Shebenik-Jabllanice National Park

Shebenik-Jabllanicë National Park is a national park in eastern Albania, near the North Macedonian border. It covers 339.277 square kilometers (33,927.7 hectares) and is known for its hilly terrain, which includes glacial lakes, valleys, thick coniferous and deciduous woods, and alpine meadows and pastures. The park’s elevations range from 300 meters to almost 2,200 meters above sea level in the peaks of Shebenik and Jabllanica, hence the name. It is home to many endangered species that are rapidly going extinct in Southern Europe, including as the brown bear, gray wolf, and balkan lynx. The diversity of flora types and distant location contribute to the richness of species.

The park has some of the most mountainous landscape in the nation, which was shaped into its current form by glaciers during the last ice age. It has 14 glacial lakes, the tallest of which is located between 1,500 and 1,900 meters above sea level. Small cirque glaciers, which form in depressions on the sides of numerous mountains, are quite prevalent in mountain ranges. Two rivers, Qarrishte and Bushtrice, each 22 kilometers long, and several smaller water sources run across the park’s region. One of the few surviving ranges of the balkan lynx, a subspecies of the eurasian lynx, is considered to be in the park area.

The park is part of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest Dinaric Mountains mixed forests terrestrial ecoregion. The woods are home to a variety of rare and unique plant, animal, and fungus species. On the northern slopes of the Alps, the park features beech, fir, pine, and oak trees, as well as purple willow, norway maple, silver birch, and silver fir. The golden eagle, western capercaillie, and hazel grouse are among the bird species found here.

The park is overseen by a directorate situated in the cities of Librazhd and Prrenjas and reporting to the Ministry of Environment.

It is Albania’s second biggest national park and one of the country’s newest. The park is classified as Category II by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Rajca Nature Reserve is also included. The park’s area includes 212,945 hectares (2,129.45 km2) of the Primeval beech woods of the Carpathians and adjacent parts of Europe, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also a component of the European Green Belt, which provides a safe haven for endangered animal and plant species. Plantlife has designated the Shebenik and Jablanica mountains, as well as the Rajc area, as Important Plant Areas of International Importance.