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Shared between Macedonia and Albania, UNESCO Lake Ohrid is probably the most biodiverse inland water on Earth by surface area: Of the 1,200 plus species within its crystal waves, over 200 are found nowhere else on the entire planet. It is also one of the earliest inhabited areas of Europe with at least 6,000 years of human settlements and countless archaeological wonders.

Along Lake Ohrid’s eastern coast emerges another natural masterpiece: the mountain massif and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, National Park Galichica. From forested slope to rocky peak, it is an internationally acclaimed epicenter for flora and fauna, most notably butterflies and vascular plants, but also large mammals such as bears, wolves, Balkan chamois and perhaps even Balkan lynx, one of the rarest cats on the entire planet.

Yet even in this paradise, a huge danger lurks…

Like many of Earth’s most precious locations, both National Park Galichica and Lake Ohrid have come under sustained threat in recent years. The white-noise from human pressure is getting louder, and several experts believe we could be close to the point of no return. Recently, a swarm of mega-projects aimed at mass tourism has been tabled from a national-park-slicing express road to a wetland-murdering accommodation complex via a massive lakeshore urbanization drive at multiple localities, not to mention a ski-resort, marina, railway and second road on the western shore. Even individually, many of these projects risk pushing the lake and mountain over the edge. Ironically, they may also irrevocably damage the local tourism industry, which is fundamentally based on the region’s unparalleled  natural resources.

This website is the livewire story of how such a tiny corner of the Balkan peninsula became one of Europe’s most nature-packed, culture-colored locations. It is the story of those who live within the Ohrid region, those who visit it, those who wish to protect it, those who would destroy it, and what we can do to save it.  Ultimately, it will be you that writes the ending. Please make it a happy one.

Step with us now inside the Theater of Evolution…