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Ancient Caunos, Dalyan |
Mon 29th June: Flew from Heathrow to Istanbul, then on to Dalaman. I'd intended to stay the night there, but the taxi driver persuaded me to go on to Dalyan. As he spoke no English, he kept trying to write things down while swerving all over the road. Only after I agreed to go on to Dalyan did he pay any attention to the road ahead. He took me to the 'Atay', a cheap, scruffy pension which at least had clean sheets, a hot shower and a friendly manager.
Tue 30th: Went to look for the Pension Mustafa Yigitcan Evi, where I was supposed to be |
| staying. I asked around and was eventually taken to a boat moored at the river bank where the boatman said he was Mustafa Yigitcan Evi. He took me round the corner to his pension which had a Hacettepe University sign outside. It was the right place but there was nobody there. Had a salad for lunch, then walked down a farm track, hoping it would lead to the sea. It petered out in a field. Saw a very small terrapin in a drainage ditch on the edge of the reed beds and also some colourful dragonflies and a crab. On the way back I met Yigitcan Evi, with Sedat Yerli and Ali Fuat Canbolat, from the University. |
Theatre at Caunos, Dalyan |
Lycian tombs, Dalyan |
They invited me to join them for dinner later. At the agreed time I went to their pension only to find they were not there and there was no sign of other Earthwatch people. Returning to the Atay pension I met Ali and a student called Ant who had been to my pension to look for me. Sedat was at a different pension up the road, which turned out to be the one we were to stay at. We had dinner at a restaurant at the edge of the village and were then taken in the owner's car back to our rooms.
Wed 1st July: Moved to the Caunos pension which was far superior to the Yigitcan Evi. |
| Met Diana and Daryl who have been on many previous Earthwatch projects, including two on turtles. Later, Victoria and Juliet arrived. In the evening we watched a video about Dalyan and had a brief talk from Sedat. Had dinner, then took a minibus to the beach. We were stopped at the gates to the protected area and had to wait in the dark for about an hour before being allowed to proceed. As there was no moon, it was very dark on the beach. After half an hour's walking, we found a turtle returning to the sea. Daryl and I held it down while Ali took its tag number. It was extremely strong. We saw several 'false crawl' trails, (where a |
Dalyan River |
Fish gate, Dalyan River |
turtle had beached, wandered about, then returned to the sea without nesting) and covered a nest with a wire netting cage to prevent fox predation. Got back to the pension at about 4am.
Thu 2nd: Slept all morning, then went by boat to the student's beach camp site. Met the students and had a swim. Had tea and talked to Lorna, from Oxford University WildCRU, who is studying the effects of fox predation on the turtles. Her main duty seems to be collecting 'scat' on the beach, for later analysis. In the evening we went to a bar in the village and |
| Sedat took me into the mosque. It was rather plain inside, but there were lots of rugs with intricate designs.
Fri 3rd: Left at 07:30 by boat to the beach. Walked along the beach examining turtle tracks left the night before. One nest had been predated by foxes. Walked around the end of the beach and saw the resting places of fresh-water terrapins in the sand. Had tea at the camp site, then returned to the pension for breakfast. Swam in the river, rested in the afternoon, then had an evening boat trip to Koycegiz Lake, the mud baths (hot springs) and ancient Caunos. |
Victoria and Juliet |
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