Once considered a nuisance, herds of semi-wild horses roaming the countryside in Bosnia-Herzegovina are now drawing tourists.

The rock-strewn valleys and rugged mountains of western Bosnia and Herzegovina conceal an elusive and extraordinary sight: herds of semi-wild horses roaming freely across the landscape.

Currently totalling around 1,000 horses, these herds wander the Cincar Mountains and other areas between the towns of Livno, whose stone-built homes and mosques at the base of Mount Krug are a testament to 400 years of Ottoman rule, and Kupres, the highest city in the country. They're Bosnian Mountain Horses, descendants of domesticated horses that were released into the wild due to various reasons, from war to industrialisation, and have since been saved from extinction.

"Horses like this were once the backbone of the agricultural industry here," BBC Travel Show host Rajan Datar said in a recent episode on the region. "But once tractors and modern machinery arrived, many farmers set their horses free to fend for themselves in the wild."

Because of their domesticated roots, the horses are less wary of humans than true wild horses, which has made them a draw for tourists but also a source of tension. In winter, they can often be found licking salt from roads in the winter, becoming a danger both to drivers and themselves. They have also been known to raid local farms for food, destroying crops and stealing water from livestock. Many locals see them as a nuisance, and some farmers have even gone so far as to kill horses found on their land. A 2009 decision to protect the herds was rescinded in 2017 due........

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