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Crete

Kaş

Tours that take the strain out of enjoying Europe’s flora and fauna! Based in just a couple of good quality hotels, with direct flights, and these at kind times of day. And most importantly, field trips will be kept to a maximum of six or so hours, giving you plenty of time to relax before and after. Direct flights are available from some regional airports.

Kaş is a veritable playground for the naturalist with a wonderful range of flora and fauna, superb landscapes, fine marine life and with the comfort of a particularly lovely hotel and a wide choice of great restaurants to enjoy, it makes the perfect base for a wildlife at leisure tour.

Kaş’s narrow streets are lined with tempting little shops, cafes, bars and restaurants as the town rises up from its picturesque harbour. Past the amphitheatre, a road takes us out to the flower-filled Peninsula, now the domain of beautiful villas and hotels, yet only forty-five years ago this entire coast didn’t have a single tarmac road! Our lovely hotel nestles amongst garrigue rich in flowers and loaded with aromatic herbs, attracting abundant butterflies such as Southern and Scarce Swallowtails, Blue-spot Hairstreaks and the strikingly brilliant Loew’s Blue. Colourful Bee-eaters are migrating past as well as Hoopoes and Rollers. Kaş has perhaps the richest orchid flora in Turkey and we’ll see many fine species including Holy Orchid, Spurred Helleborine and Violet Limodore. Bee orchids are tremendously varied and we’ll see Ophrys lyciensis, Ophrys phaseliana, Ophrys reinholdii, Ophrys episcopalis and even the chlorantha form of Bee Orchid. The stunning Komper’s Orchid will be much enjoyed and we’ll hope that Kas’s own endemic orchid, Ophrys lycica, will still be in flower.

Bee Eaters © Ian Green

Green Turtles swim just offshore of the hotel and are common in these coastal waters. Andriake’s wetland, though small, has a huge list of birds and we’ll see a range of waders, egrets and herons, ducks, and migrant passerines. From the harbour here we’ll take a boat trip through the islands off Kekova, marvelling at the underwater archaeology and searching for both Green Turtles and Loggerheads, both of which are quite common here at this time of year. You’ll have the chance to snorkel at a couple of localities on this boat trip (and from your hotel) and the range of fish is quite good, with shoals of long thin Cornetfish, lots of colourful Wrasse, notably the exquisite Ornate Wrasse, and a decent chance of seeing Octopus and Squid, and of course, the turtles.

Just a few kilometres as the Eleonora’s Falcon flies, the land rises sharply to over a thousand metres and here we’ll wander in cool Cedar Forests where Irises still bloom alongside the red goblets of Tulipa armenaPaeonias, the newly described Campanula aktasii and lovely Silene cryptoneura. The lovely little Krüper’s Nuthatch is common alongside Short-toed Eagles, various woodpeckers and Goshawks. Inland further and we’ll explore the high Sinekçibeli Pass where Eastern Festoons, Powdered Brimstones and False Apollos still fly. The highest mountain in the region, the imposing 3000m Ak Dağı, has a road that will take us up in to its serenely beautiful yaylas, summer pastures around small deep green lakes, where fresh cold water still flows strongly from melting snows before plunging down an impressive waterfall. We’ll encounter abundant Fritillaria pinardii, elegant Fritillaria whitallii, and huge clumps of Aubrietia that would make even Bakewell purple with envy! Snowfinches feed around snowpatches where abundant Merendera attica and Scilla bifolia bloom and Red-fronted Serins, Finsch’s Wheatears and Cretzschmarr’s Buntings are amongst a birdlife redolent of areas farther to the east. If spring is early, rocks are decorated with the large blue saucers of Omphalodes luciliae and on the slopes are Muscari bourgaei; if its late then slopes will still be carpeted with the endemic Crocus akdaghensis, blue Anemone blanda and lovely Corydalis erdelii.

Dates and Prices

6th April - 13th April 2024 (8 days)

London - London £1,895
Antalya - Dalaman £1,595
Single Supplement* £195
Deposit £150

* doesn't apply if you're willing to share and a room-mate can be arranged

or ask us a question.

Tour Summary

Day 1
To Antalya and Elmali’s Orchard Valley
Day 2
Ak Dağı
Day 3
Sinekçibeli Pass
Day 4
Andriake, Kekova and the Islands
Day 5
Kasaba and the Demre Canyon
Day 6
Kaş’s Cedar Forest
Day 7
The Peninsula and Kaş’s Coast
Day 8
Departure from Dalaman

Tour information

Focus

Flowers, Birds and Butterflies. Also Archaeological Sites, Marine Life, Reptiles, and Rural Turkey.

Leaders

Ian Green , Seda Soylu

Group Size

One leader for a group of up to 8, 2 leaders up to the maximum group size of 15.

Included in the Price

All flights. All transport, accommodation and meals in Turkey. Services of your leaders. Please note: drinks, tips, and items of a personal nature, including insurance, are not included. No visa is now required for UK nationals. Flower, bird and butterfly checklists are available.

Accommodation

We start with two nights at the 3-star Hotel Tuba in Elmali, in the centre of a valley famed as one the biggest and most productive orchards in Turkey. The rest of the holiday (5 nights) will be at the lovely Olea Nova Hotel, beautifully situated on the Peninsula just outside Kaş. The Hotel has comfortable rooms overlooking the bay and across to the island of Meis. There is a swimming pool and walks up and down the Peninsula’s lanes can be very productive for wildlife. Kaş’s narrow streets are lined with tempting little shops, cafes, bars and restaurants as the town rises up from its picturesque harbour. All rooms have en-suite facilities.

Walking

Very gentle, just two or three miles a day, and always at a slow pace, ideally suited to photography.

Flights

This tour uses direct flights to Antalya and returning from Dalaman and these are available from many UK regional airports*.

*These routes may incur a supplement but most don’t.

Climate

Usually settled, sunny and warm, Kaş is the sunniest spot in Turkey with over 300 days of sunshine a year, however in April the odd day with showers and cooler weather is possible.

Tour Combinations

Why not extend your fabulous trip to Turkey with a second week’s tour on the wild and rugged Datça Peninsula? Barely 80 kilometres from the modern tourist resorts of Marmaris, much of the peninsula is protected as a national park and remains largely unspoilt. Your leader will transport you between the two. Kas and Datca
Or for a trip of a lifetime add a third week in beautiful Dalyan where colourful cliffs beset with spectacular Lycian Rock Tombs dominate the pleasant little town nestled against a bend in the river. Dalyan could hardly have more diverse habitats; Within a few kilometres are reedbeds, lakes, beaches, limestone maquis, pine forests, globally important Liquidambar Forests, mountains and cliffs. Southwest Turkey

How to Book

Contact us to check if there is availability for the number of places you require. Click on the ‘Book this Tour’ button on this page to be taken to the online booking form or contact us and we will send one to you which you can complete and send back to us. You will receive confirmation of your place, and then a detailed information pack will be dispatched to you about twelve weeks before departure. This will contain up-to-date health information.

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