Northeastern Anatolia

Anatolia has a diverse mammal fauna with strong influences from Europe, Asia and Arabia, so here the ranges of Jungle Cat and Lynx, Porcupine and Red Squirrel just about meet. In the glorious wild landscapes of Northeastern Turkey one can find increasingly healthy populations of some of the region’s larger mammals, notably Brown Bears and Lynx. In the summer the bears retire to the forests and become difficult to spot, but for a few weeks in the spring the lure of succulent new growth in the alpine valleys above the trees brings them out into the open. By happy coincidence the summer trekkers will not have arrived so there are very few people to disturb them, and we of course can benefit from the increasingly pleasant hotel facilities needed for the summer trade. We have a fantastically situated hotel in Olgunlar, the last tiny hamlet before the mighty Kaçkar peak itself. On walks and short drives out from the hotel we will encounter Brown Bears, indeed we can even expect to see them from the hotel. Bears with young cubs are often visible at this season, or mothers with yearling cubs still in tow, and the impressive males are wandering the slopes too. The Lynx favour the aspen and birch dotted slopes around our hotel where they can hunt hares and blackcock. The hotel owners tells us they come and live in the actual village houses in winter! They are of course harder to spot than the bears but with careful observation and the aid of a thermal ‘scope we give ourselves a good chance.

Caspian Snowcock call like ghostly Curlews from the rocky bluffs, and we’ll see a good number of Caucasian Blackcock, the males displaying from snow-burnt turf on the slopes. We’ll encounter large flocks of Alpine Choughs, many Common Rosefinches, and Wallcreepers are frequent on the cliffs. We’ll see small herds of Chamois daily on the hillsides above Olgunlar and we’ll search for Ibex back down the valley, they favour the rocky slopes right by the road below Yaylarlar. Red Fox and Beech Martens pay the hotel a visit after dark…

Everywhere in the Kars Highlands is five thousand feet or more above sea level yet the mountains are much gentler with rounded shoulders, these often cloaked in open Scots Pine forests. The very best mammal-watching track in Turkey stretches twenty-five kilometres between two villages and passes through the wilderness of the Allahuekber Mountains National Park. Regular bear sightings will keep us stopping. Some of the bears skitter away upslope but others seem less concerned. We’ll certainly have the chance to watch all sorts of bear behaviour along this road. Wild Boar are frequent too. The higher ground above the trees is truly wild with vast vistas of montane steppe, half of it still covered in snow. This is great Wolf country and we’ll station ourselves at appropriate watchpoints waiting for them as they return across the open landscapes to their daytime refuges after a night of pillaging and raiding. Wolves in this part of the world tend to live singly or as twos and threes, so don’t expect packs. They look amazing in their vari-coloured but still full winter coats. Lower down in the open forests and along the tumbling river are willows and scrub where hares are abundant and where we’ve a good chance of locating a Lynx or two. The shepherds tell us there are many!

We’ve just recently found a wonderful Marbled Polecat site. This charismatic animal hunts the abundant rodent life on a plateau half an hour from our hotel. A fearless little carnivore, it is also rather curious which will give us good photographic opportunities

A surprising inhabitant of the Scot’s Pine forests here is the Red Squirrel. All are a mix of white and red (unlike the European ones) and some are largely white with just the ear tufts (which seem abnormally large here) and parts of the legs and head red! After dark we’ll look Wild Cat and Porcupine too. Other wildlife we’ll see in this area includes Lesser Spotted Eagles, Steppe Eagles and Lammergeiers. Those with a botanical interest will enjoy the Fritillaria michailovskyi, Fritillaria latifolia, Iris iberica elegantissima and swathes of Bellevalias, Primulas and Prophet Flowers.