Lake Atanasovsko

Atanasovsko is a shallow hypersaline lagoon on the edge of Burgas, divided into basins that have been worked for salt since the 1900s by solar evaporation, and it is one of the most important bird sites in Bulgaria: it sits directly under the Via Pontica flyway and very large numbers of pelicans, storks and raptors pass over it in migration, with breeding avocets, terns and stilts and wintering wildfowl on the water. In late summer the concentrated brine and the algae in it turn parts of the lake pink and red. The salt is still harvested, and the lye and mud from the pans are used locally for treatment, with people covering themselves in black mud along the shore, which is a Burgas summer sight in itself.

What you actually see

• Working solar salt pans - basins harvested since the 1900s.
• Pink and red brine in late summer - algae colouring the concentrated water.
• Via Pontica migration - pelicans, storks and raptors passing overhead.
• Mud bathing along the shore - the local use of the pan mud.

When to go

April to June and August to October for migration; August and September for the pink water and the mud. Half a day. Dawn is best for birds. Summer heat on the open pans is severe.

Honest expectations

There is little shade and the pans are exposed. Birdwatching needs a telescope; the hides are few. Mud bathing is unregulated and the shore is untidy. The lake sits between the city and a busy road.

Nearby

Burgas is south; Pomorie and its own salt lake lie north.