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The destination of our ecostudy holiday
Ikaria Review: |
Date posted: Sep 08, 2008
Posted by: Patrick O Breine
Times Viewed: 795
More: Ikaria Island
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In August, Megan and I went on a course with Archipelagos Aigaiou about Mediterranean flora on the Greek island of Ikaria and followed up by a few days holiday. Archipelagos, Institute of Marine & Environmental of the Aegean Sea, is a Greek non-profit, non-governmental, environmental organization. It has been active since 1998 in several parts of the Greek Seas (Ionian Sea, Sporades, Central Aegean, Lybian Sea, Eastern Aegean). Since 2000, Archipelagos'
field of action has focused on the eastern Aegean, having its main research base on the island of Ikaria but with activity covering the whole of the Aegean Sea. Archipelagos action combines scientific research into the biodiversity of the marine and terrestrial environment of the Aegean Sea and islands, with efficient conservation work, in which the local communities have an active part.
The course was a fascinating insight into the nature of the island and the science of botany and dendrology. As well as conventional classroom lectures and laboratory examination of specimens that we collected, we went on guided field trips to the Rhanti forest and the Halaris River gorge. Our professor was the botanist Halil Cakan of Cukurova University in Turkey. (On a social note, this illustrates how young scientists can set up normal relations between Greece and Turkey, where there is a long and troubled past, even within living memory.)
Ikaria is an amazing island, unusually green for a Greek island, even in the dry month of August. There are still lakes and reservoirs, and an abundance of pipes strung across the landscape carrying water to the farms. The Rhanti (Radi) forest is the largest forest of Quercus Ilex holm oak or hollyoak left in the Mediterranean, with some trees 500 years old. Free-roaming goats eat young tree shoots, so the forest is not being renewed as much as it could be. It appears that unlike the tethered and cared-for goats that we saw elsewhere on the island, these are simply owned to claim EU grants, and left to fend for themselves. Archipelagos have prepared a video on the consequences of goat breeding on natural environment of Radi forest.
We also saw evidence of bark beetle infestation giving the "metro-map" tracks in the cambium (the growing layer of cells just under the bark) similar to those that we saw in the Banff national park in Canada. We walked on one of the hiking trails in Ikaria and I hope to upload some of our photographs later.
Because Ikaria has few beaches, it is not spoiled by drunk tourists, so it is mainly favoured by Greek holidaymakers escaping the heat of Athens.
We finished by visiting our friends in Athens who looked after us with true Greek hospitality. As well as the usual museums, we joined thousands of visitors going to see the full harvest moon rise over the Acropolis.
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