Tekkedağı Nature Park

Overview

Guide

Tekkedağı Nature Park covers 100 hectares in Beypazarı district, in the western hills of Ankara province, ringed by black pine forest. It did not begin as a nature park: on 11 July 2011 the status of what had been a public recreation ground was changed and the area was registered as a nature park instead.

The boundaries follow features that a visitor can see. The southern limit is the road that starts at the Karaşar-Beypazarı junction and climbs to Tekke plateau; the northern limit runs along the southern slopes of Tekkedağ and Dededağ hills; the eastern limit is the Sulucaviz spring, and the western the Gökçepınar fountain. Karacaören village lies to the north and Kuyumcutekke to the south.

Black pine plantation makes up most of the cover, broken by juniper, deciduous shrubs, rock and meadow. Cedar of Lebanon, juniper, wild plum, hawthorn and wild pear grow among the trees; barberry, buckthorn, dog rose, laurel-leaved rock rose and Etruscan honeysuckle among the shrubs; and cushion plants and herbs including milkvetch, prickly thrift, horehound, St John's wort, thistle, chamomile, brome, spurge, hawkweed, ribwort plantain, salad burnet and dandelion. The directorate names roe deer, red deer, lynx, wolf and brown bear as the mammals that matter for the park's wildlife and forest ecosystem. Two vultures are the birds it singles out: the cinereous vulture, listed by the IUCN as near threatened, and the Egyptian vulture, listed as endangered, both of which range over the area and probably nest there.

The park is used for the day. Picnic grounds, toilets, an open-air event area, a rain shelter, an arbour and a children's play area are the facilities; picnicking, taking in the view, walking and running, and watching plants and animals are the listed activities. Opening hours are 09:00 to 18:00, with capacity for 600 visitors and 30 vehicles. Beypazarı is reached from Ankara on the D-140 road, and the park itself is entered from the south along the Kuyumcutekke-Karaşar village road.