Lake Prespa

How it formed

Great Prespa is divided among the three countries, and most of Little Prespa lies in Greece. A narrow isthmus on the Greek side, carrying a road, separates the two lakes, and a short canal links them. Both sit in limestone country well above Lake Ohrid, which lies close to the west; the water of Great Prespa drains underground through the karst and re-emerges in springs on the shore of Ohrid.

History

In antiquity the region belonged to ancient Lynkestis, and the lakes were known as Little and Great Brygeis. In the Middle Ages Tsar Samuel built a fortress and a church of St Achillius on an island in Little Prespa. Mal Grad in Albania, with the ruins of a monastery, is uninhabited today.

The Greek part was for many years a remote border area, and the region was declared a transboundary park in 2000. In 2018 the Prespa Agreement, which settled the Macedonia naming dispute, was signed in the Greek village of Psarades on the lake shore. In Albania, the diversion of the Devoll river in the 1970s drained much of Little Prespa.

Golem Grad, the snake island

Golem Grad ("Big Town" in Macedonian, also called Snake Island) is a rocky island of about 20 hectares in Great Prespa. It has the ruins of a 14th-century church of Sts Peter and Paul and of other old buildings. A small monastic community lived there until the middle of the 20th century, and since then the island has been empty. It opened to visitors in August 2008, and you reach it by boat, from the village of Konjsko about 2 km away. Its oddest residents are around 1,000 Hermann's tortoises, introduced by people, with roughly 19 males for every female.

Agios Achillios, the island you walk to

On Little Prespa, the islet of Agios Achillios is linked to the shore by a long floating footbridge. On it stand the ruins of a three-aisled basilica from the 10th century. Crossing early in the morning gives the best light and fewer people.

Nature

The lake is home to a small number of native fish species, most of them found only in Prespa. The Macedonian, Albanian and Greek parts of the lake are each recognised as an Important Bird Area, because the reedbeds and open water support ferruginous ducks, tufted ducks, Dalmatian pelicans and pygmy cormorants.

Pelicans and wetland life

Little Prespa is a famous breeding site for Dalmatian pelicans, said to be the largest colony in the world. Great white pelicans, cormorants and herons are also here, and there is a cormorant colony on the island of Vidronisi. Some wetlands are closed to boats in the breeding season, so follow the signs. Spring brings thousands of migrating birds, and the Ornithological Society runs an observation point on the Greek side. The Greek Prespa National Park has been protected since 1974 and has more than 1,500 plant species and very old junipers.