AtCorfu Travel Blog

The Korission Lake is located on the southwest coast of Corfu, about 20 miles from the airport, just behind the beach of Chalikouna and next to the beach of Issos.

It belongs to the wider area of ​​Agios Mattheos Village, which is located in the north.

It is the largest lagoon in Corfu and the most important wetland that constitutes an undisturbed natural very rich ecosystem. Is a shelter for more than 120 species of birds and other animals

It covers an area of ​​approximately 6,000 acres of saltwater, it connects with the sea through a narrow opening to the southern part of Halikouna beach.

The opening is called Mouth of the Lake, right there are two buildings that are the fishing facilities of some fishermen who work daily in the lake with their strange shape boats, called Koritos
They mainly fish small abundant shrimp, fish, and fish species that exist only here, such as the Mediterranean killifish (Aphanius fasciatus) or Zamparola and the highly-threatened Valencia hispanica or Zournas.
The waters of the lake are always calm, regardless of the wild sea that is located a few yards away.

The flora of the area is richest, there are reeds and marshmallows, white lilies, and 14 different species of orchid of the sand.

The stunning scenery is complemented by a kind of sea cedar that thrives on the northern shores of the Mediterranean, this tree is in abundance and creates the beautiful cedar forest of Korission Lake, between the beaches of Halikounas and Issos.

The Forest starts from the Lagoon’s Mouth, and after 3 km it is diluted on the beach of Issos.
There are also Salicornia and other species found in muddy and sandy areas, Arthrocnemetalia fruticosae, rudimentary moving dunes, Juniperus e.t.c., And beautiful sea lilies.

The creation of sandstone dunes and dunes that retain the sandy soil that separates it from the sea, according to geological surveys, has begun to form 140 to 250 thousand years ago.
Now this terrain is over 17 meters in height and is the land on which cedars thrive.

In addition to the 120 species of birds such as Flamingos, cormorants, whistles, silversmiths, ducks, thousands of butterflies, and many other species, there are also several turtles, such as the Mediterranean turtle(Testudo hermanni), the sea turtle(Emys orbicularis), Caspian turtle (Mauremys caspica).

Lake is a magical, tranquil and invaluable wildlife shelter and has joined the Natura 2000 Network to protect this rich fauna and flora. There are many different ecosystems here: the cedar forest, the lake, the dunes, the sea. the seabirds, the pare fishes, A biodiversity that is not easily found elsewhere.

This untouched (yet) natural paradise also has archaeological value, it has been proven that there was a settlement of the Early Paleolithic era, 400 years before its official chronological launch.
A stone tool has been found by French geologists whose age was determined between 950 and 750 thousand years ago, as well as another 150 stone tools and about 60 human bone remains which prove that the area was the first inhabited on the island.
Along with these were found remnants from the right lower jaw of a hippopotamus, so hippopotamus was lived in these waters a long time ago…
So the known boundaries of the prehistory of the Greek area are expanding by an additional 400 years.

The Korission Lagoon is an invaluable ecological and archaeological treasure that until now has been left untouched from the predatory appetites of private capital.
Unfortunately, the area, like all of Corfu, has become, along with other beautiful ecosystems, the target of the predators of the conquering international and local capitalists.
The area has given by the governments to TAIPED, an organization whose mission is the sale of all public property, so we all can imagine the consequences and what the future brings for us.

The Korission Lake and its entire region, including Halikounas and Issos, should always be the property of the Greek people, to be enjoyed by the future generations.
The mission and obligation of all of us are to cancel any destructive exploitation plan for the area, WITH EVERY MEANS, WITH EVERY WAY, WITH ANY COST.