Geyikalanı Natural Monument protects a stand of old Scots pines in Otluk village, Mihalıççık district, Eskişehir province. The area is 10.5 hectares and the directorate gives 1,297 metres as its perimeter along with the coordinates 39°58'33.16"N, 31°6'17.31"E. It holds a large number of Scots pines of similar character, averaging around 300 years old, and it is known locally as Abide Ormanı, the monument forest.
It was declared on 31 October 2000 and falls inside the Çataçık Wildlife Development Area, within the boundaries of the Çataçık Forest Management Directorate and its Değirmendere forest range. All the land is forest property with no private holdings inside the boundary, and responsibility rests with the Eskişehir directorate of the 5th Regional Directorate.
Scots pine here grows in pure stands on the highest ground, and the directorate describes the forests of Çataçık and its surroundings as the species' optimum growing environment. The mammals recorded are wild boar, wolf, fox, weasel, pine and stone marten, badger, brown bear, bicoloured and lesser white-toothed shrews, and brown hare. Among the reptiles are the dwarf racer, dice snake, European pond turtle, Kotschy's gecko, snake-eyed skink and Darevskia rudis.
Access is limited by the road rather than by rule. Minibuses run from Eskişehir through Mihalıççık to Otluk village, a distance of 84 kilometres, and the last stretch from the village is a type B forest road. Visitor capacity is 20 and vehicle capacity one.
- Designated
- 3.11.2000
Visiting hours
- Visiting hours
- 08:00 - 18:00
When to go
- Climate
- Across Eskişehir as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 0.2 °C in January to 22.1 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in June, July, August and September; rainfall is heaviest in April (44 mm) and lightest in August (11 mm). Long-term means for 1991-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
