Barbarakanal is regarded as the ‘oldie’ amongst the Lusatian Lake District’s canals. It was the first navigable connection to be completed in the region in December 2003. Yet many years would pass before the 1,258 yard (1,150 m) long canal that connects Geierswalder See with Partwitzer See went into operation. Various factors did not allow for an earlier start.
Barbarakanal constitutes the lakeside connection between the lake district villages of Geierswalde and Klein Partwitz Both these villages are part of the municipality of Elsterheide and are characterised by their numerous three- and four-sided farms. An increasingly active tourism infrastructure is developing here.
A narrow land bridge divides Geierswalder See and Partwitzer See: Koschendamm, a dam named for the Koschen opencast mine, which now is the lake Geierswalder See, was artificially raised. The beaches on Geierswalder See opened again in late summer 2016 after their closure for safety reasons. The art project on the lookout hill was created by pupils of the Léon-Focault-Gymnasium, a grammar school in Hoyerswerda. In summer 2010, in the context of project work, Year 11 pupils interpreted various motifs from the lake district in 13 pictures, including a spider that symbolises the region’s flora and fauna and wooden steles the meaning of which is open to individual imagination.
Nearby lies the new nature reserve ‘Geierswalder Heide’. This is the site of the largest population of rock graylings, a butterfly species, in Saxony.