The Banderishki Lakes are a large group of lakes in the Pirin

Pirin

The Pirin Mountains are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with Vihren the highest peak, situated at . The range extends about 40 km northwest-southeast, and about 25 km wide. Most of the range is protected in the Pirin National Park...

 mountains, southwestern Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

. They are situated in the Banderitsa valley and mark the beginning of the Banderitsa river. There are 17 lakes in all from which only 5 have names. They are glacial lake

Glacial lake

A glacial lake is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat. A retreating glacier often left behind large deposits of ice in hollows between drumlins or hills. As the ice age ended, these melted to create...

s formed on granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 basis with a total area of 126,7 decares. The temperature of the water in July is 10 to 12° С.

• The Frog lake is the highest in the group, nestling on the southern slope of the Malka Todorka peak at an altitude of 2,322 m. Its surface is only 5,6 decares and is 2 m deep. The lake is elongated (138x63 m), the water is warm.

• The Long lake (Bulgarian: Дългото езеро) is situated at 2,310 m and is called the Upper Banderishko lake. It is 450 m long and 150 m wide and has a surface area of 45,5 decares. The maximum depth is 10 m and the volume of water is 177,000 m³.

• The Fish Banderishko lake (Bulgarian: Рибно Бъндеришко езеро) is located at 2,190 m. Fish is abundant in the lake, and this is where it derives its name. With its surface of 65 decares (384x230 m) the lake is the largest in the valley. Its depth is 12,2 m. South of the lake the river drops down a steep slope which separates it from the Long lake, and to the north there is a small peninsular with pine-scrub.

• The Moratovo lake (Bulgarian: Муратово езеро), called also the Juniper lake is situated below the Moratov peak in a small cirque. There are three tiny lakes around. Its altitude is 2,230 m and has an area of 12,3 decares. The lake is only 3,2 m deep and the amount of water is 22,700 m³. In front of the lake rises proudly the Todorka
  Todorka
  Todorka is a massive peak in the Pirin Mountains of south-western Bulgaria. It is the only peak of the Todorka side ridge and has a summit elevation of 2746 m above sea level. Todorka is the 11th highest peak in Pirin and is made of granite, and although not rocky, it is steep...
  
   peak.

• The Eye lake (Bulgarian: Окото) is a small lake located above the Vihren refuge
  Vihren refuge
  The Vihren refuge is situated in the Pirin mountain, southwestern Bulgaria at an altitude of 1,915 m. It is composed of two massive buildings and bungalows. There is a road from Bansko, which makes the refuge one of the most visited parts in the mountain as well as one of the most polluted...
  
  , the lowest in the group (2,062 m). It is called like this due to its rounded shape and shining surface. It is so small that it can only be seen on the track at a distance of 100 m. Its area is 2,6 decares, the depth is 5,4 m and the amount of water- 6,600 m³.