has new "state" seal: From "jungle" adventure to serious global story

"I expect that a hundred people will come here next week, and in two weeks about 200. By the end of the year, I expect that there will be about 1,000 permanently settled citizens"

The course of the Danube meanders and never care much for borders, and then a river island between Serbia and Croatia became no man's land. Not so anymore, this is Liberland, and after five years of "persecution" by Croatia, it is finally "its own" with an appropriate border seal.

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A Telegraf crew was last weekend the first to set foot in Liberland after it was reopened, together with Croatian colleagues from Telegram.

In fact, Liberland is yet to be truly open and accessible, as the plans for the revival of the island by the "government" of the new "micronation" are big.

We first headed towards the small Backa border crossing of Batina and, after a 3-hour drive from Belgrade, immediately upon entering Croatia, we took a turn - into mud.

"Drive until you see a ship." And we drove, slowly, alone in the wilderness. This could be any place in Serbia, Croatia, Hungary, Romania, and perhaps somewhere in the Far East, in China or, maybe, India.

And, there's the boat - it will take us to the dream place - the dreams of Liberland President Vit Jedlicka and numerous citizens, 99.99 percent of whom have never set foot here, but are recorded in an electronic book. Well, if they want, they have the possibility to visit their "homeland."

President Vit does not yet have his own palace, nor a presidential suit. And if some disgruntled citizen came forward and threw a lump of mud at the president, he wouldn't even blink - he's like Robinson Crusoe here. All that is in front of him now is mud, earth, woods, wild boars, horseflies and a few remnants of old buildings. But his heart is full.

He came up with the ingenious idea of developing the flag of a "fictional" state, placed on a crooked wooden stick that doesn't care about either Croatian or Serbian territory, but "appropriates" this de jure and de facto no man's land. In the world of a technological boom, this idea makes a lot more sense, but we'll talk about that later...

The barefoot Vit waved at us from the muddy Danube, and his Czech colleague had a few Serbian and Croatian words, but spoken with a "Tarzanian" accent.

"Welcome, do you need help with your stuff?"

But this is just the beginning of the adventure, we haven't even crossed the new border yet!

We jumped onto the boat across a small barely accessible muddy beach and headed into real wilderness. Again the same story - this could be China, India, Siberia, or the Volga. No way would you know where you were if someone brought you here blindfolded.

We sailed downstream for about 15 minutes, and had to wear life jackets. Through binoculars and all manner of other devices, the Croatian police must be watching us closely.

"Guys, get your documents ready, another police check will follow."

And indeed, those with the Croatian coat of arms on their hats knew exactly where we were. Previously, they were banning passage and would even arrest Liberlanders. Now they were more than pleasant and wished us a nice rest of the day.

Farewell to Croatia

Another checkpoint follows, the one next to the striking yellow and black flag of Liberland.

A mild-looking guy "cut" us up and down with his stare  he had a stamp ready in hand, and a "Motorola" radio on his belt.

It's all fine - we can pass.

"Guys, we have a journey of almost 2 kilometers, do you want to walk or ride bikes?"

Naturally, the bikes were chosen. The things we had with us were packed by the president into a child's bicycle trailer. With us was a Hungarian carrying a double bass, who was condemned to go on foot. He didn't mind. It was obvious that he was ready to give up those old creaky vehicles in order to see this little piece of heaven and history.

"Welcome to Liberland, the main, Jefferson Sqaure"

Streets 1 and 2 diverge from the square. On the map, it is already a real small town.

But there are no solid buildings yet.

The only thing that, at the moment, defies time is an old plane tree, declared a "heritage" of Liberland and a symbol of liberalism.

Along with the sound of a generator and bad English, we were also greeted by insects the size of a child's thumb.

"Don't worry guys, those are horseflies, they don't bite often, but when they do it's not pleasant."

Maybe one day there really will be a magnificent square here, some modern buildings will spring up and people from all over the world will gather to chat in different languages, get to know each other and share one vision - freedom, entrepreneurship, togetherness under one nation where language, religion or skin tone make no difference.

Because this desolate river island is actually a symbol of a serious global story, and a "micronation" that connects people from all over the world in a virtual book of citizens. Now there is a small place where they can physically gather, register a company, swim in the Danube and feel "free" - because the land they chose was on paper truly no one's.

If each of the 700,000 who applied for "citizenship" donated a dollar toward that vision, the imagined Jefferson Square would easily become a reality!

For now, there is a small kitchen under an awning, lunch is getting ready, refreshments and coffee are there, and the president begins to tell us where we are and what we are about to see.

There will be all kinds of things, with a little imagination you can "see" the most beautiful oasis of nature in the world, with unreal buildings that fit into the environment, a beach, a zoo, an ancient restored church, an airport, an entrepreneurial hub...

In the era of digital communications, even that small piece of land can be where the most powerful company in the world gets registered, as well as of countless citizens, electronically.

To begin with, the construction of the "government" building is expected, the construction of at least one bridge, an airport... Oh yes, there is a runway!

An old church was demolished a long time ago and was only partially rebuilt in 1900, and the last house, of which only the foundations and the cellar that hides top-quality wine remained, was last inhabited four decades ago. It belonged to Serbia, the region of Backi Monostor, and the children who lived there went to school by boat.

Well, it's not all wasteland after all! It all depends on how you look at Liberland.

After a welcome drink from the cellar, we went on a mini tour of the place.

"Guys, I'm not 100 percent sure where we're going either, but I think we're going this way to our future airport," Vit said, and yet he was walking hurriedly and - intuition guided him well through his country.

We took a meaningful look at him and continued our journey into the unknown.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge wild boar ran across our path, coming from the forest!

"Don't worry, the wild boar rarely attacks people," Vit said.

Rarely, but...? Obviously upset, we moved on. With a couple of deer running past and more wild boar, we reached a glade that should one day become the airport.

"Guys, am airplane can land here, it's currently flooded," says Jedlicka, pointing out that the airport could come to life in about a year.

Government building

The old house we mentioned is the main structure of Liberland. It ingloriously ended up under Croatian bulldozers in 2018 at a time when the Liberlanders were "persecuted" by the police.

"This is a beautiful building 20 by 20 meters in size. We plan to renovate this house before winter and with the help of the Liberland community we will be able to make something really beautiful here. It will be the government building and a place for all the companies registered in Liberland, and there are about 200 of them," says President Jedlicka.

"Look, it's fully a jungle here now. It's amazing what nature can do in just five years," he says.

Not far from there our walk took us to a natural obstacle. It is not at all convenient when a canal "pops up" in a place like this.

A nice wooden bridge will be built there, says Jedlicka, so that it will be possible to approach the river bank, where a beach will be.

"It will be a nice bridge, I have already asked my architects. I see a nice wooden pedestrian bridge. We are open for business, and for swimmers, beaches, there will also be a zoo here," says the president.

There is a cemetery, too

"The next time you come, I will show you where I buried my father," said the president.

"... buried his father?!"

"Well, yes, we have a cemetery and a church here, which must be somewhere in the forest, and it existed until 1900. Don't worry, I 'buried' my father's ashes, I think it would be a problem to 'smuggle' a body here" Vit smiled.

And why the delays?

They say that Croatian tourists are also facing hurdles, whose authorities have been driving them out of this river island called Gornja Siga every time, even though, paradoxically, Croatia considers it a part of Serbia. Serbia, on the other hand, renounced the island, because it considers the state border to run down the middle of the Danube. And so Liberland remained nobody's property, a veritable jungle without owners, erased from land books.

Until 2018, its "citizens" had big problems when they wanted to put up a flag, build anything and, in fact, live in this place, because the Croatian authorities believed that no one had the right to settle in a disputed territory, which, to be fair, they say is Serbian, while at same time "demanding" from our country a similar, but much larger parts of the territory on the left bank of the river.

Now the question of the "persecution" has been solved. Croats don't bother them anymore.

Who are Liberlanders?

"People think that Liberland is a small nation, but we have really great people," says Jedlicka.

About 720,000 applied for citizenship, about 1,000 are citizens, and there are 7,000 registered residents.

"I expect a hundred people will come here next week, and in two weeks about 200. By the end of the year, I expect that there will be about 1,000 permanently settled citizens."

A tourist from Luxembourg

Three tourist guides could soon find themselves in Liberland. We already saw a curious visitor - one from Luxembourg.

He found out about Liberland when it experienced media fame 6-7 years ago.

"I wanted to come and see what it's like here. I'm impressed and I've already had a swim in the Danube. I feel free," he says, adding that, for now, he will still have to return to his family and obligations in Luxembourg.

(Telegraf.rs)