Lake Koman
Liqeni i Komanit
Interesting facts
- One of the lake's boats, the Dragobia, has been sailing since 1994 with a cabin made from an old bus set on a ship's hull.
- A ferry has run on the lake since 1984, set up because the flooding of the valley cut mountain villages off from any road.
- The Koman power station behind the dam has an installed capacity of about 600 megawatts, delivered by four 150-megawatt turbines of French origin.
- Koman is the middle link of a three-dam cascade on the Drin, with the Fierza dam upstream and the Vau i Dejës dam downstream.
- The dam holding back the lake is a rock-fill embankment rather than a concrete wall, and is operated by the Albanian Power Corporation.
- Although the lake runs for about 34 km, it is on average only around 400 metres wide and covers roughly 13 square kilometres.
- Ferries on the lake make unscheduled stops at isolated shores, taking on villagers, cargo and sometimes livestock until the deck is full.
- Vehicle space is scarce: the Berisha, one of the car ferries working the route, carries no more than five cars at a time.
- The surface of the lake lies only about 170 metres above sea level, even though the surrounding peaks climb far higher.
Why it is worth it
Lake Koman looks less like a reservoir than a fjord that has wandered south into the Albanian Alps. For much of its length the water fills a narrow valley completely, hemmed in by forested hills and sheer rock walls, and at its tightest gorge the vertical cliffs stand only a little more than fifty metres apart. The surface is a deep, still green, and the shoreline offers almost nothing flat: slopes drop straight into the lake, and the only sign of settlement is the occasional farmstead clinging above the waterline.
The lake is a work of the late twentieth century. It was created on the Drin River between 1979 and 1988 by the dam of the Koman hydroelectric power station near the village of Koman, a wall about 115 metres high. Behind it the flooded valley runs for roughly 34 kilometres, fed not only by the Drin but also by the Shala and Valbona rivers that come down from the mountains of the north. The steep topography and the mix of forest, cliff and open water support a varied wildlife: golden jackal, red fox, badger, otter, beech marten and polecat live along the shores, and the birds recorded here include kingfisher, grey heron, quail, wryneck and great spotted woodpecker.
Because the valley sides are so steep, the lake has become the main thoroughfare of the region rather than an obstacle. A ferry runs along it between Koman and Fierzë, linking the Shkodër side with the remote Tropojë district and the town of Bajram Curri; the crossing takes around two and a half hours and threads through the narrowest sections of the gorge. Smaller boats carry people and goods to scattered villages that have no road at all and can be reached only by water.
Getting there
The dam and ferry landing at Koman lie in the hills east of Shkodër, about 36 km from the city in a straight line. The nearest airport is Podgorica (TGD) in Montenegro, about 56 km away across the border; within Albania, Tirana International Airport (TIA) is about 90 km away. Ferries run along the lake between Koman and Fierzë.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Lake Koman is a reservoir on the Drin River in northern Albania. It is surrounded by dense forested hills, vertical slopes, deep gorges, and a narrow valley, completely taken up by the river. Besides the Drin, it is fed by the Shala and Valbona Rivers. The lake stretches in an area of 34 km2 (13 sq mi), its width being 400 m (0.25 mi). The narrowest gorge, which is surrounded by vertical canyon walls, is more than 50 m (0.031 mi) wide. The reservoir was constructed between 1979 and 1988 by the Koman Hydroelectric Power Station near the village of Koman with a height of 115 m (377 ft).
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