From Rize to Artvin Şavşat, from Kars to Ağrı Doğubayazıt, and finally to Van. There is so much to tell from this plant trip with ViraNatura Tours — but perhaps the most important thing is simply to be on one of these tours at all.
My sister Başak, also a botanist, and her husband Chris organise plant tours around the world through ViraNatura Tours. Chris, who also led this particular trip, introduced us to the extraordinary botanical richness of eastern Turkey. He has an exceptional knowledge of the plants of Turkey as well as many other parts of the world, and he shares that knowledge generously with everyone on the tour.
These tours draw participants from all over the world, united by a single purpose: to see these plants in their natural habitats and to photograph them. Having such a passion is, I think, as wonderful as the plants themselves.
The beauty of what we saw is simply impossible to put into words — which is partly why I took so many photographs. Throughout the tour we were between 2,000 and 3,000 metres altitude. We were also very fortunate: this year, unlike the seasonal norm, the plants had flowered about two weeks early. As unsettling as such seasonal shifts can be, in this instance it counted as luck.
Among the species we had the chance to encounter: Scilla rosenii, Anemone narcissiflora, several Fritillaria species — F. latifolia, F. michailovskyi, F. kurdica, F. alburyana and more — Allium akaka, Colchicum kurdicum, the endemics Psephellus karduchorum and Tchihatchewia isatidea, and of course eight magnificent Iris species.
Alongside all this beauty, there were also moments of sadness. The motorway cutting across Ovit Mountain, the great concrete walls running alongside those roads, a tunnel under construction. The same scene repeated on Palandöken — more highways, more walls. The dam at Yusufeli, and all the beauty it will take from us. Construction everywhere, without exception — the entire country is being covered in roads, and those roads bring destruction of habitats and a trail of rubbish behind them. Humankind is insatiable, always wanting more.
To join one of these wonderful tours, you can find information at viranatura.com. And if you would like to explore the plants and landscapes of the Silk Road further, my sister Başak Gardner and Chris Gardner have written a beautiful book on exactly that subject — available here.
