Azilakodasos Wood
The holm oak wood of Azilakodasos is located 11km west of Vrachasi and 9km south of Malia, in the foothills of Mount Selena in Dikti Range. The small forest can be accessed either by walking the smooth path from Krassi village or by following the uphill trail from Chamoprina wood near Malia . There is also a small network of forest dirt roads in the area.
It is a beautiful forest with holm oaks or azilakes (in Cretan dialect), i.e. trees of the species Quercus ilex. These oaks are rare and can only be found in few other areas of Crete and Aegean islands, such as Ikaria. These resistant trees are tall (10-15m) and grow at a relatively high altitude, compared to other species of oak.
The main problem that Azilakodasos faces is overgrazing by goats, that destroy the tender shoots. Indeed, free range goats are the plague of Crete, being almost exclusively responsible for the bare mountains of the island.
