Butterflies are inspirational. Art, music and poetry use their imagery, while companies like Qualcomm and China’s top universities mimic their evolutionary blueprints for next-gen screen technology and ultra-efficient solar panels. No other insect is quite so close to the human heart. No other insect is quite so close to our concept of beauty.
This makes the Republic of Macedonia’s National Park Galichica a particularly important location. Not only is Macedonia a European leader for butterfly species per square kilometer, but over 68% of the nation’s winged treasure flutters from flower to flower in the Ohrid region, especially on Galichica’s lake-stroked slopes.
In total, 170 kinds of daylight butterfly flicker through the summer sunlight within the national park boundaries, a figure that rises to 1,597 when sun-shy moths and skippers are added in. Thus, Galichica is a tower of lepidopteran strength in a continent where populations of nearly one in three butterfly species are crashing.
Recognizing the mountain’s sublime capacity to give flight to life, experts have designated it as a Prime Butterfly Area, an accolade that places Galichica at the vanguard of attempts to brighten humankind’s future with butterfly beauty.
Ohrid SOS 