Shiroka Polyana ( bg, Широка поляна) is a
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
lake situated in the Western
Rhodopes
The Rhodopes (; bg, Родопи, ; el, Ροδόπη, ''Rodopi''; tr, Rodoplar) are a mountain range in Southeastern Europe, and the largest by area in Bulgaria, with over 83% of its area in the southern part of the country and the remainder ...
mountains in
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Mac ...
.
The lake is situated 30 km south of
Batak
Batak is a collective term used to identify a number of closely related Austronesian ethnic groups predominantly found in North Sumatra, Indonesia, who speak Batak languages. The term is used to include the Karo, Pakpak, Simalungun, Toba, ...
, on the road to
Dospat. It is located 1500 meters above sea level amidst a forest of old pine trees. Different legends are told about the lake.
The shape of Shiroka Poliana reservoir is unique. Viewed from the ring-road it seems that the lake is composed of numerous small lakes with separate walls. This illusion is due to the indented relief of the lake bed that consists of several mountain gullies.
Although the banks of the lake are far from the road and comparatively hard to access, it attracts many visitors and sports fishermen because of the abundance of fish, including grey
mullet,
European perch
The European perch (''Perca fluviatilis''), also known as the common perch, redfin perch, big-scaled redfin, English perch, Euro perch, Eurasian perch, Eurasian river perch, Hatch, poor man’s rockfish or in Anglophone parts of Europe, simply th ...
, and
trout
Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', '' Salmo'' and '' Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-sa ...
.
Reservoirs in Bulgaria
Landforms of Pazardzhik Province
Rhodope Mountains
Tourist attractions in Pazardzhik Province
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