Explore Around the Sea of Marmara
Manyas Gölü is remarkable for its 64-hectare bird sanctuary astride a stream delta and swamps at the northeast corner of the lake. The Bird Paradise National Park (Kuş Cenneti Milli Parkı) contains a small visitor centre full of dioramas, labelled in Turkish, and stocked with stuffed geese, orioles, spoonbills, herons, pelicans, ducks, egrets and owls. More interesting, though, is the wooden observation tower (bring your own binoculars), from where you can view pelicans (white and Dalmatian, nesting in May), smew-duck, spoonbills, spotted eagles and night herons, with cormorants and grey herons also common. The best months to visit are October – during the first rains, and various species’ southward migrations – and April–May, when the swamps are at their fullest and the birds are flying north. During these migrations, up to three million birds of some 266 species stop by.
