Lake Ohrid is the largest and most beautiful of
Macedonia’s three tectonic lakes. Its astonishingly clean,
clear waters together with the serene stillness
of its mountain setting have captivated visitors
since prehistoric times. The lake is enormous, at
some 30 kilometers (18 miles) long and up to 288 meters
(945 feet) deep.
While the lake is fed by water from three rivers,
most of Ohrid’s water comes from another lake - Prespa,
on the other side of the Galicica Mountain.
Being at a higher elevation, Prespa spills its water
down to Ohrid through mountain springs, the most
important being Ostrovo near the monastery of St Naum,
and Biljana near Ohrid town.
With its unique flora and fauna characteristic of
the tertiary period (2-4 million years ago),
Ohrid is one of Europe’s great biological reserves.
Most of the lake’s plant and animal species are endemic
and unique to Ohrid. The most famous among these are two
types of Ohrid Trout (letnica and belvica, in Macedonian).
Other unique Ohrid creatures include two types of eel as
well as the bleak, whose scales are used for making
the well-known Ohrid pearl. This treasured jewel is
produced according to a secret method passed down from
generation to generation. Sport fishing attracts many
passionate fishermen from Macedonia, Europe and the world.
In 1980 Lake Ohrid was proclaimed a place of
world cultural and natural inheritance by UNESCO.
Lake Prespa
The two Prespa Lakes – Golema (Great) and Mala (Small)
are the only ones on the Balkan Peninsula to have islands.
The five- Golum Grad, Mala Grad, Pirg, Agios
Achillaeos and Vidrinec- are located in the three
countries that share the lakes today, Macedonia,
Albania and Greece. With its irregular coastline,
plethora of bays, extraordinary cleanliness of water,
pristine nature, and setting between three national parks,
Prespa is truly a place one must visit.
With a surface area of 273 sq. km,
Great Prespa Lake is the second
largest in Macedonia after Ohrid.
Between the two lies the Galicica Mountain,
through which flows an underground stream named Zavir.
Through it, Lake Prespa supplies Lake Ohrid
with water that comes out on the other side near
the monastery of St. Naum and in the Biljana spring
near Ohrid town.
The Prespa region is ecologically speaking
the cleanest part of Macedonia, its nature
seemingly untouched by human hands. The white
pelican, black raven, heron and gull all
congregate near the lake so abundant with fish,
which include varieties such as trout, carp,
red finned carp, chub, barbell, and others.
While the unpopulated island of Golem Grad
is a protected nature reserve, it is also
accessible to tourists. The island is
characterized by its century-old juniper
trees, as well as the abundance of endemic
animal life. When the level of the water falls,
old settlements from the 11th and
12th centuries become visible.
Lake Dojran
According to an old legend, a Macedonian
girl named Dojrana was accustomed to fetching
water from special springs that had to be
sealed following use. Yet at the very moment
Dojrana was filling her jugs, she heard that
her beloved had come back from the army,
and forgot to seal the springs.
Lake Dojran was, the legend says,
the result of her unthinking euphoria.
Characteristic of the lake are the
fishing boats and the fishermen’s huts
standing on stilts above the surface of the water.
The method of fishing here is very original and very
old, performed with the help of the cormorants,
gulls and other birds that fly above the lake,
directing the fish into the baskets where they
are gathered in huge quantities.
