Gala Gölü Milli Parkı

Lake Gala National Park is a wetland and forest park between the Enez and İpsala districts of Edirne Province, inside the broad delta that the Meriç River forms before it reaches the sea. The area was declared a national park by a Council of Ministers decision published on 5 March 2005. Before that, in 1991, a section of about 2369 hectares had been set aside as a nature reserve. According to English Wikipedia, biologists from Trakya University called in 2002 for the area to become a national park because of pollution from pesticides and fertilisers and uncontrolled hunting, and in 2005 the area was enlarged and gained its present status. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism's Edirne brochure presents the park, with its 6090 hectares of wetland and woodland, as one of the most important wetlands in Turkey. About half of this area is wetland and lake, and the other half is forest. The park covers the Gala and Pamuklu lakes. The 1st Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry writes that the delta's wetland system consists of the Enez lagoons and the Büyük Gala, Küçük Gala, Pamuklu and Sığırcı lakes. Rising on Mount Rila in Bulgaria, the Meriç takes in the Tunca, Arda and Ergene and then flows in a wide bed from north of İpsala, creating a floodplain here. The Gala, Pamuklu and Sığırcı lakes are the product of this setting, shaped by the silt the river left behind as it changed its course. Because the larger part of the delta lies on the other side of the border, the regional directorate describes it as a transboundary ecosystem. The Meriç Delta Wetland was registered as a wetland of national importance in 2020 and covers about 29 thousand hectares together with its buffer zone. According to the regional directorate, the delta is home to 1103 living species, 586 plant and 517 animal taxa, and shelters more than 25 thousand waterbirds. It is the birds that tell the real story of this park. The brochure states that 163 bird species can be observed in the park, 46 of them resident, 27 winter migrants and 90 summer migrants. Turkish Wikipedia lists among the area's natural assets threatened species such as the Dalmatian pelican, the glossy ibis and the pygmy cormorant. The best times to see most of the species together are April and May in spring and September and October in autumn. The area is not empty in winter either; in February 2018 it was reported that about ten thousand flamingos had come to overwinter at the lake for the first time because of the mild winter. Ducks, geese and swans are also among the birds that stay on the lakes in the cold months. The ministry carries out midwinter waterbird counts here every year and runs monitoring work in the park at species and habitat level. Sixteen fish genera live in the lakes, including European eel, zander, carp and pike, and eel fishing is one of the traditional livelihoods of the area. Another protected resident of the delta is Roach's mouse-tailed dormouse, which the ministry monitors under a species action plan. A visitor centre, a birdwatching tower, a viewing terrace and a tour route have been built in the park for visitors. Starting at the visitor centre and climbing the observation tower after getting to know the area and its species is a good order for a visit. Bring binoculars, because most of the birds feed far from the shore among the reeds and are hard to make out with the naked eye. Early morning and late afternoon are more rewarding for observation, both for the light and for bird activity. Moving quietly, not going too close to the reedy shores and not disturbing the birds are the basic rules to follow in a protected area. Anyone who wants to photograph the birds needs a long lens, because approaching them is both difficult and wrong. On calm days the surface of the lake reflects the sky like a mirror, and the reedy islets make a good foreground for the reflection. Most of the surrounding land is rice paddies; according to the regional directorate, about 38 percent of the delta and its buffer zone is covered with rice. In summer the green of these fields merges with the reeds of the lake to create a wide, flat and open landscape. The park is about eight kilometres from the town of Enez and about 23 kilometres from İpsala. Enez can be reached by minibus via Keşan, but you need a vehicle to move around the lakes. It is possible to fit Lake Gala into the same day as Enez Castle, a few kilometres to the southwest. According to English Wikipedia the park is managed by the General Directorate of Nature Conservation and National Parks; get up-to-date information on visiting conditions and access to the observation tower from the units of this body. After the historic centre of Edirne, Gala shows a completely different face of the province, the calm and open nature where the river meets the sea.