Aktif Azimut - Flora and Fauna

	Flora & Fauna... The Karaburun Peninsula possesses a rich fauna and flora. Although one finds a very varied range of wild flowers especially in spring, every season has its typical flowers and plants. The Karaburun Peninsula has a typical Mediterranean overgrowth. But the peninsula also offers a couple of only is this region growing special products such as the “Hurma”- olive (an olive which through a microclimate effect ripens directly on the tree and need no further treatment before consumption), the narcissus flower and the artichoke. In the hills and in the valleys one finds many healing plants, the villagers still use to prevent or cure various illnesses. The different types of thyme and sage, wild lavender and hundreds of wild flowers turn the Karaburun Peninsula into a huge natural garden. The fauna of the peninsula is also worth mentioning. The Karaburun Peninsula is one of the rare breeding places on earth of the extinction threatened and very rare Monkseal Monachus monachus of which only about 430 specimen are surviving in the whole world. The quite rare seagull Laris audouinni can also be spotted in Karaburun.
				The overgrowth of the Karaburun Peninsula exist mostly of dense Mediterranean shrub with the exception of some locally growing bigger trees and bushes. The following are typical for the area: strawberry tree, wild olive tree, strawberry tree of the Levant, turpentine tree, kermes oak, Persian lilac, maple-tree, mastic tree and the omnipresent rockrose. One also finds many healing plants which are still used by the villagers such as spurge, pennyroyal, common poppy, perforate St-John’s-wort, thyme, caper, silifa, Aaron’s rod, sea squill, sage, wild lavender etc. Olives, narcissus, hyacinths, artichokes, mandarine oranges and lemons are part of the crops the villagers earn their living with. In the higher parts of the peninsula pine forests are dominating.
				The Karaburun Peninsula has a varied wildlife stock: wild boar, marten, badger, otter, hare, birds of prey (eagle, buzzard, falcon etc.), water-turtles, river-crabs, chameleon, snakes, lizards as well as many butterflies and other insects like beetles, grasshoppers, praying mantis etc. The breeding-stock consists mainly of goats and sheep. In the vicinity of the villages one may find bee hives for honey. But also the sea which surrounds the peninsula has a lot to offer. According to the season a great variety of different fish are passing along the shores of Karaburun. The best known is the lesser gray mullet of which more than twenty varieties are known. A typical way of fishing is the so called “Dalyan"-technique, where a net is spread on the bottom of the sea and attached by ropes to a watching post on the shore. When the fish shoal passes over the net, the ropes are pulled and the net lifted while the fish stays trapped in the net. In certain bays fish-farms have been installed for the production of mainly white bream and perch.
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