Skadarsko Jezero 40.000 Ha                       Pictures of Montenegro

The Skadarsko Jezero...

Skadarsko Jezero national park covers 40.000 ha, of which 391km2 is the lake itself. It is one of the largest lakes in Europe, especially when the water is high, containing 40 different kind of fish. There are also several villages around the shore with a modest variety of places to stay. Bordered to the east of Albanian, the lake is encircled on three sides by Montenegrin Mountain. The national park is one of the largest bird preserves in Europe. The lake varies in size considerably over the course of the course od the year. In the rainy season it is full and blue and in the summer it appears silver, shimmering in the sun.

Flora and Fauna of Skadarsko Jezero...

Amoung the 270 counted bird species are some rarely found elsewhere in Europe, such as the Dalmatian Pelican and Black Ibis. Of course, the reason the lake is so populair with birds goes without saying: although the carp in all its forms is the most common swimmer, some sea fish arrive by way of the Bojana River. In spite of this lake could not really be defined as brackish. Forty-three kilometres long, sometimes as much as 14 km wide and with an average depth of 7 meters, it is fed not simply bu its various rivers, but also by 50 active springs in the karst floor (known as oke - eyes) which provide a continuous source of pristine water. The most famous, known as Radus, is very deep indeep - some claim as much as 90m - but certainly below sea level. These are the places were the fishermen know their catch will be plentiful. Little islets are sprinkled near its western shores, many supporting diminutive lonely monasteries, and at its northwestern extremity is the lovely nostalgic village or Rijeka Crnojevica, once the glamerous summer refuge of the court of St Nikola. What a difference a century makes...

Visiting the Skadarsko Jezero...

Watercolour artists should some equipped; the painterly peaks have arranged themselves so beautifully around the mirrored lake,the greatest in the Balkans. You too will hold your breath. Roughly two third of the lake is in Montenegro and one in Albania. Of its total 391 km2 it therefore follows, more or less, that 219 km2 are in Crna Gora's territory. The most numerous species of fish are carp and their bleak brethern, but by the way of the short Bojana River, saltwater varieties can appear: sea eels and even the occasional bass. Surrounding reed-filled swamps are an important habitat of aqautic birds, including the Dalmatian pelican, the fisherman's foe. Who knows, perhaps that is part of the reason sightings of these are now so rare.



Pygmy cormorant and glossy ibis are far from uncommon. On Omerova Gorica, one of the small islands, there is a colony of 40 grey heron nesting amongst the laural trees. It is said heron will normally avoid laurel but recently the greys have even been joined by a contingent of the purple variety. Midway down the west side of the lake, Murica Beach is an idyllic swimming place; bleached pebbles and pellucid water beside a tiny village overlooked by time, where even whispering sounds brush across the gently lapping strand.