Dilek Peninsula - Büyük Menderes Delta National Park

Dilek Peninsula - Büyük Menderes Delta National Park

    The National Park of Dilek Peninsula Büyük Menderes Delta covers an area of 27.675 hectares (68.357 acres). 10.985 hectares of this land belongs to Dilek Peninsula, which was declared as a national park in 1966. Büyük Menderes Delta, adjacent to the southern part of the peninsula covering an area of 16.690 hectares (41.224 acres), was also included in the national park in 1994. 

Dilek Peninsula Birdisland, Turkey

    Dilek Peninsula is the last point where Samsun Mountains, having a length of 20 km and a width of approximately 6 km, reach Aegean Sea, The morphologic structure of this area embraces a number of hills, valleys, a canyon and bays. The average altitude of the peninsula is 650 m and the highest point is the Dilek Hill (Mykale), from which the national park derives its name, with an altitude of 1237 m.

    The National Park has the character of an area which is protected by international agreements, and at the same time it is an Important Nature Area due to the fact that it is an Important Bird Area, Important Plant Area and Important Mammal Area.

The Flora of Dilek Peninsula

    The Flora of dilek Peninsula has a rich variety of plants belonging to 95 families and 804 kinds of plants belonging to various species, sub-species and varieties. 6 species of these plants are endemic, peculiar to the area.

    Approximately 256 different kinds of bird species exist in Dilek Peninsula - Buyuk Menderes Delta National Park, and 70 of these proliferate here.

European Network of Biogenetic Reserves

    The National Park area is considered as a flora biogenetic reserve by the European Network of Biogenetic Reserves which is conducted by the Council of Europe. In other words, Dilek Peninsula - Buyuk Menderes Delta National Park has the distinctionof being a nature museum where a combination of all the plant species from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea can be seen together.

    The National Park is the last place the Anatolian Leopard (Panthera Pardus Tulliana), which is extinct or at the brink of extinction, lived in the West. Fallow Deers (Dama Dama) live in the forests of the National Park, The Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus Monachus) one of the most rare 10 marine mammals in the world, also lives in the shores of the National Park.