Ohrid SOS doesn’t just see an amazing wetland at Macedonia’s Studenchishte Marsh. We see the past and the future harmonized into one living moment. We see opportunities for growth and development of nature and humans both. We see wellbeing. We see beauty. We see health. We see a better tomorrow.
These thoughts underpin our project-vision to rehabilitate Studenchishte as a self-sufficient protected area and synchronize it within a contemporary World Heritage education, awareness and tourism offer, which has been recently submitted to Ohrid Municipality. The vision is for a boardwalk, which doubles as an open-sky museum, but it’s actually much, much more than that.
The vision is now available in Macedonian and English, but for those who prefer a pictorial summary, a brief overview is expanded below…
STEP 1. Concept
In and around Europe’s oldest lake, 6,000 years of human settlements and empires have strolled past; rare and relict species have dodged continental ice-balls to repopulate the north; and entirely new lifeforms have evolved into existence. It’s not just the sound of the birds you’re hearing at Studenchishte Marsh. It’s the sound of traveling time…
STEP 2: Protection
For Studenchishte to continue the amazing lake-saving, life-sheltering, water-cleansing and livelihood-creating services to nature and humankind that it has undertaken for thousands of years, it’s going to have to be ultra-fit and ultra-attractive.
By establishing its full 63.97-hectare area as a Monument of Nature within a Lake Ohrid Ramsar Site, revitalizing damaged habitats and stopping harmful practices, we can bring it to full health for nature, full helpfulness for local citizens and full fascination for visitors to the Ohrid region.
We can also make it into an exciting component of a regional ecotourism offer…
Ohrid SOS 