Kocaçay Deltasi

From Karacabey a narrow asphalt road covers the 33km/20mi to the sandy Yeniköy Plaji on the Sea of Marmara, from where the fascinating Koca Çayi delta (into which the Apolyont Gölü drains) can be reached. It is the largest river delta in the Marmara region, and the only one in which the lagoons and surrounding forest are for the most part left to develop naturally. The primordial woodland of poplar, oak, ash and hawthorn is almost jungle-like, with liana-festooned trees rising in tiers above smaller bushes. Wild boar root about in the undergrowth, and snake-like lizards called sheltopusiks, some more than a meter in length, inhabit the clearings. The lagoons are the breeding ground of many kinds of waterfowl, and otters and jackal are also found. In 1972, at Bayramdere, southeast of Yeniköy, the Turkish forestry commission started a pheasant farm to bolster the region's dwindling pheasant population. Indigenous stock have been cross-bred with varieties introduced from Europe to produce a bird which can survive in the open all the year round.