Bits on the ethimology
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The whole area was populated by Illyrians (Delmats), Romans, Vlachs
and Slavs in respective order, both local ethimology and toponyme naming being
affected by the settlers. Name Malovan is assumed most likely to derive from latin Male ventum, at the time common descriptive naming for the places looking "not welcoming" to the potential visitors. Kupres derive from the two illyrian words, Kupe(bowl) and Rrash(plain) practical way to describe karstic depression. And again, nerby mt. Cincar was named after "Cincars", colloquial name for Vlachs used by the Slavs |
Getting there
Larger scale topo and road map
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Nearest airports are Split international and Sarajevo international.
Nearest town is Kupres, just 15km or so accross the Kupresko polje. Both
Kupres and the trailhead start at Malovan village, are on the main Livno-Bugojno
road which is served by national and international coach services. Nearest
railway station is so far that is no worth mentioning (shortage of railway tracks
is long term trademark feature for this part of Bosnia-Herzegovina). By car easiest access from the North is down the Banja Luka-Jajce-Bugojno main road, at Bugojno fork right (westbound) for the Kupres pass (1348m) and then down to Kupres. Bugojno-Kupres 20km. From the South, direction Mostar; drive again till Bugojno and fork left up the Kupres pass then down to Kupres. From the South, direction Split/Dalmatia, drive Livno-Suica (no need to go over the Kupres). From the West, it is long Bihac-Jajce-Bugojno-Kupres drive, with alternative in Bihac-Petrovac-Drvar-Grahovo-Livno-Suica route, the latter involving half dozen poljes and mountain passes connecting them. |
Overview
| As the Dinaric Alps stretch in parallel NW-SE ranges, so do the large
karstic depressions called polje. Total number of polje's well exceed 100, 3 largest ones known as Trium camporum (Livanjsko, Glamocko, Kupresko) going almost parallel and being divided by the long parallel ridges as well. All those ridges terminate with lookout summits. Malovan peak is the final summit of the long ridge stretching NW-SE of the 24m long and 10km wide Kupresko polje - positioned similar to the ship bow it is considered the lookout summit of the area. Apart of being the balcony with the view, Malovan's another worthy feature is the abdundance of endemic mountain flora, specially on the top. Look and feel: Best and the most common view of the mountain is from the east. Seen either from or accross the Kupresko polje, Malovan appears as the giant yet lazy whale emerging out of the still green-red casted sea. Feels pretty much same as any other lookout summits in the polje district (Tusnica, Kamesnica). With grassy and steep slopes leading all the way to the top, one has a feeling of hiking up very large, narrow angled pasture. Boundaries: Kupresko polje and the Malovan pass from the east and SE, long undulated Hrbina plateau backs Malovan from the NW, Mt. Cincar and (likely) the landmines are edging from the west. Ascend: There are no waymarks to the summit, yet ascending is more or less straight forward. From the scattered housings of Donji Malovan village at the SE foot of the mountain (Tomislavgrad-Kupres-Bugojno thoroughfare) spot the limestone crags underneath the upper plateau. That is the landmark to follow, follow the path leading to the aforementioned crags, with the coniferous wood easily noteable all the time on your right side. Once at the plateau above the crags, fork right for another 15-30 minutes to the summit. Summit itself is marked with vertical wooden pole fixed by the small stone cairn. Allow yourself 2 hours or so for the ascend. Return the same way. Gear: normal hiking boots, walking poles very handy for descend. it is a walk-up with some 600m of elevation gain. If going in winter, please note that Kupres area has developed as wintersport resort since 1984 Sarajevo winter olympics, and Malovan is recently known as icey extreme free ride hotspot among the boarders. |
