EBER LAKE
Many lakes, each with their own disparate beauty, are scattered across Turkey. The country's largest freshwater lakes are in the Lake Region in the southwest, where a score of large and small, freshwater, salt and soda lakes lie in the provinces of Isparta, Burdur, Afyon and Konya. The region attracts birdwatchers and nature lovers with its fascinating wildlife and lovely scenery, differing from season to season. Overlooked by towering snow-capped mountains, with their reedbeds and colonies of migratory birds, the region is a favourite haunt of photographers.Lake Eber is one of the northernmost lakes of this region. Lying at an altitude of 967 metres, it has an area of 16,600 hectares and is bounded by the Emir Mountains to the north and the Sultan Mountains to the south.
Around the lake there are fertile farming lands, through which the River Akarçay runs into the lake. Most of the surface is covered by reedbeds, the reeds rising to five or six metres in height. To protect its large population of water birds, fish, water snakes, water turtles and other wildlife, the lake was declared a nature reserve in 1992. Many water birds come here to breed on the islets amongst the thick reeds, including pygmy cormorants, Dalmatian pelicans, herons and spoonbills. Other birds halt here during their annual migration to feed and gather energy for the long journey ahead of them.
Lake Eber has a different beauty in every season. In May, when the heat of the sun begins to make itself felt, the lake surface is carpeted with aquatic flowers. A punting trip around the lake at this time of the year is a delight, and the chance to catch glimpses of many of the creatures which make their home amongst the reeds. The lake shores are equally beautiful, with their mass of yellow flowers. By summer the reeds have grown into a thick forest, and manoeuvering through them becomes more difficult. On the lake shores, spring flowers make way for waving corn. Then in autumn comes the reed harvest, when the usually deserted lake is filled with punts gliding to and fro, and you can watch the reed cutters hard at work in the slanting rays of the sun. Then finally comes winter, when the distant summits of the Sultan and Emir mountains are covered with snow. The yellow reeds are then temporary home to migrating geese, and the sight of flocks sometimes numbering thousands taking wing from the lake surface is breathtaking.
Bu haber 19/05/2010 tarihinde eklenmiştir.
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