True love can overcome any obstacles. The remarkable love story happens between two long distance love birds in Croatia. Each year, the male stork, Klepetan, travels across the south and north hemisphere for 14,000 kilometers to reunite with his lifelong partner, Malena.
This annual adventure has taken place for 16 years at Brodski Varoš, a small town in Croatia and the love story went viral online. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people gather in the small town, while millions watch on live stream, anxiously waiting to see if Klepetan has survived the winter and travels back to Melena.
The story started in 1993, a female stork had her wings shot. After that, she couldn’t fly anymore and was found lying by the side the road. A man who happened to be passing by rescued her and took her home.
The man’s name is Stjepan Vokic. He fixed the injured wing of the stork and nursed her back to health. But he couldn’t save her wing, she can’t fly anymore. Now, the stork is entirely dependent on Vokic and he’s adopted the stork and named her Malena.
Vokic did a lot for Malena. He built her a nest on the rooftop of his house in the spring. He also travelled to the fishing grounds to catch fresh fish for her every day. When the cold winter comes, he brings Malena inside the house to keep warm.
Malena and Vokic lived together peacefully for eight years, until 2001.
One day in the morning, when Vokic was walking to the rooftop to give Malena some fish, he found there was somebody else on the roof.
A male stork.
The male stork was wandering around the rooftop, and Malena was very excited.
Vokic realized that Malena had fallen in love. He said in a video “when he (the stork) came it was like one of my sons had come.”
He was happy for Malena and named the male stork Klepetan. Since then the two love birds have stuck together every moment. Every day Klepetan also hunts for fish for Malena.
Soon after that, Malena gave birth to a nest of beautiful stork babies.
After the birth of their kids, Klepetan either stand on the rooftop as a guard to protect the family or goes fishing. And Vokic was happy that his family had grown and they lived happily together.
However, time passed by quickly. When autumn came, the young storks grew up and flew away one by one to find their destiny.
Soon, only Malena and Klepetan were left.
Winter came, the weather got colder and colder, storks in the town started to leave to the southern hemisphere for the winter.
Klepetan waited until it became very cold, but in the end he still had to fly away, and only Malena was left on the rooftop.
Malena was very sad when Klepetan left. Vokic said in a video “I felt the worst for her. She won’t eat, and then the poor thing hides.”
Vokic decided to help Malena move on. He invited her in to the house to keep her warm, drove her around and took her fishing together. He even played her a stork documentary so that she didn’t get lonely.
Within the companionship of Vokic, Malena slowly moved on and got happier again.
One spring morning, Vokic heard a tapping sound from the rooftop.
He went outside and saw a familiar face. Klepetan was back!
Vokic then realized that migration is a distinct characteristic of storks, and Klepetan had to fly away when the winter came. He wasn’t trying to ditch Melena.
For Klepetan, he was the last stork left the town and the first one came back, all because he truly loves Melena.
The journey back is challenging; from South Africa to Croatia, Klepetan needs to travel 14,000 kilometers, across Maria Island at the Tasman Sea, Sinai Pen in Egypt and the desert of Iraq.
The love story of the two went viral online and people from all over the world come by each year to witness their reunion.
Vokic said the most dangerous part of the migration is the 200 kilometer route in Lebanon, where 2.6 million birds’ journey is ended by irresponsible hunters.
Vokic was scared that one spring Klepetan will not be able to come back, and he wrote a letter to the President of Lebanon, Michel Aoun.
He wrote in the letter "In my country, there is a belief that storks bring children and that they bring new life. These two storks are my whole life. You do not have to believe in stories for little children, but you can believe in the fact that in Croatia every spring, via live stream camera, over a million people await Klepetan’s return and that the moment of his return brings happiness and joy reminding many of what love means and what it means to love."
The Lebanese Prime Minister then pledged to stop the migration birds’ slaughter. He said "There should be a peace treaty between man and the tree as well as man and birds, because we continue to transgress upon them."
For 16 years, Klepetan is able to make his way back to Malena in the spring. After they reunited, they lived happily like before and even gave birth to other groups of stork babies.
However, when the next winter came, Klepetan had to leave again. Even though Malena was sad, she waited on the rooftop when the weather got warmer, wandering back and forth. Klepetan has never let her down. Each year he is the first stork that came back to Brodski Varoš.
Spring is coming soon, we wish the two love birds can reunite again this year.
Reunion in 2016:
