Tuesday, October 29, 2024

Turkey, 1-10 april 2024, the Amphitheatre tour

By Maykel van Gent, Rob Andriessen and Gerjon Ikink

This year our choice came to Turkey, to the Lycian region. And why Turkey you may ask? The Lyciasalamandra of course (and other herps ;)). Why would anyone go to Turkey otherwise? The rich history and old civilizations maybe? The good food maybe? Or going to the beach and catching some sun, maybe? Maybe we did a bit of all that.

1 April Arrival in Antalya

Due to being on the chilly end of the world in Sweden, (there was polar vortex bringing the cold) Gerjon would fly in a few days later. So Rob and I took the afternoon flight from dusseldorf and landed in a comfortable 20 C in Antalya around 19.00 hours. After grabbing our first hearty pide and lahmacun, we drove down south to Adrasan where we rented a little bungalow.

We were greeted by both species of Gekko that occur here, the Mediterranean thin-toed gecko (Mediodactylus danilewski) and the Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus),  scurrying around the outer walls of the bungalow. In the distance was a little creek running and we heard Levant water frogs (Pelophylax bedriagae) and Eastern tree frogs (Hyla orientalis) calling in the distance. With such soothing sounds we soon fell into a peaceful sleep.

Mediterranean thin-toed gecko (Mediodactylus danilewski)

Mediterranean house gecko (Hemidactylus turcicus),

2 april Finike and surroundings

That peaceful sleep was quite short for Rob. He was almost chomping at the bit to find all those scaly creatures around the bungalow. His first round in the early sunlight got him a some rustling through the grass of one of the two Heremites skinks and a hunger for some grains. After that grainy breakfast, we both did a little trip around our bungalow, through the meadows and up a little hill that functioned as an agora (a marketplace/meeting place) for the people that lived here in the past. Here we found a Dahl's whip snake (Platyceps najadum), dwarf snake (Erenis modestus) and a couple of Worm snakes (Xerotyphlops vermicularis). A walk back along the creek we actually saw our first Levant water frogs with our own eyes.

A good start

Dahl's whip snake (Platyceps najadum)
 
 dwarf snake (Erenis modestus)


                                            Levant water frogs (Pelophylax bedriagae


 A familiar butterfly from home, the wall brown (Lasiommata megera)

The Norwegian weather site proved to be the most reliable on this trip and it said that today would be a warm day, up to 27 degrees. Such a temperature shock should be avoided and we decided to start going up into the mountains north of Finike, to herp in more (Dutch) decent temperatures and scout out possible locations to find Luschan's salamander that evening.

 Our first stop on the way up didn't produce much in the way of reptiles but I did see a middle spotted woodpecker and we saw fresh wolf faeces. Our hope for the wolf itself was in vain. Instead we found another cool little herp. The first of many Anatolian Snake-eyed skinks (Ablepharus anatolicus

 Wolf, Canis lupus faeces

The road kept winding up to about 1600 meters. Here spring had just started. Early flowers were blooming, the trees were still leafless. The birds were around and singing however, with wheatears, both Northern and Eastern-black Eared among the blackbirds, finches, greenfinches, European Serins and Eastern bonelli's warblers. It was even warm enough for some herps. A Green toad (Bufotes viridis sitibundus) was hiding under a well lid and we found a Lycian snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus anatolicus) crawling between the fresh sprouts of grass. Even a Starred agama (Laudakia stellio) was catching some rays.

Lower mountains habitat


                                                            Green toad (Bufotes viridis sitibundus)




Lycian snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus anatolicus) hidden in the grass

Starred agama (Laudakia stellio)

Going higher up was not an option in our affordable SUV, so back down it was. An Olive orchard looked promising and indeed, we found our first worm lizard. In this little corner it was the Cilician worm lizard (Blanus aporus). It was hiding out under some rocks. A last little stop before returning to sea level produced our only Kardes' Snake Skink (Ophiomorus kardesi).

 

Cilician worm lizard (Blanus aporus)



Kardes' Snake Skink (Ophiomorus kardesi)

Down at sea level, the temperature was indeed higher, around that 27 degrees Celcius. Not ideal herping weather. Here, along the road from Finike, there was a cave that was worth a visit. Along the way we saw our first Bridled mabuya (Heremites vittatus) but the cave itself housed a good sized colony of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus). The sound they produce could already be heard from far away.


 

Since we had some time left before dark, we decided to drive back up inland to scout some more places that were suitable for Luschan's salamander. One promising looking sideroad unfortunately had a too large population of dogs. We didn't think a nighttime stroll would be good for us there. There was however a good patch of forest where we almost tripped over the many Greek tortoises (Testudo graeca). A thumping sound from the forestmade us pause for a second, but as it turned out, we were there in the middle of sexy times season.

 

Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca)

Greek Tortoises are very resilient. A good chunk of damage healed very well.


 Sexy times season.

Our trip to Turkey coincided with Ramazan, the fasting period. We noticed this especially as the locals all went to eat out after sunset. This was obviously information we could use. One of the local restaurants seemed extremely busy. This surely also meant the food had to be good there. We walked in without a reservation and we were greeted by a very friendly manager/owner who apologized that we had to wait for half an hour for a table. It definitely was worth the wait and we had a lovely Kebabci at Köşk Restoran in Finike. 

With our bellies filled we returned to the slopes of the mountains surrounding Finike to take a crack at finding the first of possibly five species of Lyciasalamandra on this trip. Our choice of location turned out correct as we found four adult Luschan's salamanders (Lyciasalamandra luschani finnikensis) within half an hour. They were just emerging out of their rocky crevices and only one was already walking around on the path. It was quite exciting to find these representatives of such a unique little genus of land salamanders. With these beautiful creatures found, we returned to Adrasan very much content about our first day here. 

 

 Luschan's salamander (Lyciasalamandra luschani finnikensis)

 

 Luschan's salamanders (Lyciasalamandra luschani finnikensis)

 

3 april Antalyan coast, Phaselis and Thermessos

 Today at the end of the day we were going to pick up Gerjon from the airport in Antalya, so today would be a roadtrip back north. We started on the backroads around our cottage before taking the main road north. A couple of stops here produced more Levantine frogs, Worm snakes, Dwarf snakes, Starred agama's, Greek tortoises and a couple of Bridled mabuya's. On the road a big black snake suddenly appeared. We stopped quickly, but it was already gone into the bushes. The Black whip snake (Dolichophis jugularis) unfortunately was too quick for us and more unfortunate, it proved to be the only one of the trip.

levantine frog (Pelophylax bedriagae).

Dwarf snake (Eirenis modestus)

Bridled Mabuya (Heremites vittatus)
fresh water crab (Potamon sp.)

Next stop, the ancient port of Phaselis for some culture and history (and a steep price compared to some of the other ancient cities, damn tourism). although it has a long history through the Rodians, Egyptians and Greeks, most notable buildings left are of Roman origin and ofcourse our first amphitheatre. An interesting little city, but poor in herps. The inland body of water had some Balkan terrapins (Mauremys rivulata) but that was it. And that meant it was time to move on to bigger and better things.

The entrance to the main road of Phaselis from one of the harbours




the amphitheatre. The most important structure in any town and usually well preserved. A modest start to our amphitheatre tour.


Those bigger and better things was Termessos. An ancient Pisidian city built on a plateau 1000 meters above sea level, on the side of a mountain. This safe location made this a prosperous city and one of the most well preserved ruins here. It was a beautiful walk up the lush green mountain and it was quite a sight to see these (sometimes) very big buildings standing among the mountains. Among the rocks we found mainly  Starred agama's and Lycian rock lizards (Anatololacerta finnikensis). One Mediterranean thin-toed gecko being the exception.



Lycian rock lizards (Anatololacerta finnikensis)

Lycian rock lizards (Anatololacerta finnikensis) enjoying the local cuisine

The heroum, a place to worship your hero of choice.

Termessos look quite untouched after its abandonment

The amphitheatre of Termessos. One of the largest ones we have seen on this tour and definitely the one with the most spectacular view.


We still had some time left before Gerjons plane landed and the national park in which Termessos lays, Güllük Dağı National Park, looked very green from the satelite images. After a few failed attempts to enter the forest, we found out this was more of a production forest type. It was very quiet around around there and herps were quite absent. A local river gave us some opportunity to look for some Dice snakes. No dice unfortunately, but only a dwarf snake. correct?

After picking up Gerjon and enjoying the restaurant from our first evening again, we made one last stop (or first stop in case of Gerjon) at the boundary river between two Lyciasalamandra species. On the wetter and greener side we quickly found a few Bay Lycian salamanders (Lyciasalamandra billae). The southern slope unfortunately seemed too dry and a promising inroad was once again blocked by some dog with a bone to pick, so no Antalyan salamanders, Lyciasalamandra antalyana for us this time.

Our first Bay Lycian salamander (Lyciasalamandra billae), a male as can be seen by the protrusion on the hip.

Bay Lycian salamander (Lyciasalamandra billae)


Back at the cottage we were again greeted by the Mediterranean thin-toed gecko,Mediterranean house gecko's, Levant water frogs and Eastern tree frogs. 

4 april Olimpos and the eternal fires of mount chimaera.

Today we wouldn't be driving so much. We went to the closeby ancient city of Olimpos. One of the biggest cities in ancient Lycia on through their Roman protectorate time. Currently it is a well known  tourist site. It's amphitheatre scored lowest on our trip. Hardly accessible, no good shows and the plants growing through the rocks would poke in your back too much. I'm not even showing you a picture of this one (forgot to take one, heeft iemand nog een foto van dit amphitheater?). The excavation and development of this tourist site was still ongoing as we were walking there, so maybe we will see the amphitheatre in more glory another time.




 the watchtower here had a commanding view of the bay. Any potential threat could be seen from far away.

Among the rocks were found some more Lycian rock lizards, balkan terrapins, greek tortoises and levantine frogs.

Lycian rock lizard (Anatololacerta finnikensis)



 We had lunch in the nearby village of Çirali, a lovely local pancake made with fresh ingredients. It was a delicious meal again. We decided to stay in the surrounding area to kill some time. We had a full evening programme, so what could we possibly do to kill some time. Look for some herps ofcourse. That wasn't very succesful, but the hillsides around the village were lovely and the time flew by.
The only herps we found were some Worm snakes
Towards the end of the afternoon we visited the eternal flames of Chimaera. These flames had already been described in the fifth century BC by a greek historian named Ctesias and have burned all this time. Legends say that this is the flaming breath of the Chimera, a mythical beast. In those ancient times the flames were reportedly visible enough to be used by sailors to navigate by, but nowadays it is a prime spot to roast your marshmallows or brew some tea. so we arrived before it got too busy. We actually climbed up to secondary site higher up on the slopes of the hills and enjoyed the setting sun and the flames. 



    lovely hillsides



 One of the worm snakes we found.

 


 One of the spots where the natural gas emerges from the ground. As you can see, most of the spot is bare ground because of the flames. 
 
 
Those flames made us hungry and we  had some another nice dinner in town. Here some other mythical beasts were circling our table because it smelled so good. There were so many cats in this restaurant.

To give this day a proper ending we visited a location that seemed good for Chameleons (Chamaeleo chamaeleon). And we indeed found one subadult specimen sleeping in the bushes.


Mediterranean Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon)

5 april on the road to Dalyan

We woke up refreshed for our last morning here. After a quick round around the location, with another masked dwarf snake and an Anatolian snake eyed skink,  we set of for our next sleeping destination, Dalyan. 

A random stop on the way produced  a Dahl's whip snake, some Snake-eyed lacertids, Starred agamas and Greek tortoises

Of course, a day would not be complete without a visit to an ancient amphitheatre so we made a little detour to Pinara. Pinara was one of the larger cities in the Lycian league and held some power over the region. The city became Roman and prospered further. The city was Christianized around the year 350 and was abandoned after repeated invasions in the Ninth century. Its amphitheatre looked out upon the city and its green surroundings, which was quite nice. This was also the most intact amphitheatre we saw on this trip. It did score some negative points, because it also looked out upon the graveyard. 

 


elaborate graves were carved into the hillsides here in Pinara


 

The amphitheatre of Pinara with its city view.

 

 A close up of the rock that rises above the city and can be seen in from the amphitheatre photo. Now you can see all the rectangular cutouts in this mountainside. These were all graves. Quite some work to bury people there.

 

Here in Pinara we arrived in the territory of another Anatololacertid, The Pelasgian rock lizard (Anatololacerta pelasgiana) and the first one we found was  a very gravid female. 


         Female Pelasgian rock lizard (Anatololacerta pelasgiana)
 
 
There were plenty more of these rock lizards around, as well as more Starred agamas and greek tortoises. I also found an adult Glass lizard (Pseudopus apodus) but it quickly disappeared in a hole.

 
Pelasgian rock lizard (Anatololacerta pelasgiana)




 
 Greek tortoise (Testudo graeca)

 Eastern black eared wheatear (Oenanthe melanoleuca)

Green-eyed hawker (Isoaeschna isoceles


After we had our fill of this ancient city, we drove on to Dalyan. We had one more stop to make before our destination, this time at a warm water source. These are the places where an african relic species can survive the cold Turkish winters. We found the African soft shelled turtle (Trionyx triunguis) in one of those sources. Apparently people feed them at this location, so they come very close. So no excitement from the hunt, but definitely excitement from getting so close to such a big turtle. One of the rocks close by also had a juvenile East-Aegean giant emerald lizard (Lacerta diplochondrodes)
 
 African soft shelled turtle (Trionyx triunguis) "smiling" for the camera
 
 you can see all the white scars on their shells and their agressive behaviour towards each other. We don't know if this is particularly present here because they are being fed.

 
juvenile East-Aegean giant emerald lizard (Lacerta diplochondrodes)
(nog even uitknippen)
 
 
 
We finally arrived at Dalyan and our base for couple of days and could take a rest at the waterside, both natural and artificial.



After a little stroll through dalyan we took a little break from the delightful Turkish cuisine and had a nice dinner at a little tapas style latin food and cocktail restaurant.
Satisfied we went back to our cottage, which we now in the dark found out to be sharing with scores of Mediterranean House gekkos.

6 april ancient Kaunos

I woke up this morning to a missing canoe and a missing Rob. During breakfast Gerjon and I heard some splashing. Rob returned from his first (half succesful) expedition to find some dice snakes and explore the surrounding waterways. No dice yet. 

The ancient city of Kaunos is located on the opposite riverbank of the Dalyan strait. This would be our target for the day, our next amphitheatre and hopefully some herps to go with it. We all shuffled into the canoe and set out for Kaunos.




                                                                    a little canoe ride

a wary barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) observed our canoeing technique.

                    

A succesful landing on the opposite side of the Dalyan river.
 

 silent witnesses of our succesful canoe landing.
 
 
Aparently we were quite early at the back entrance of Kaunos (where the day trip boats from the delta would land) as there was no ticket seller there yet, so we could not pay the entrance fee here. Kaunos is an ancient port city belonging to the state of Caria and later Lycia. As the mouth of the Dalyan river silted up, Kaunos was no longer at the bay of Dalyan, but located 8 kilometres from access to the sea. After invasions of the Turks and a serious malaria epidemic, Kaunos was abandoned in the 16th century.
 
As we entered the ancient city limits we were greeted by Greek tortoises, Starred agamas and Snake eyed lacertids. Checking the pools in the city, we found some Balkan terrapins. And where else would you find Western rock-nuthatches (Sitta neumayer) than on some ancient city rocks. This probably was a beautiful active city in ancient times with its open architecture and space. Some more diligent searching amongst the stones turned up a Dahl's whip snake, some more juvenile East-Aegean giant emerald lizards, our first Levant skinks (Heremites auratus) and our first Anatolian worm lizard (Blanus strauchi). But weirdly, even though the habitat seemed perfect, no Pelasgian rock lizards were seen today.
After we had seen the amphitheatre, we made our way back to the boat, the long way round the back of the city. Here we had our biggest find yet, a 1.8 meter Blotched snake (Elaphe sauromates) making its way through the rush field (Juncus spec.). After a bit of a struggle through the sharp rush leaves, we managed to get it to let us make some pictures of it. After we sent it of back into the rush we managed to find two Blotched dwarf snakes under a single rock, showing us the nice variation these snakes can have in appearance.
Starred agama (Laudakia stellio)
 
 Snake-eyed lacertid (Ophisops elegans)
 
 
Anatolian worm lizard (Blanus strauchi)


Western rock nuthatch (Sitta neumayer)
Open spaces and pools, habitat for balkan terrapins.

 
The Kaunos amphitheatre, a bit overgrown, and a stage where it is hard to see te people standing, but a very nice view of the Dalyan delta (the former Dalyan bay).
 

adult Blotched Snake (Elaphe sauromates)

 
 
 
 

 

adult Blotched snake closeup
 
Some pattern variation within the dwarf snake (Eirenis modestus) species. 
 
 
After such a busy day of herping and amphitheatre appreciating, we decided to relax in one of the nearby hot springs. Of course not a commercial one, but a natural one. The steep descent to get there was worth it.
After we strayed from the Turkish cuisine the day before, we had to make it up for that and tried to find a very local restaurant. We ended up at Restaurant Endeki. A tiny restaurant with a lovely garden and ambiance. The very friendly owner gave us some good recommendations and we very much enjoyed an excellent and very fresh meal.
 

7 april Dalyan surroundings

 This day in Dalyan started with another attempt by Rob to find some dice snakes. He finally found one Dice snake (Natrix tessellata) catching some rays. Today we decided to go to Dalyan beach. A quite unique beach, as it forms a little peninsula, mostly separating the mediterranean and the Dalyan delta. This means that this beach is used by turtles from both sides to lay eggs; Soft shelled turtles from the Dalyan delta and Loggerhead turtles from the sea.

(Nog andere foto's van de turtle sanctuary?)

We started the day in the hills, before going to the beach. This was one of the luckiest places to be for us, and for some herps, as we found a plastic covered tractor tire, which was a trap for various reptiles and amphibians, not in the least for 11 Fazila's salamanders (Lyciasalamandra fazilae) but also some juvenile East Aegean giant emerald lizards and a Starred agama. (Rob deze nog vervagen in observado) After we made sure wer removed all of them from the tyre, we made a little ladder that hopefully would prevent this from happening again. I also found my wanted bird for the trip here, Kruepers nuthatch (Sitta krueperi) calling at several places on this hill.  

 

The Dalyan delta and the mediterranean sea.


            

 many captured salamanders

 

Close up of one Fazila's salamander (Lyciasalamandra fazilae). Note the two colored eye, typical for the genus.

Starred agama (Laudakia stellio) caught in the tire

These two skinny ones had been in the tube a while. (Lacerta diplochondrodes)

 

 The tube with our improvised stairs that hopefully will help other trapped animals.



 

 After this very succesful start of the day, we arrived at Dalyan beach and a visit to the turtle sanctuary. Here the rehabilitate (if possible) Hawksbill Turtles, Green Turtles and Loggerhead Turtles. They get brought in sick or injured from boat collisions. They take a long time to heal, but here they get all the time they need. They also close the beach during breeding season so the turtle eggs don't get crushed or stolen.

 One of the turtles that the sanctuary is trying to rehabilitate.

 After visiting the turtle sanctuary we explored the surrounding area. We found another Fazila's salamander, This one was very yellow, a dwarf snake, Snake-eyed lizards, a Chameleon, and Greek tortoises.   The hillsides also had some orchids growing there. These were from orchid species that is used for Salep. A traditional turkish drink made from the roots of Orchids. The orchids need to be harvested to get the roots. With rising demand for Salep, the harvest of these orchids has become very unsustainable and these orchid species are in steep decline.

I finally managed to lay my eyes on my one wanted bird species, the Kruepers nuthatch (Sitta krueperi)!

 Nice and active subadult Chameleon (Chamaeleo chamaeleon)
 
 
 

 
A very differently colored Fazila's salamander (Lyciasalamandra fazilae)
 

 A Kruepers nuthatch (Sitta krueperi) showing itself for a very short time. They were not easy to photograph.

Nog uitknippen



 
One of the Salep orchids, from the genus Serapias

One of the Salep orchids, from the genus Ophrys

 


 One of the Salep orchids, from the genus Orchis

 

Dalyan beach
 

 After a nice beach day, we had another very good Turkish meal and we closed our day with some delicious baklava. 


8 april On the road, Korucak

We alread had to say goodbye to Dalyan, but not before Rob made one more canoe attempt at finding some herps. He managed to fine one more Dice snake. The second and last of our trip, which seemed a bit weird. Normally this is one of the most abundant snake.

 

 

A lonely dice snake (Natrix tessellata), warming up on the reeds. The camouflage works.

 

But new adventures awaited us. We planned to go a little bit more inland. From the sea, the land quickly rises up to a higher plateau, which might promise some new views and herps. So this would be another travel day, with some stops along the way. One of those stops was called termessos minor. We already visited the mayor Termessos, but this one was especially minor, just a bridge next to a hill it seemed. The hill might have been an agora in times long gone. But the herping was good, multiple worm snakes, Bridled mabuya, Pelasgian rock lizards, snake eyed lizards and Greek tortoises. New for this trip were a couple of big Caspian whip snakes (Dolichophis caspius). 

A lot of what we saw on the way, was farmlands, still very early in the season. A lot of trees didn't have leaves yet and we registered our first sub 10 degrees temperature of the trip. Herping wasn't easy for most of the trip, but it was a good day. We arrived at our final apartment in Korucak. We were also back close to Lyciasalamandra antalyana territory, so we gave it one more try before dinner after sunset (it was still ramazan after all). But unfortunately, we didn't find any in the most probable locations. It was quite dry here as well. 

We enjoyed a very nice fish dinner at a local restaurant and since the baklava made a good impression last night, we ended the day with that again.

natural hillsides between the farmlands.


Caspian whipsnake (Dolichophis caspius)

Levant skink (Heremites auratus)


A cluster of wormsnakes (Xerotyphlops vermicularis)

Pelasgian rock lizard (Anatololacerta pelasgiana)

one of the praying mantises from Turkey, Empusa fasciata.

 
early spring on the plateau



Lyciasalamandra antalyana habitat




a good fish meal.


9 april Sagalassos

Our final day already, but we had one more amphitheatre to visit, Sagalassos. One of the best preserved ancient cities in this part of the world. This was a Pisidian city and one of the wealthiest cities around when Alexander the Great conquered it. After some Hellenistic years and then some Roman years, an earthquake devastated the city in 518. A plague followed in 541, arab raids in 640 and another earthquake destroyed what remained. Afther that the city was abandoned and forgotten. It remained fairly free from looting until it was rediscoverd in 1706 and preserved. 

We made some stops along the way to sagalassos, but didn't find more than some Snake-eyed lacertids.

Sagalassos was indeed very impressive. A lot of the city was preserved and more details from the life in this city were visible than what we saw in the previous ancient cities. The amphitheatre however bore the marks of the last earthquake. It did still have intact walkways under the seats, a little testament to the builders that made such a lasting building. But this theatre was still a fitting location for our last bread and games in Turkey. 

The herpetofauna was a little different than on our previous days. We were far onto the higland plateau now. We found a Green toad and more Starred agama's but also our third species of rock lizard, Ibrahim's rock lizard (Anatololacerta ibrahimi) and our more well known snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelli). But overall it was a bit more chilly here and snakes were probably not active this day.

After this impressive antique city, we meandered our way back, making stops here and there, but this mainly agricultural landscape didn't give us much anymore. We finally got our only adult East-Aegean emerald lizard, and we found a pyromaniac Turk that was burning random bushes all over the place at a remote mountain lake. 

After symbolically turning our last rock we made our way back to the bigger city of Kiremeti to finish our trip with a last delicious Turkish meal. This was the last day of Ramazan and it showed. all restaurants were completely full or completely booked. After a bit of a search we ended up at a snackbar type place with a very friendly, although very hasty and sweaty patron that welcomed us with a smile and a wonderful celebratory meal.

 



The main square with statues and decorative columns still present.

 

The Sagalassos amphitheatre for bread and games
 
 
The still intact tunnel under this amphitheatre



 

Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia

 

Mallow skipper, Carcharodus alceae

Green toad (Bufotes viridis sitibundus)

Ibrahim's rock lizard (Anatololacerta ibrahimi)

Ibrahim's rock lizard (Anatololacerta ibrahimi)

Snake-eyed skink (Ablepharus kitaibelli)


 

East-Aegean emerald lizard (Lacerta diplochondrodes)

Our final meal


10 april Back home

And then it was already time to go home for Rob and I. Gerjon would be here for a few days longer. We only saw a very small piece of Turkey. But this small piece showed us great diversity, in landscape, history, flora and fauna and the way people live. And amphitheatres, from the smalltown theatres to the grand city theatres, they were as diverse as anything we saw. There is so much more to discover that we definitely will be back.


Observed species


1
Greek Tortoise Testudo graeca
2
Balkan Pond Turtle Mauremys rivulata
3
African Soft-shelled Turtle Trionyx triunguis
4
Starred Agama Laudakia stellio
5
Mediterranean Chameleon Chamaeleo chamaeleon
6
Mediterranean House Gecko Hemidactylus turcicus
7
Mediterranean Thin-toed Gecko Mediodactylus danilewskii
8
Finike's Rock Lizard Anatololacerta finikensis
9
Ibrahim's Rock Lizard Anatololacerta ibrahimi
10
Pelasgian Rock Lizard Anatololacerta pelasgiana
11
East-Aegean Giant Emerald Lizard Lacerta diplochondrodes
12
Snake-eyed lacertid Ophisops elegans
13
Anatolian Snake-eyed Skink Ablepharus anatolicus
14
Snake-eyed Skink Ablepharus kitaibelli
15
Levant Skink Heremites auratus
16
Striped Skink Heremites vittatus
17
Kardes' Snake Skink Ophiomorus kardesi
18
European Glass Lizard Pseudopus apodus
19
Cilician Worm Lizard Blanus aporus
20
Anatolian Worm Lizard Blanus strauchi
21
Caspian Whip Snake Dolichophis caspius
22
Black Whip Snake Dolichophis jugularis
23
Dwarf Snake Eirenis modestus
24
Blotched Snake Elaphe sauromates
25
Dice snake Natrix tessellata
26
Dahl's Whipsnake Platyceps najadum
27
Worm Snake Xerotyphlops vermicularis
28
Green Toad Bufotes viridis
29
Eastern Tree Frog Hyla orientalis
30
Bay Lycian Salamander Lyciasalamandra billae
31
Fazil Lycian salamander Lyciasalamandra fazilae
32
Luschan's Salamander Lyciasalamandra luschani
33
Levantine Frog Pelophylax cf. bedriagae