Mavrovo

Mavrovo National Park was established in 1949 in western North Macedonia, next to the Albanian border, and at some 731 km² it is the largest in the country.

It takes in the massifs of Bistra, Korab and part of Šar Planina, with Mount Korab, at 2,764 metres, as the country's highest point, and the valley of the Radika River, set between wooded slopes. The landscape combines beech and fir woods, high-altitude meadows, glacial cirques and the Mavrovo reservoir, whose fluctuating level exposes the submerged church of St Nicholas, one of the country's most widely reproduced images.

Its importance for wildlife is of European reach: Mavrovo is the principal territory of the Balkan lynx, the most threatened subspecies of Eurasian lynx, with a total population estimated at a few dozen animals split between North Macedonia and Albania. The park is also home to brown bear, wolf, Balkan chamois and notable forest and cliff-dwelling birdlife. The hydroelectric projects inside the park, put forward over the past decade, generated strong international opposition because of their impact on the lynx's habitat and led European financial institutions to withdraw their support.