Relief: Albania is a surprise for visitors, because of its relief and the variety of landscapes. It mainly is a mountainous country, where 70% of the territory is covered down by mountains and hills, while the low tone with an altitude till 300 m take place only 30 % of the territory. The average altitude of Albanian territory ( 708 m ) is about 2 times greater then the average altitude of Europe
Climate: Albania is included in the area of Mediterraen Climate, characterised by a dry and hot summer and severe and rainy winter. Because of mountainous character of the territory and strong morphological cutting up the climate is various. The western part of the territory, indicated by the influence of hot maritime masses of air is hotter. Here the winter is soft, the temperatures under zero are scarce and the summer is very hot, where maximal temperatures till 42° C are registered ( summer 1998 )
 Like all the Mediterraen countries, Albania is distinguished by a great number of sunny days, about 290 sunny days on the north - east part and 325 sonny days on the south- west part.
Unlike other Mediterraen countries, there is a great quantity of rains ( the average rains per year is 1480 mm), distributed disproportionaly over the country, running from 600 – 700 mm in the plateau of Korca to more than 3000 mm in the western part of the Albanian Alps.More than 70 % of the rain falls during the cold season of the year.
The snow lasts to about 100 days per year in mountainous regions, where the snow depth go to more than 2 - 3 meters.
Rivers: As a result of the right physical and geografical conditions, there is dense network of rivers and streams in Albania. The annual water reserves of the country reach nearly 41 kubic/ kilometers. The river courses are of Mediterranean type, very irregular.
Lakes: There are many lakes in the country. They are various by the origin as Glacial, Carstic, telluric and artificial. The biggest one are lakes of Shkodra, Lake Ohrid( Pogradecit), and Lake Prespa.
Fauna and Flora: Albania has a remarkable variety of plants and also some of the last refuges of rare mammals and birds that have disappeared from other regions of the Balkans . In both the cases, distribution is largely affected by the division of the country into the lowland and highland regions, with climatic conditions that are dominated by Mediterranean and continental influences, in eachcase. Although the coastal marshes supported a rich wildlife, some of them has been threatened by land drainage and some species, such as the Dalmatian Pelican , are virtually extinct. But the remoteness and underpopulation ofmany areas, and the large surviving areas of forest, have provided refuges for many birds, plants and animals.
The extensive oak, conifer, and beach forests provide a home for the wolf, the fox, the jackal and the ferret ,while the pine forest contains the brown bear , an endangered species, the pine marten , two kinds of wild cat , the lynx and the weasel . Roe deer, chamois and wild boars are common in some areas. Albania has no less than 14 species of bat, and about 350 native birds. They include migratory and non-migratory species. Residents include crows, sparrows, indigenous duck such as the shoveller duck , two varieties of partridge, pheasants and herons .
Two rare species of grouse inhabit the dense pine forests on the high mountains.
Birds of prey are common in many localities, including eagles, falcons, buzzard, sparrow hawk , and several varieties of owl, including the boarded owl, the horned owl and the little owl.
The most common migratory birds include the nightingale, the stork, swallows, cuckoos, larks,thrushes, geese, pigeons, and woodcock.
Albanian reptiles include the water snake, the house snake, the fourline snake, the Montpellier snake and the very poisonous Balkan adder. There are many varieties of toads, frogs, salamanders and lizards, some unique to Albania, as well as two species of tortoise, the common and the Mediterranean.
About 260 varieties of fish inhabit Albanian waters, with most common varieties of Mediterranean fish being found along the coastline, and trout dominating the mountain streams.
Lakes are inhabitated by carp, eels , and other coarse fish and otters live on the banks in some places. Ohrid lake has a unique member of the trout family, called Koran ( a survivor of tumultuous upheavals) which is delicious to eat; it is also found in lake Prespa and in lake Baikal in Siberia.
Albania is one of the richest areas for plant life in the Mediterranean. 3221 different types of plant grow in Albania, divided in two clear groups, those that grow either side of a line running north- south from Shkodra to Leskovik.
To the west there is typical Mediterranean flora ( about 35 % of the total of the plant life).
To the east there are the plants that grow in the mountainous part of the country.
In the country there are 489 plants, which are characteristic of the Balkan Peninsula, about 40 of which are unique to Albania.
Oak forest makes up about 20 % of the forested area of the whole country.In other areas, Mediterranean scrub is dominant up to altitudes of 800 m. Much of the remaining forest is of pine and beech, depending largely on altitude, with the tree line in northern Albania at about1600 m, 1800 m in central Albania, and reaching up to 2300 m in the most sheltered places in the south.
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