I’v have visited Macedonia twice now in the summer for a wonderful holiday. Both times I visited the beautiful Mavrovo national park from Lake Ohrid.
Mavrovo National Park
The Mavrovo National Park is the largest national park in all of Macedonia. Thanks to the height differences, the park has a great diversity of flora and fauna. The special gray buzzard, the imperial eagle, the golden eagle, brown bears, lynxes and chamois are found here. But the chances are small that you’ll actually see most of those animals.
Mavrovo is a very popular and busy ski area in winter. In the summer you can walk here perfectly in the beautiful nature. It’s possible that forest fires occur due to the heat, so you can not walk everywhere in the national park in the summer.
I took part in an organized tour to the national park. Our guide was very enthusiastic and was happy to tell about the different plants and what medicinal (and sometimes even deadly) effects they can have.
We walked a long way through the mountains and also visited the temporary home of the sheep herders. They showed us their austere houses. In the house several men sleep in one big room and it must be ice and ice cold at night. On the way we occasionally encountered the sheep herders and their very friendly sheepdogs. Their dogs were more than happy to beg for some snacks on the way.
In the Mavrovo lake you’ll find a flooded church. During the summer this lake has largely dried up and you can view this church from the inside.
Galicnik village
During the tour we visited the village of Galicnik at an altitude of 1500 meters. Here you have a beautiful view over the valley. This village is known for its special weddings. The weddings here are very exuberant and take place only once a year, on July 12. During the wedding the men dance the Teškoto, a very difficult and tough dance.
How do you get to Mavrovo national park?
I visited the Mavrovo national park 2 times with an excursion from Lake Ohrid. It’s also possible to visit the park with your own transport. From Ohrid it’s about 2 hours drive to the national park and from the capital Skopje 1.5 hours.
