Koritnik () is a wooded, limestone mountain, located in northeastern Albania and southwest Kosovo between the cities of Kukës and

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

. The mountain is entirely surrounded by branches of the White Drin river. The highest point of Koritnik massif, Maja e Pikëllimës reaches an elevation of above the Adriatic. Gryka e Vanavës ( en, Vanave Gorge) separates the mountain from Gjallica. The gorge is long, wide, and about deep. The massif falls within the

Balkan mixed forests The Balkan mixed forests are a terrestrial ecoregion of southeastern Europe according to both the WWF and Digital Map of European Ecological Regions by the European Environment Agency. It belongs in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests bio ...

terrestrial ecoregion of the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sibe ...

temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. The slopes of the mountain meadows are mostly covered with

coniferous Conifers are a group of cone-bearing seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a single extant class, Pinopsida. All extant ...

forests. The high pastures of the Koritnik mountain help sustain a population of around 60

chamois The chamois (''Rupicapra rupicapra'') or Alpine chamois is a species of goat-antelope native to mountains in Europe, from west to east, including the Alps, the Dinarides, the Tatra and the Carpathian Mountains, the Balkan Mountains, the Ril ...

. Koritnik is also part of the

Korab-Koritnik Nature Park The Korab-Koritnik Nature Park ( sq, Parku Natyror i Korab-Koritnikut) is a nature park in eastern Albania and forms a section of the European Green Belt, which serves as a retreat for endangered species, endangered animal and plant species. It e ...

, forming the European Green Belt. It has been recognized as an Important Plant Area of international importance by Plantlife.

References

{{Kosovo topics Mountains of Albania Mountains of Kosovo International mountains of Europe Albania–Kosovo border Geography of Kukës County Two-thousanders of Albania Two-thousanders of Kosovo Protected areas of Dibër County Korab

See also

References