Chios Press Release Mayl06.
PRESS RELEASE, 26th MAY 2006.
Significantly increased numbers of eco-tourists visiting Chios this Spring make new orchid discoveries.
Following on from ‘Ophrys 2005’, the Second European Congress on Hardy Orchids, hosted in Chios in April last year, and the good publicity which ensued, many lovers of natural history decided to visit Chios this year, particularly those seeking orchids.
The first visitors arrived on 30th March, many had bought my book ‘Illustrated Checklist, Orchids of Chios, Inouses and Psara’, Pelineo Editions. Quite a large number contacted me by E-mail requesting information on accommodation. I referred them to the Prefects website which many of them used to find accommodation, car hire etc.
Greentours, the first British nature tour company to organise a tour to Chios, had a very successful first visit last year timed to include ‘Ophrys 2005’. Their reports of the visit were so appealing that their tour for April 2006 was sold out before their brochure was printed !!!! Their tour party this year comprised of fifteen clients plus their leader and two assistants. I acted as a local guide on many of their days, in total they saw 43 species of orchid in flower and a further 5 species ‘in bud’. Their first day ‘in the field’ was significant in that their leader , Paul Cardy, discovered an orchid in flower which has been shown to be Ophrys calypsus, a species hitherto unrecorded from Chios. Word soon spread around Chios as the various groups of independent visitors communicated with each other regarding the discovery. It is estimated that during the period this plant was in flower, from 4th April when it was discovered until the last flower faded on 27th April, between 30 and 40 visiting orchid enthusiasts went to see and photograph the plant. Many of these visitors made several return visits to the hillside at Kalamoti over this period to observe and photograph the plant as it went through its development stages to maturity.
This discovery continued Greentours reputation for finding new orchids on Chios, following their discovery of the first plant of Orchis lactea on Pelinaeon last year.
The Greentours party made two visits to the internationally important orchid site near Olympi, subject to ongoing discussions with a view to establishing an orchid sanctuary and research programme there. See ‘Oryx’, International Journal of Conservation, Flora and Fauna International, Cambridge University Press, January 2006, Volume 40 Number 1.
These Greentours visitors to this site, and many other independent visitors, were very impressed with the large numbers of rare orchid species to be seen, many exhibiting remarkable variation. Some hybrids were seen and clearly this population has a high potential for research into various aspects of the development of hybrids and the establishment of new species. Having explained the research potential of the site , particularly the opportunity to investigate the influence of traditional mastic cultivation and olive cultivation on the survival of orchids, visitors fully supported the sanctuary and research programme proposals.
There is an important sequel to the Greentours visit. After their successful nine days in Chios, they went to Turkey for three days, combining a visit to Ephesus for a day with two days planned at the renowned orchid rich sites of the Buyuk Meneres delta and the Lake Bafa area in which over fifty species of orchids have been recorded.
At the good quality hotel near Bafa a large party of German orchid enthusiasts had also just arrived intending to make several visits over the next few days to the Lake Bafa area.
Unfortunately the Lake Bafa site had been devastated. Despite its status as a Nature Reserve, with prohibitions against the removal of flowering plants, both the Germans and Greentours visitors could only view a bleak landscape. There were no orchids to be seen, only holes in the ground from which the orchid tubers had been ‘harvested’ for the production of Salep, a traditional Turkish flavouring and herbal medicine. This must have been the cause of much anger and frustration for all the orchid enthusiasts.
Greentours were forced to seek orchids elsewhere, though anywhere near habitation appeared to have been ‘picked clean’ by the orchid tuber ‘harvesters’. During their two days seeking orchids in nearby Turkey, Greentours only added 4 more species to the list of 48 species they had already seen in Chios.
Even if the Turkish authorities clamp down on the illegal removal of orchid tubers from nature reserves, it will take years before (if ever) the flora can recover to its former state.
This misfortune in Turkey presents a golden opportunity for Chios. Efforts should be made to market the opportunities which Chios can present to those tourists who would normally have visited Turkey for its orchids but who may not be prepared to take the risk that the orchids they seek have already been ‘harvested’ by the Salep industry.
In order to present a good ongoing scenario for the organisers of eco-tours, Chios needs to start the process of establishing secured protected areas of the island which hold the plants and animals most sought after by natural history tourists. Such a programme would also encourage new entrants into the Chios nature tourism arena to dedicate themselves to a long term commitment. It is in this context, as well as the narrower scientific and conservation context, that agreement on establishing the Olympi Orchid Sanctuary is so important.
Independent travellers also made contributions to our knowledge of Chios orchids.
David Nelson from the UK discovered a second plant of the rare Orchis punctulata at Kato Fana, the original plant discovered there last year by Greentours, and the new plant were the subject of much photographic activity by visitors. Fine displays of many of the early flowering Ophrys species at Kato Fana confirmed the very high importance of this location within Chios.
John Devries, also from the UK found a splendid plant of Cephalanthera longifolia on Pelinaeon on 14th April. Only one plant of this species had been found before on Chios when Pantelis Saliaris discovered one on Pelinaeon in May 1997. The original plant was lost due to a landslip in heavy rain and never reappeared. Again this years plant was much visited by orchid tourists until its flowers faded towards the end of April.
Visitors reported several new colonies of the rare Ophrys reinholdii during their stay and information has been received concerning new orchid rich sites which will be the subject of detailed examination next season.
Mike Taylor
E-mail mikechio@internet.gr
Attachments :-
‘Oryx’ article.
Photograph of Ophrys calypsus
Photograph of visitors photographing orchids at Pelinaeon
