Lake Abant National Park (), established on 10 June 2022, is the 48th
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
in Turkey. It is located in
Mudurnu
Mudurnu is a small town in Bolu Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 52 km south-west of the city of Bolu. It is the seat of Mudurnu District.
district of
Bolu Province
Bolu Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province in north-western Turkey, between the capital, Ankara, and the largest city in the country, Istanbul. Its area is 8,313 km,2, and its population is 320,824 (2022). The capital city of the pr ...
, northwestern
Anatolia
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
.
Overview
The Lake Abant is a
crater
A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...
-
barrier lake
Barrier Lake is a man-made reservoir at the north end of Kananaskis Country in Alberta, Canada.
Highway 40 runs between the lake and Mount Baldy, on the eastern shore. It is entirely located in the Bow Valley Provincial Park.
Barrier Lake ...
on the Abant Mountains. The lake is situated at an elevation of . Fed by groundwater, it has a surface area of with a -long shoreline, and is deep. The Lake Abant is located southwest of
Bolu
Bolu is a city in northern Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province and of Bolu District,
National park
The Lake Abant and the surrounding area covering was protected as a natural park in 1988. It was declared the 48th
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
in Turkey on 10 June 2022. The national park is administered by the Directorate-General of Nature Protection and National Parks at Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The Lake Abant National Park is located between the branches of the Abant and Keremali mountain ranges, which form the second branch of the Western Black Sea mountain range parallel to the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
coast. Within the park area, there are many hills with elevation between .
Flora
The national park is rich in vegetation. Scots pine, larch, beech, oak, poplar, ash, hornbeam, willow, juniper trees and rhododendron, tamarisk, hazelnut, medlar, parsnip, hawthorn, holly, rosehip, fern, blackberry, strawberry, mint, raspberry, ivy, nettle, horsetail and meadow grasses form the main trees and shrubs. The shores of Lake Abant are full of various aquatic plants and water lilies. Abant Crocus ('' Crocus abantensis'') can be found on the slopes rising around the lake.
Fauna
The
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
species found in the lake and its surroundings are the Little Scalloped Salamander (''Triturus vulgaris kosswigii''), the Abant Trout (''Salmo Trutta Fario Varyette Abanticus'') and the Abant Hazel Mouse (''Muscardinus Avellanarius Abanticus''). Angling is permitted by fee payment in certain seasonal times. Otters can be seen around the lakesides.
In the forests around the lake, wild animals are found such as fox, jackal, wolf, bear, wild boar, deer, roe deer, rabbit, squirrel and weasel.
The park area is also home to bird species such as water birds, wild goose, wild duck, heron, coot, cormorant, crane, predator hawk, falcon, black vulture, golden eagle, hawk, owl and other bird species; lark, jackdaw, eagle owl, peregrine falcon, woodpecker, blackbird, nightingale, finch and goldfinch.
Activities
Activities offered in the national park are nature museum visit, picnic around the lake, camping, sport angling, hiking, cycling, horse-drawn carriage riding, horseback riding, paragliding in Çepni Plateau.
Food and lodging
There are picnic areas and restaurants in the park area. Local food like trout and sausage sandwich are offered in the park area and on the way to the national park.
Two five-star accommodation facilities, bungalow-type accommodation units and camping sites around the lake are available. On the road to the national park, there are also hostels.
Access
The national park can be reached by a road departing from the highway D-100 or the motorway O-4 between
Ankara
Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...
and
Istanbul
Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
. It is far from Bolu, from Ankara and from Istanbul away. Public buses serve the national park from the city center of Bolu every two hours.