Macedonia choose their national winners of Wiki Loves Earth 2015. Once we called Macedonia the country of lakes. And the winning photos demonstrated that we were right. There are 5 lakes in the short-list of best photos of WLE 2015 Macedonia. Take a look!

Lake Ohrid

Lake Ohrid straddles the mountainous border between southwesternMacedonia and eastern Albania. It is one of Europe’s deepest and oldest lakes, preserving a unique aquatic ecosystem that is of worldwide importance, with more than 200 endemic species. 

The importance of the lake was further emphasized when it was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1979 and when, in 2010, NASA decided to name one of Titan’s lakes after Lake Ohrid. In 2014, the Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve between Albania and Macedonia was added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.^[3] The towns situated at the lakeside are Pogradec in Albania, along with Ohrid and Struga in Macedonia. The lake is otherwise densely surrounded by settlements in the form of villages and resorts – in both basin countries.

Kozjak lake

The biggest artificial lake is  Lake of Kozjak on the Treska River. It is located in the Western part of the country in the municipality of Makedonski Brod and it is 30km from the capital, Skopje. The Lake of Kozjak is 32km long and has a maximum depth of 130 meters.

Prespa Lake

Prespa is the name of two freshwater lakes in southeast Europe, shared by Albania, Greece, and the Republic of Macedonia. The Great Prespa Lake is divided between Albania, Greece and Macedonia. The Small Prespa Lake is shared only between Greece (138 km² (53.28 sq mi) drainage area; 42.5 km² (16.41 sq mi) surface area) and Albania (51 km² (19.69 sq mi) drainage area; 4.3 km² (1.66 sq mi) surface area).The area contains three National Parks located in Albania, Greece, and the Republic of Macedonia respectively. The largest town in the Prespa Lakes region is Resen in the Republic of Macedonia. In 2014, the Ohrid-Prespa Transboundary Reserve between Albania and Macedonia was added to UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

Matka Canyon

Matka is a canyon located west of Skopje, Macedonia. Covering roughly 5,000 hectares. Matka is one of the most popular outdoor destinations in Macedonia and is home to several medieval monasteries. The Matka Lake within the Matka Canyon is the oldest artificial lake in the country.

Papilio machaon

The Old World swallowtail (Papilio machaon) is a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. The butterfly is also known as the common yellow swallowtail or simply the swallowtail (a common name applied to all members of the family, but this species is the ‘original’, first to go by the name). It is the type species of the genus Papilio and occurs throughout the Palearctic region in Europe and Asia; it also occurs acrossNorth America, and thus, is not restricted to the Old World, despite the common name.

Mount Korab

Mount Korab is the highest mountain ofAlbania and the Republic of Macedonia, its peak forming a frontier between the two countries. The peak lies adjacent to the Šar Mountains. In 2011, Albania proclaimed its section as part of the Korab-Koritnik Natural Park. Mount Korab is also pictured in the coat of arms of the Republic of Macedonia.

Pelister Lake

Pelister National Park is a national park in the Municipality of Bitola, Republic of Macedonia. The park is located in the Baba Mountain massif and covers an area of 171.5 square kilometres (66.2 sq mi). The altitude of the park varies between 927 and 2,601 m (3,041 and 8,533 ft) above sea level and is filled with exquisite flora and fauna. Among flora elements, the presence is especially significant of the five-needle pine molica, Pinus peuce – a unique species of Cenozoic age being present on only a few mountains in the Balkan Peninsula. The beauty of the landscape is enhanced by the diversified wildlife: bears, roe deer, wolves, chamois, deer, wild boars, rabbits, several species of eagles, partridges, redbilled jackdaws, and the endemic Macedonian Pelagonia trout.

Baba Mountain

Baba Mountain or also known by the name of its highest peak, Pelister or Peristeri (meaning pigeon in Greek), is a mountain massif between the Republic of Macedonia and Greece. The Pelister (or Peristeri) peak (2601 metres, or 8533 feet) overlooks the city of Bitola.

Baba Mountain is the third highest mountain in the Republic of Macedonia and the fifteenth highest mountain in Greece. Other peaks besides Pelister are Dva Groba (2514 metres), Veternica (2420 metres), Muza (2350 metres), Rzana (2334 meters), Shiroka (2218 metres), Kozji Kamen (2199 metres), Griva (2198 metres) and Golema Chuka (2188 metres) in the Republic of Macedonia, and Belavoda (2.179 meters), Kirko (2.155 meters) and Kotsypha (2.065 meters) in Greece. The Baba massif splits up the rivers in the region, so that they either flow towards the Adriatic or the Aegean sea.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_OhridReferencies:
2. http://macedonia-timeless.com/eng/things_to_do/senses/sight/lakes/kozjak_lake/
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Prespa
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matka_Canyon
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papilio_machaon
6. http://www.gazibaba.gov.mk/en/zivotna-sredina/park-suma
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Korab
8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelister_National_Park
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Mountain,_Macedonia