Southwest of Lezhë there is a large system of wetlands and lagoons along the coast of the Adriatic Sea. The place is perfect for hiking and bird-watching. Don’t miss one of the renowned fish and seafood eateries in the area.
Kune-Vain-Tale Reserve (alb. Rezervati Kunë-Vain-Tale) is part of the delta of Albania’s longest river, the Drin, and its edge basically touches the western suburbs of Lezhë. It is the oldest protected area in Albania, established in the early 1930s by King Zog I. as a hunting ground.
The reserve includes Kuna Island (Ishulli i Kunës) and the adjacent lagoons. Ornithologists have counted 196 species of birds here, some of which use the area as their wintering grounds. Here you will find, for example, flamingos, and the endangered Ferruginous duck (aythya nyroca). You can approach the island near Villa Peshkëtarit restaurant, which is at the end of an asphalt road from Lezhë (10 km).
The newest addition to the area’s attractions is a newly constructed road and bike path that leads through the Vain Lagoon to a beach lined with pine trees. At the very end of the road is a rickety lookout tower, from which you can see the marshy landscape and watch the birds, and a small beach resort with restaurant and bar. The entrance fee to the reserve here is 100 lek.
Slightly further south, at the mouth of another of Albania’s long rivers, the Mat, lies the Patok-Fushë Kuqe-Ishëm Nature Park (Parku Natyror Patok-Fushë Kuqe-Ishëm), which is also an important wintering ground for migratory birds. If you are lucky, you will see the critically endangered Slender-billed curlew (numenius tenuirostris), which is almost non-existent elsewhere in Europe.
The nature park is easily accessible by car on a decent asphalt road that runs along a narrow embankment in the middle of the Patok Lagoon (Laguna e Patokut). Several fish restaurants have sprung up here, where you can sit on terraces fixed on stakes sunk into the lagoon bed.
Other nature reserves in the vicinity of Lezhë are the Buna Delta and the Vilun Lagoon, which are located to the northwest of the city and better accessible from Shkodër (a new coastal road is currently under construction to link the regions). Both places are ideal for birdwatching, and lucky visitors may even spot turtles, which come to lay their eggs on the local sheltered sandy beaches. This is the northernmost part of a wetland system that stretches virtually the entire length of the Albanian Adriatic coast.
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