Created in 1999, this 277 ^km2 national park (Parku Kombëtar i Prespës) stretches around Pustec, along the Albanian parts of the two Prespa lakes. It is a rich biodiversity reserve, registered since 2013 under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. The park is also part of the Ohrid-Prespa transboundary biosphere reserve, between Albania and Northern Macedonia, listed since 2014 in Unesco's Man and the Biosphere program. Lake Prespa (or Great Prespa Lake) covers an area of 273.6 ^km2. It is shared by Northern Macedonia (190 ^km2), Greece (84.8 ^km2) and Albania (38.8 ^km2). The small Lake Prespa covers 46.8 ^km2. It straddles the border between Greece and Albania (4.3 ^km2), separated from Lake Prespa by an isthmus less than 1 km wide in Greece. The management of the two lakes is a unique example of collaboration between three countries in environmental protection. The Albanian national park adjoins the Galičica national park (227 ^km2) in Northern Macedonia and the Prespa national park (195 ^km2) in Greece.

Curly pelicans. Albania's Prespa National Park boasts an interesting variety of landscapes, with stretches of water and wetlands (49 ^km2), forests, farmland, pastures, a semi-mountainous area below Mount Galičica (2,254 m a.s.l., in Northern Macedonia), but also cliffs, caves, rock churches and the island of Maligrad. The forests (135 ^km2) are mainly oak (sessile oak, pubescent oak, Hungarian oak, chequered oak and Macedonian oak). In the semi-mountainous area to the north-east, the main species are common beech, Balkan beech, sycamore maple, Byzantine hazel, white fir and Bulgarian fir. In all, there are over 1,100 plant species. The park is home to some 270 bird species, half of which nest here. The Prespa Lakes are home to Europe's largest colony of one of the world's most endangered species: the Dalmatian pelican(Pelecanus crispus). There are around 1,000 pairs in the three parks. Other species include the "classic" pelican, pygmy cormorant, great and little egrets, black-crowned night heron, hairy crake, sickle ibis... Mammals include bears, wolves and foxes. The caves are home to around 25 species of bat. Finally, there are 34 types of reptiles and amphibians.