Vikos – Aoos National Park

The Vikos–Aoös National Park is a national park in the region of Epirus in northwestern Greece. The park, founded in 1973, is one of the ten national parks in mainland Greece and is located 30km north of the city of Ioannina in the northern part of the Pindus mountain range. It is named after the two major gorges of the area and encompasses 12600ha of mountainous terrain, with numerous rivers, lakes, caves, deep canyons, dense coniferous and deciduous forest. The park is part of the Natura 2000 ecological network and one of UNESCO Geoparks and spans an elevation range from 550 to 2,497 meters . Over 100,000 people visit the park each year and take part in activities including rafting, canoe-kayaking, hiking and mountain biking. The core of the park, an area of 3400ha, comprises the spectacular Vikos Gorge, carved by the Voidomatis river. The gorge's main part is 12km long and attains a depth of 1000m. The Aoös gorge, mount Tymfi, and a number of traditionally preserved settlements form the park's peripheral zone. The park's remoteness and relatively small human population, combined with the great variation of biotopes and microclimatic conditions favors the existence of a rich variety of flora in the area. Vikos–Aoös National Park supports a wide diversity of fauna, with a plethora of large mammals such as the brown bear, for which the park is one of the last European strongholds, and a variety of natural habitats and ecosystems that rank it among the most valuable parks for nature conservation in Greece.