Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park

The only national marine park in Albania is Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park, which was established in 2010. The park stretches about 1.9 kilometers along the coasts of the Karaburun Peninsula and Sazan Island, in the Bay of Vlora. The marine park is 16 kilometers long and 3 to 4.5 kilometers wide, with a total surface area of 12,428 hectares. The Karaburun Peninsula is a managed nature reserve, whereas Sazan Island is an Albanian military zone.

The marine park includes sunken Greek, Roman, and World War II ships, as well as a diverse underwater life, high cliffs and massive caverns, ancient inscriptions on the shore, quiet beaches, and stunning views of the coastline.

This marine park is home to a diverse range of underwater landscapes, habitats, and species of marine fauna and flora that provide shelter, food, and breeding opportunities for a variety of national, regional, and global species. Posidonia underwater meadows are distinctive elements of its biodiversity. It also supports the development of a wide range of aquatic plant and animal life, including marine algae, sponges, mollusks, crabs, red coral, reptiles, and mammals.

The benefits of establishing a marine national park include not only the protection of the marine natural environment, biodiversity, underwater landscape, caves, canyons, and other natural features, but also the promotion of underwater tourism, which includes cultural and historical values beneath the surface. The values of the marine national park are distinct and interact with the values of biodiversity and natural coastal land on the Karaburun peninsula and the island of Sazan, which complement one another and are distinctive of the region’s scenery.