Lake Lubans

Lubans is the biggest lake in Latvia by area, though it is so shallow and reed-fringed that it feels more like a flooded plain than open water. Ringed by dykes, fish ponds and reedbeds, it is one of the richest bird habitats in the country, with watchtowers set out across the wetland.

Background

The lake sits in the middle of the Eastern Latvian Lowland. Four rivers, the Lisiņa, Malmuta, Malta and Rēzekne, along with several smaller brooks, feed it, and its water leaves by the Aiviekste River for the Daugava, from a catchment of 2040 square kilometres. After damaging floods in the spring of 1926, dams and ditches were built, and the level is allowed to range from approximately 90 to 93 metres. At 90.75 m the surface covers 25 km2, growing to about 100 km2 when the water reaches 92.75 m. The lake is 15.7 kilometres long, 1.6 metres deep on average and 3.5 metres at most, with one island, Akmeņsala. Smaller former lakes in the basin were drained for farmland.

Source: Wikipedia, "Lake Lubāns"

Highlights

• Birdwatching towers - a network of towers looks out over the reeds and pools; spring and autumn migrations are huge.
• The dykes - long straight embankments make flat walking and cycling routes around the water.
• Fish ponds - the managed ponds beside the lake draw pelicans, cranes and eagles.
• Big skies - the flat, open wetland is all horizon and weather.

When to go

Spring and autumn migration are the peak, when thousands of birds pass through. Summer is quieter but green. Bring binoculars; without them the appeal is limited.

Before you go

This is a place for patient people and birdwatchers, not for dramatic scenery - it is flat, wet and subtle. The lake edges are hard to reach without the dyke roads and towers. Mosquitoes are serious in summer.

Nearby

Rezekne, the capital of Latgale, has the striking modern Gors culture centre; Lake Razna is the region's other great lake to the south.

Key facts