Erkmen Nature Park

Overview

Guide

Erkmen Tabiat Parkı was declared a nature park in May 2018 under the National Parks Law and covers 51.70 hectares in the Cumhuriyet quarter of Erkmen, in the central district of Afyonkarahisar. One practical point before setting out: there is no public transport to the site.

Erkmen sits in the inner western part of the Aegean region and, in plant-geographical terms, on the transition between the Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean floras, which is what gives the area its range of species. The most interesting of them are the chestnut stands on the northern foot of the hills to the south. Growing with the chestnuts are other Euro-Siberian plants — foxglove, germander speedwell, wood avens, aspen, nettle and golden pea — while bramble, two species of hawthorn, dog rose, laurel-leaved rockrose, wild pear and service tree are among the common shrubs around the park.

Eleven mammal species live in the park, none of them threatened by the 2020 IUCN assessment; hedgehog, common pipistrelle, brown hare, fox and wolf are among them. Nineteen bird species occur here, of which one, the little swift, is listed as threatened. The park is also an important nesting area for migratory species, among them the white stork and the little swift. Eight reptiles and amphibians have been recorded, and of these the spur-thighed tortoise, though widespread across Türkiye, is listed as endangered because of habitat loss and other pressures.

The park serves day visits. At the north of the site is an entrance control point, and in the day-use area are six car parks, a country restaurant, a prayer room, lavatories, a local-produce stall, a children's playground, an observation tower, an artificial-turf pitch, water storage and picnic units. Stated capacity is 600 visitors, 61 vehicles and 13 tents. The park lies 2.5 kilometres south of the Afyonkarahisar–Kütahya road, asphalt as far as Erkmen and paved from there into the park.