EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

The Astounding Vikos Gorge

Vikos Gorge, Pindus Mountains
Greece

Explanation:  Behold a truly astounding landscape.  This is the Vikos Gorge of northern Greece and part of the Pindus Mountains. 

Vikos Gorge stretches for 12 miles (20 km), plunges up to 1,600 feet (490 m) deep, and spans over 1,300 ft (400 m) wide.  Some have listed it as the deepest gorge in the world in proportion to its width.

Carved by the Voidomatis River and its tributaries (the most unpolluted river in Europe), Vikos Gorge is largely undisturbed and thus serves as a vital natural ecological laboratory and habitat for many rare plant and animal species.  

It also serves as a popular recreation site for hiking and boating. 

The gorge is part of Vikos–Aoös National Park -- created in 1973 -- in the Epirus region of northwestern Greece.  The park follows the biosphere reserve architecture with a core zone (about a quarter of the whole park area) where human activities are prohibited, and a surrounding buffer zone where some grazing and hunting is allowed.  

The mountains of the region contain brown bears, European lynx, wild goats, deer, boar, and even wolves.  Habitats include forests of palas pines (Pinus nigra pallassiana) and stinking juniper (Juniperus foetidissima).  These specific forests are globally rare.  Other habitats include deciduous forests, shrub formations, mixed forests, and subalpine vegetation.  

This is a magic land worthy of continued conservation and protection for all of Greece, Europe, and the world to study and enjoy for generations to come.