Mount Kerkis

The Alyki wetland, at Samos’s eastern tip, is a protected NATURA 2000 area and is among the most important wetlands of the Aegean islands. It serves as a significant stopover for numerous migratory birds, such as flamingos, herons, wild ducks and stilts, among others. Especially during winter, the wetland—one of the few on the Greek islands—hosts more than 120 bird species, many of them rare or threatened. The area also has many rare plant species, while the fauna includes hedgehogs, hares, black rats, the Samian “golden jackal,” stone martens, and amphibians and reptiles such as green toads, frogs, turtles, Samos chameleons (“drapanorichos”), lizards (“kourkoudialoi”), vipers, etc. Alyki was formerly used for salt production, possibly since antiquity and documented since the 16th century. Operations were definitively abandoned in 1982. Since then, nature has gradually regenerated the area, creating a significant wetland of high environmental value.