Between two mountains: neighbouring protected areas
Lake Prespa is the water at the heart of a larger protected landscape. To the west rises Galičica, to the east Pelister, and the lake itself is shared with Albania and Greece. Many visitors combine all three in one trip.
Galičica National Park
Declared a national park in 1958, Galičica lies between Lake Ohrid and Lake Prespa. Its highest peak, Magaro, reaches 2,254 m. The island of Golem Grad in Lake Prespa belongs to Galičica National Park. Water from Lake Prespa travels underground through the limestone of Galičica to the springs of St Naum on Lake Ohrid.
Pelister National Park
Pelister is the first national park in North Macedonia, on the northern slopes of Baba Mountain between the Prespa and Pelagonia valleys. Its highest peak, Pelister, is 2,601 m. The rivers that flow from Pelister – the Brajčinska, Kranska and Kurbinska – feed Lake Prespa, and the park is known as the home of the Molika pine.
Prespa Park – one lake, three countries
Lake Prespa is shared by North Macedonia, Albania and Greece. On the Albanian side is Prespa National Park, and on the Greek side Prespa National Park with the Small Prespa lake. The three countries work together through the Prespa Park trilateral agreement, signed in 2011 and ratified in 2020. Since 2014 the region is also part of the Ohrid–Prespa Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (UNESCO).
Cross-border cooperation
Nature in Prespa does not stop at borders. These organisations work for the whole Prespa basin:
| Organisation | Country | |
|---|---|---|
| Management Unit of Prespa National Park (NECCA) | Greece | necca.gov.gr |
| National Agency of Protected Areas – Prespa National Park | Albania | akzm.gov.al |
| Society for the Protection of Prespa (SPP) | Greece | spp.gr |
| Macedonian Ecological Society (MES) | North Macedonia | prespa.mes.org.mk |
| Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA) | Albania | ppnea.org |
SPP, MES and PPNEA together form PrespaNet, a cross-border network of environmental organisations founded in 2013 to protect the natural heritage of the Prespa region.