Lake Mandra, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
The Burgas lakes or Burgas wetlands are a group of coastal lakes of varying salinity located around the city of Burgas (the fourth largest city in Bulgaria) on the Black Sea coast.
They constitute the largest group of lakes in the country and comprise some of Bulgaria's biggest and most important lakes. The total area of the lakes and wetlands (including swamps, marshes, ponds and other reservoirs) amounts to 59 square miles of which 21 square miles are either designated or proposed protected areas that are inhabited by a large number of locally or globally endangered species of birds, mammals and fish.
Apart from this, the Burgas lakes are also of economic importance and they are used to obtain sea salt and curative mud as well as to supply the local economy with fresh water in the case of Lake Mandra.
The lakes comprise (in north to south order):
Lake Pomorie: an ultra-saline lagoon
Lake Atanasovsko: a nature reserve and Ramsar site
Lake Burgas or Lake Vaya: the largest natural lake in Bulgaria by area
Lake Poda: sometimes regarded as a part of Lake Mandra
Lake Mandra or Lake Mandrensko: now a fresh water reservoir and the largest of the group
Lake Mandra or Lake Mandrensko is the most southern of the Burgas lakes. It is 5 miles in length and 0.8 miles wide at its maximum and it has an area of 24 square miles. It was a brackish natural lake until 1963 when it was turned into a reservoir with the construction of a dam to secure fresh water for the large Neftochim Burgas oil refinery. The rivers Izvorska, Fakiyska, Sredetska and Rusokastrenska flow into the lake. The lake is surrounded by areas of wet meadow, reedbeds, woodland and scrub and the lake itself and these other habitats support a wide range of breeding, migrating and wintering birds.
Date: 21st May 2018
Location: view from the south shore near Dimcevo, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
They constitute the largest group of lakes in the country and comprise some of Bulgaria's biggest and most important lakes. The total area of the lakes and wetlands (including swamps, marshes, ponds and other reservoirs) amounts to 59 square miles of which 21 square miles are either designated or proposed protected areas that are inhabited by a large number of locally or globally endangered species of birds, mammals and fish.
Apart from this, the Burgas lakes are also of economic importance and they are used to obtain sea salt and curative mud as well as to supply the local economy with fresh water in the case of Lake Mandra.
The lakes comprise (in north to south order):
Lake Pomorie: an ultra-saline lagoon
Lake Atanasovsko: a nature reserve and Ramsar site
Lake Burgas or Lake Vaya: the largest natural lake in Bulgaria by area
Lake Poda: sometimes regarded as a part of Lake Mandra
Lake Mandra or Lake Mandrensko: now a fresh water reservoir and the largest of the group
Lake Mandra or Lake Mandrensko is the most southern of the Burgas lakes. It is 5 miles in length and 0.8 miles wide at its maximum and it has an area of 24 square miles. It was a brackish natural lake until 1963 when it was turned into a reservoir with the construction of a dam to secure fresh water for the large Neftochim Burgas oil refinery. The rivers Izvorska, Fakiyska, Sredetska and Rusokastrenska flow into the lake. The lake is surrounded by areas of wet meadow, reedbeds, woodland and scrub and the lake itself and these other habitats support a wide range of breeding, migrating and wintering birds.
Date: 21st May 2018
Location: view from the south shore near Dimcevo, Burgas Province, Bulgaria
|
Also in: Bulgaria
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |  |