North Macedonia set to create vast new national park

Poppies on a Shar Mountain hillside (Boris Grdanoski/AP)

A vast cross-border area of natural beauty and diverse and unique wildlife in the Balkans is close to becoming a national park, one of the largest in Europe.

Politicians in North Macedonia are set to pass a Bill to protect an area of more than 240,000 hectares, centred on Shar Mountain, that ranges through Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo.