Nature

The Moorish Wall Gecko (scient. Tarentola mauritanica) is a small species of lizard that reaches a total length of 16cm and can be found on the island of Crete.

The shelter is located at position Strovili at an altitude of 1533m over Limnakaro Plateau at Dikti Range. It can be accessed either by walking 2:30 hours from Avrakontes village or by driving the dirt road from there. From here one can hike to the peaks Spathi (2148m) and Afendis Christos (2141m). The shelter can accommodate 12 people. . It is available upon request to its operator, i.e. the Mountaineering Club of Lasithi (www.fysi.gr).

A very wild gorge starting from the valley of Pervola, next to Mournia village at Asterousia Mounts, and ending on the remote amazing beach of Kaminaki. There is a trail, quite steep, starting from Pervola.

Its exit is located in the village Nomikiana, Sfakia province. In Chionistra there are two different streams in calcareous soils which after one hour walking each merge to form the gorge of Kapni. The canyon is quite long and walking in it takes about 4 hours. It is one of the difficult and dangerous gorges of Crete with craggy riverbed which in some places creates dry waterfalls and requires climbing.

The gorge of Valahas is formed south of Heraklion and the beach Elygia is formed at its exit. The highest rapel is 50m high and 4 hours are required for its crossing (only with canyoning equipment). The lower part of the gorge is covered by pine trees.

The cave Kamilari is an easily accessible and impressive cave of Psiloritis Mount. It is located just 200m from the 13th km of the old road connecting Heraklion with Rethymnon, near Tylisos, at an altitude of 267m. It has 200m long paths, while its entrance has a width of 10m and a height of 4m.

On the trail leading from Agios Ioannis to Koudoumas monastery we meet an impressive cave, shaped Δ, in which there is the small church of Saint Anthony. The cave hosts stalagmites and stalactites. One stalactite, has the shape of Saint Anthony, and a pit where there is an icon of St. Anthony. The cave was used as a residence of hermits.

The European Tree Frog (scient. Hyla arborea) is the only species of tree frogs in Europe, which is also found in the humid areas of Crete. Indeed, the tree frog populations in Crete belong to two distinct endemic subspecies (Hyla arborea veluchiensis and Hyla arborea cretensis).