Nature

The Tafkos Mavri (Black Sinkhole) is located above the village Vistagi at an altitude of 1450 m and has a total explored depth of 200m with vertical rappels of 50 meters and huge halls that reach 1500 sqm. The cavers here found bones (horns) of Cretan ibex that has disappeared from Psiloritis Range since the Ottoman Era (around 1800 AD).

The highest peak of Thripti, Stavromenos (altitude of 1476m) hosts the windswept chapel of Lord Christ (celebrates on September 14) and a small shelter. The shelter has a fireplace and is locked due to vandalism suffered a few years ago. For the key, ask at village Thripti.

Two km south of the village Modi by Platanias (Chania) we meet is the cavernous chapel of St. Gerasimos. The location of this beautiful cave is accessed via dirt road that starts from Modi (there are information signs). The cave is located on a hillside that is covered by an ancient olive grove.The temple is built inside the cave, is spacious and has a courtyard along a long rock shelter.

Near Skinaria, on the road leading to the beach, you will see a weird cave on your left with a cylindrical shape, which penetrates a boulder. The cave is called Tripiti and is a nesting point for pigeons.

At the tip of the easternmost cape of Koufonissi, an imposing towering rock with characteristic rock layers is formed. Either side of that rock hosts some really beautiful beaches with sand and rocks in places. The nicest beach at Greos is the one facing north.

Armanogia is a small village located at an altitude of 380m and 38km south of Heraklion city. Next to the village, in 2004, a small dam was built. The lake of the dam covers an area of 120 acres.

Leon Cave was officially discovered on 11 August 2008 by a French-Greek team of speleologists, exploring the White Mountains of Chania (area Atzinolakos, near Melidoni of Fre municipality). However, its existence was known 15 years ago, during a French mission of the Catamaran Club. The area of Atzines has high speleological interest which has attracted mainly French, exploratory missions.

Cretan zelkova (Greek: Anegnoro or Ampelitsa) (scient. Zelkova abelicea) is an endemic bush or small tree of Crete as high as 3-5 meters. It constitutes a unique species of the genre Zelkova, of the family Ulmaceae and is characterized as a living fossil. It took the name "Anegnoro" (i.e. unknown) because when it was discovered, nobody knew its species.