Dojran Lake

Dojran is a shallow lake shared with Greece, warm and rich in fish, and it is known for a fishing technique recorded nowhere else: fishermen built reed fences into the water in winter and used cormorants, driven along the channels, to herd fish into the traps. The method has largely died out but is remembered and demonstrated. The lake level fell alarmingly in the 1990s and was partly restored by pumping water in.

What you actually see

• The cormorant fishing - the reed-fence and bird method unique to this lake.
• The reed fences - the winter structures built out into the shallow water.
• The lakeside villages - Star Dojran and Nov Dojran on the Macedonian shore.
• The warm shallow water - the lake used for swimming through the summer.

When to go

May to September is the season for swimming. The traditional fishing was a winter practice and is now rarely done. Summer here is very hot.

Honest expectations

The traditional fishing method is essentially no longer practised commercially. The lake level fell dramatically in the past and remains a concern. Facilities on the shore are dated.

Nearby

Strumica is north, and the Greek border is south.