Guide
Şamlar Nature Park lies within the bounds of the Şamlar quarter of the Başakşehir district of İstanbul and takes its name from it. It was declared a nature park on 11 July 2011 and covers about 335 hectares of woodland held as state forest.
Conifers make up most of the forest cover. Ninety-five different plants have been recorded here, seventy of them identified to species and twenty-five only to genus. Between the natural woodland and the reservoir nearby, the park holds a good range of plants and wildlife, and it suits walking, picnicking and photography.
Among the conifers are stone pine, Turkish red pine, black pine and Syrian juniper. The broadleaf trees include downy and Aleppo oak, ash, sweet chestnut, hornbeam, alder, medlar, Turkish hazel and blackthorn. The shrubs and undergrowth are Spanish broom, bay laurel, tree heath, mock privet, strawberry tree, rockrose, bramble, dog rose, ivy, clematis and rough bindweed.
The animals found here include the red squirrel, wild boar, jackal, fox, hare, hedgehog, mole and martens.
Şamlar was a village until 2013. When the Sazlıdere dam was finished in 1996 part of its land went under water; the state expropriated the reservoir area and the villagers began to be settled in ground allotted to them a kilometre away. Settlement continues in the parts of the village that were not flooded, so the place is now divided between old and new Şamlar. The Sazlıdere reservoir and the Şamlar forest both lie within the bounds of the quarter, whose neighbours are Kayabaşı, Haraççı and Hacımaşlı.
- Designated
- 11.07.2011
Entry fee
- Marmara group 2 · category 1 · Per person
- 75 ₺
