PODA Lagoon

In the past the lagoon formed a part of the Bourgas -Mandra firth. Later it became the easternmost end of the Mandra lake. Located immediately to the city limits of Bourgas on the seaward side of the road to Sozopol, it covers an area of slightly over 100 ha. Today on its relatively small area a rich variety of habitats has formed: freshwater, brackish, hyperhaline – each providing specific living confitions to different creatures.

Poda Lagoon has been declared a protected site in 1989. It was the first nature protected area in Bulgaria consigned to an NGO – the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds – for management. Within the site boundaries the following biodiversity richness has been found: 161 taxa of lower plants, 231 sp. of vascular plants, 168 sp. of invertebrate animals, 6 sp. of fish, 14 sp. of amphibians & reptiles, 240 sp. of birds and 15 sp. of mammals....