Albania has a total area of 28,748 square kilometers. Geographically it's located between latitudes 39º and 43ºN and longitude 19º and 21º E. It is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 72 km (45 miles) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
Albania spreads across the coastline of Adriatic and Ionian seas, its highlands backed upon the elevated Balkan landmass, and the entire country lying at latitude subject to a variety of weather patterns during the winter and summer seasons,
Albania has a high variety of climatic conditions as it falls between the typical Mediterranean climate in the west and moderate continental climate in the east. The average annual temperature is 15ºC (59ºF). The summers are hot typical like the coastal areas with frequent rainfalls.
The winters are colder in the interior of the mountains due to the continental air mass as in Eastern Europe and Balkans. The lowlands have mild winters, averaging about 7 °C (45 °F). Summer temperatures average 24 °C (75 °F). In the southern lowlands, temperatures average about 5 °C (9 °F) higher throughout the year. The difference is greater than 5 °C (9 °F) during the summer and somewhat less during the winter.
Prokletije or the Albanian Alps is the mountain range in the Balkans which extends from Northern Albania to Southwest Serbia and Eastern Montenegro. The heights point, Jezerce is the tallest peak in the entire Dinaric Alps. Other peaks include Deravica in Kosovo. Both the highest peak in Montenegro, Zla Kolata and Kosovo,Deravica at are on the Albanian Alps. The highest peak in Albania though is Mount Korab which is 2,764 m (9,068 ft) high and is located in the east of the country on the border with Macedonia.
There are three national parks in the Alps, one in Montenegro and two in Albania. The two parks of Albania are the Theth National Park which was declared in 1966 and covers an area of 2,630 hectares. It is located along the Thethi River with the main attraction the Grunas Waterfall. The Valbona Valley National Park was declared in 1996. It covers an area of 8,000 hectares and is also called the Gem of Albania. It consists of the Valbona Valley and the Valbona River.
There are around 760 vertebrate species found so far in Albania. Among these there are over 350 bird species, 330 freshwater and marine fish and 80 mammal species. There are some 91 globally threatened species found within the country. Interestingly in Albania one can find large number of mammal species here, most of which have extinct long time ago in the rest of the world. species like the Euroasian brown bear, grey wolf, red fox, Euripean wildcat, roe deer, fallow deer,red deer, wild boar and European otter, are found in this area. Eurasian lynx can be found in the Thethi National Park and one can find Chamois on the borders of Kosovo and Montenegro.
Albania also has a wide range of birds species include the Golden eagle, snake eagle, honey Buzzard, peregrine falcon, capercaillie, rock partridge, scops owl, Euroasian eagle, and the snow fish. Golden Eagle is the National Bird of Albania. Marble Trout have found their home at the rivers. There are large numbers of amphibians such as the alpine salamander, fire salamander, yellow-bellied toad and fire bellied toad. Albania is also rich in herpetofauna which includes the fence lizard, green Lizard, Greek tortoise. Albania has amazing 140 species of butterflies which makes it the richest area in Europe for butterflies.
Even though Albania is a small country it has about 30% of the total flora species found in Europe. About 2.5 acres of the land is forested and about 3000 different species of plants grow here, most of which is used for medicinal purpose. Albania belongs to the Boreal Kingdom and is shared between Mediterranean Region and Circumboreal Region. The coastal regions have typical Mediterranean vegetation, on the other side oak trees and other vegetation are found in the higher altitude area. Vast forests of black pine, beech and fir are found on higher mountains and alpine grasslands grow at altitudes above 1800 meters increases the beauty of the mountains.
