Dilek National Park

Source: www.turkey-nature.ru

National Park of Dilek Peninsula and the Delta of Buyk Menderes National Park (Cape Dilek) are located near Kusadassi and cover an area of ​​27,675 hectares. Almost 11 thousand hectares of this land belongs to the Dilek peninsula, which was declared a national park in 1966, and about 17 thousand to the delta of the river adjacent to the southern part of the peninsula and included in the national park in 1994.

Dilek Peninsula is the last point where the Samsun Mountains, which are 20 kilometers long and 5 kilometers wide here, reach the Aegean Sea. The morphological structure of this area includes a number of hills, valleys, gorges and bays. The average height of the peninsula is 650 meters, and the highest point is Dilek Dagi (Mykale), which gave the national park its name, and it reaches 1,229 meters.

The flora and fauna of the Dilek peninsula is not just rich, but very rich, the nature of Turkey in this place is just amazing! The region contains the majority of species of the Mediterranean and Black Sea flora, 28 species of mammals, 42 species of reptiles and a large number of marine animals.

The peninsula resembles a botanical garden in its diversity of plants. There are about 95 families of different plants with 904 species, subspecies and varieties for them, 6 of which grow only in this area, and the 18 other species grow  only in Turkey! Thanks to this unique diversity of plants, the Council of Europe declared the Dilek peninsula a biogenetic protected reserve!

The fauna of the peninsula is no less rich; an Anatolian leopard was seen in the forests of this area – endangered wild cat, listed in the Red Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

On the hills of the peninsula, you can see a kind of wild horses found only in Turkey, and on the shores - a monk seal, which is one of the 10 rarest marine mammals in the world!

In addition to them, in the forests of the peninsula can be seen a jackal, a forest cat, a badger, a hare, a lynx, a fox, a marten, an otter, a partridge, a mountain and sea eagle, a hawk, a falcon, a vulture, a blackbird, blue doves, and a woodcock.

In the northern part of the peninsula are the famous pebbled beaches of Aydınlyk-Koyu, Kavaklı-Burun and Karasu with groves of lime trees and chestnuts towering above them.

Such marine animals as sea turtle, shark, dolphin, seal live in the sea waters of these shores. And from the fish fauna you may find gray mullet, sea urchin, eel, golden spar, horse mackerel, anchovy, sea bass, Mediterranean goby, octopus, sea bream!

The southern shores of the Dilek peninsula are a completely different world. Here lies the glorious delta of the river Big Menderes with its huge wetlands. At various times, up to 256 species of birds were noticed here, 70 of which come here for breeding. The delta area with its biological diversity of rare and endemic species of creatures has the status of international importance and is protected by the decision of three conventions - Ramsar, Bern and Barcelona.

Entrance to the park on the outskirts of the village of Guzelcamli (Guzelcamli), 18 kilometers south of the city of Kusadasi. You can move around the park either on foot, or by a motorcycle or car; the cost of the ticket for a vehicle is higher. A significant part of the reserve is inaccessible for visiting (there are Turkish military facilities here), therefore, when studying nature, one should carefully follow the signs; violators of the military areas are usually taken to the entrance of the reserve without significant fines.