Kuklica Held Hostage by One Woman: She Charges Entry on Her Own and Throws Stones at Tourists, the Mayor Promised an End

One of the most unusual natural wonders in Macedonia - Kuklica, the stone dolls near Kratovo - is being held hostage by one woman who for years has been keeping tourists out, charging entry on her own, and, as reported, threatening visitors and throwing stones at them.

The site, with its astonishing stone pillars millions of years old, has always been a free attraction that anyone could visit. But today access is usurped - the woman and those close to her charge entry by force, and a girl from Kumanovo publicly asked for help on social media after running into such a reception.

The mayor of Kratovo was clear: „Voluntarily or by force, the usurpers will leave Kuklica.“ It sounds decisive, but the question is why it even came to this. How did a protected piece of natural heritage end up as the private tollbooth of someone with no right to it whatsoever?

This is a story we know all too well in the Balkans - state or common property is quietly appropriated while institutions look the other way, until the problem grows so big it shows up on social media. Kuklica is nobody's private property. It belongs to all of us, and that's exactly why no one has the right to charge entry to it, let alone throw stones at the tourists who came to see it.

The question now is whether the mayor's words will turn into action, or whether it will remain just another promise that fades the moment the cameras turn elsewhere. Kuklica waited millions of years for us to see it. It doesn't deserve to be the hostage of someone's stubbornness.