On October 17, Hungary closed its border with Croatia, blocking thousands of refugees still traveling from Mediterranean landing points to central and northern European countries, forcing thousands to shift their routes. An estimated 58,000 migrants and refugees heading to Germany and Austria have arrived in Slovenia over the last week alone. The smaller Balkan countries are still straining to cope with the influx of refugees, as they have most of this year. Colder weather has started making the journey even more difficult, as men, women, and children from war-torn and impoverished regions of the Middle East and Africa continue their journey north.
Thousands of Migrants Are Crossing the Balkans on Foot
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Read moreMigrants are escorted by police as they walk from the village of Rigonce, Slovenia to a refugee camp in Brežice on October 23, 2015. Thousands of migrants marched across the border between Croatia into Slovenia as authorities intensified their efforts to attempt to cope with Europe's largest migration of people since World War II. #
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Read moreMigrants move through fields after crossing into Rigonce from Croatia, on October 25, 2015. Thousands of people are trying to reach central and northern Europe via the Balkans, but often have to wait for days in mud and rain at the Serbian, Croatian and Slovenian borders. #
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Read moreOn October 24, 2015, people crowd a tent in Berkasovo, Serbia, as they wait to cross Serbia's border with Croatia. #
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Read moreIn Rigonce, Slovenia, migrants are escorted by police toward a holding camp in the village of Dobova on October 26, 2015. #
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Read moreMigrants walk through a field in Ključ Brdovečki, Croatia, on the Slovenian border, on October 23, 2015. On Friday, Croatian police escorted another group of some 1,500 refugees and migrants close to an unmanned section of the country's border with Slovenia before letting them cross the frontier on foot. #
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Read moreIn this aerial view photo, a migrants reception facility is seen in Brežice, Slovenia, on October 26, 2015. #
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Read moreIn Brežice, Slovenia, a group of migrants move near a police dog after crossing from Croatia, on October 19, 2015. #
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Read moreMigrants look through a fence as they wait to cross the Slovenia-Austrian border in Spielfeld, Austria, on October 22, 2015. Thousands of people wait to cross the border at Spielfeld to continue further to Austria and Germany. #
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Read moreA humanitarian volunteer tries to help migrants as they wait to cross the border with Croatia, near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 23, 2015. #
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Read moreA migrant on a wheelchair protects himself from the rain near the Serbian-Croatian border crossing, near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 19, 2015. Thousands of migrants clamored to enter European Union member Croatia from Serbia on Monday after a night spent in the cold and mud of no-man's land, their passage west slowed by a Slovenian effort to impose limits on the flow to western Europe. #
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Read moreA child sleeps as migrants wait at the Serbian-Croatian border crossing near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 19, 2015. #
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Read moreIn Spielfeld, Austria, migrants prepare for cold night at a camp at a border with Slovenia on October 22, 2015. #
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Read moreA photograph of a child lies discarded amid trash close to Serbia's border with Croatia, in Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 25, 2015. #
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Read moreA group of people walks towards Serbia's border with Croatia in Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 24, 2015. #
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Read moreA child stands in tears as migrants wait in a field near the border crossing between Serbia and Croatia on October 20, 2015, near the village of Berkasovo in Serbia. #
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Read moreA man carries children while walking in a field near the border between Serbia and Croatia, near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 20, 2015. #
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Read moreCroatian police officers stand guard as migrants enter Croatia from Serbia, near the village of Babska, Croatia, on October 21, 2015. #
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Read moreA mounted policeman leads a group of migrants near Dobova, Slovenia, on October 20, 2015. #
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Read moreMigrants move through a field after crossing from Croatia, in Rigonce, Slovenia, on October 25, 2015. #
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Read moreIn Bapska, Croatia, migrants rest their feet after crossing the border from Serbia on October 20, 2015. #
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Read moreA Slovenian police officer gives instructions as migrants and refugees wait to cross the Croatia-Slovenia border on October 19, 2015 in Trnovec. #
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Read moreAkram, from Herat, Afghanistan, shows a picture of his friends on their journey to Europe as he waits to cross the Slovenia-Austria border in Sentilj, Slovenia, on October 25, 2015. #
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Read moreHungarian soldiers set up a razor wire fence on the Slovenian-Hungarian border in Pince, Slovenia, on September 25, 2015. #
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Read moreIn Rigonce, Slovenia, migrants are escorted by police through fields towards a holding camp in the village of Dobova on October 26, 2015. #
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Read moreA woman from Syria waits to cross the border with Croatia near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 21, 2015. #
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Read moreMigrants try to keep themselves warm by a bonfire as they wait to cross the border with Croatia near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 21, 2015. #
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Read moreA migrant child stands beside others inside a tent as they wait to cross the border with Croatia near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 16, 2015. #
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Read moreMigrants walk to the border with Hungary after arriving by train at Botovo, Croatia, on October 16, 2015. #
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Read moreA boy crosses the Serbian-Croatian border along with other migrants and refugees on October 24, 2015, in Berkasovo. #
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Read moreA migrant man gestures while carrying a child in his arms, as migrants are escorted by police towards buses which will take them to a Brežice refugee camp on October 26, 2015 in Rigonce, Slovenia. #
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Read moreMigrants walk towards the Austrian border after resting in a makeshift camp in the village of Sentilj, Slovenia, on October 24, 2015. #
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Read moreA migrant woman wrapped in a thermal blanket carries a child as she walks through a field to cross the border with Croatia near the village of Berkasovo, Serbia, on October 21, 2015. #
Marko Djurica / Reuters
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