The Amlakit Plateau also known as Hamlakit Plateau, is a plateau located in

Çamlıhemşin District Çamlıhemşin District is a district of the Rize Province of Turkey. Its seat is the town of Çamlıhemşin.Rize Province Rize Province () is a province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. The province of Erzurum is to the south. Its area is 3,835 km2, and its population is 344,016 (2022). The capital is the city of R ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The plateau is famous for its Varvator festivals. A source from 2005 stated that there was a coffeehouse, a grocery store, a mosque, a guesthouse and around 50 wooden plateau houses present, which were mostly active during the summer months.

Location

The elevation of the plateau varies between 1900 and 2200 meters. It is positioned below Palovit Plateau, adjacent to the pine groves in the valley descending to

Zilkale Zilkale is a medieval castle located in the Fırtına Valley (literally "Storm Valley") within the Pontic Mountains, and is one of the most important historical structures in the Çamlıhemşin district of Rize Province, within the Black Sea ...

. It is one of the plateaus that is easier to reach compared to other plateaus in the region. The plateau is 55 kilometers from

Çamlıhemşin Çamlıhemşin, formerly Vice, ( or ; ka, ვიჯა ''Vija'' ) is a small town in Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. It is the seat of Çamlıhemşin District.Hemshin people The Hemshin people (, ; ), also known as Hemshinli or Hamshenis or Homshetsi, are a bilingual ethnographic group of Armenians who mostly practice Sunni Islam after their conversion from Christianity in the beginning of the 18th century an ...

, men and women were dancing

horon Horon () is a group of traditional folk dances from the Eastern Black Sea Region in Turkey. Name Etymology The term ''horon'' derives from Greek '' choros'' (, see chorus), which means "dance." The earliest instance of its usage in a Turkic l ...

together even in the 1970s. A type of horon is named after the plateau.

Upper Amlakit Plateau

To the west of the Amlakit plateau is the Kotençur Plateau, also known as the Upper Amlakit Plateau, at an elevation of 2250–2300 meters.

Tourism and facilities

The plateau is a popular destination for camping and is one of the preferred locations for tourists. There were 300 visitors to the plateau in 1991, 400 in 2002 and 750 in 2009. The plateau is considered suitable for nature walks and ecotourism activities. The villages have had electricity since 2001. According to 2014 data, phones generally do not have signal in the region.

Flora

Plant species present on the plateau include * ''

Cystopteris fragilis ''Cystopteris fragilis'' is a species of perennial fern known by the common names brittle bladder-fern and common fragile fern. It can be found worldwide, generally in shady, moist areas. Description It has a short, black rootstock. The leaves ...

'' * ''

Pteridium aquilinum ''Pteridium aquilinum'', commonly called bracken, brake, pasture brake, common bracken, and also known as eagle fern, is a species of fern occurring in temperate and subtropical regions in both hemispheres. Originally native to Eurasia and North ...

'' * '' Dryopteris dilatata'' * '' Dryopteris remot'' * ''

Dryopteris filix-mas ''Dryopteris filix-mas'', the male fern, is a common fern of the temperateness, temperate Northern Hemisphere, native plant, native to much of Europe, Asia, and North America. It favours damp shaded areas in the understory of woodlands, but also ...

'' * '' Dryopteris × initalis'' * ''

Dryopteris expansa ''Dryopteris expansa'', the alpine buckler fern, northern buckler-fern or spreading wood fern, is a species of perennial fern native to cool temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, south at high altitudes in mountains to Spain ...

'' * ''

Polystichum aculeatum ''Polystichum aculeatum'', the hard shield-fern, is an evergreen fern native to Europe. It is most abundant in upland regions of the British Isles and western France, where it benefits from the combination of mild winters and moist summers, but ...

'' * ''

Polystichum lonchitis ''Polystichum lonchitis'' is a species of fern known by the common name northern hollyfern, or simply holly-fern. It is native to much of the Northern Hemisphere from Eurasia to Alaska to Greenland and south into mountainous central North America ...

'' * ''

Equisetum arvense ''Equisetum arvense'', the field horsetail or common horsetail, is an herbaceous perennial plant in the Equisetidae (horsetails) sub-class, native throughout the arctic and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It has separate sterile ...

'' * ''

Equisetum palustre ''Equisetum palustre'', the marsh horsetail, is a perennial herbaceous pteridophyte belonging to the subclass of horsetails (Equisetidae). It is widespread in cooler regions of Eurasia and North America. Description ''Equisetum palustre'' has ...

'' * ''

Botrychium lunaria ''Botrychium lunaria'' is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name moonwort or common moonwort. It is the most widely distributed moonwort, growing throughout the Northern Hemisphere across Eurasia and from Alaska ...

'' * ''

Polypodium vulgare ''Polypodium vulgare'', the common polypody, is an evergreen fern of the family Polypodiaceae. The name is derived from Greek ''poly-'' ("many") and ''pous, podos'' ("foot"). Polypody has traditional uses in cooking for its aroma and sweet t ...

'' * ''

Cryptogramma crispa ''Cryptogramma crispa'', the parsley fern, is an Arctic–alpine species of fern. It produces separate sterile and fertile fronds, up to tall, and is a pioneer species on acidic screes. Description The fronds of ''C. crispa'' are long an ...

'' * '' Thelypteris (Oreopteris) limbosperma'' * ''

Phegopteris connectilis ''Phegopteris'' is a genus of ferns in the family Thelypteridaceae, subfamily Phegopteridoideae, in the Pteridophyte Phylogeny Group classification of 2016 (PPG I). They are known collectively as the beech ferns. Species are native to Asia, North ...

'' * ''

Isothecium holtii ''Isothecium'' is a genus of mosses belonging to the family Lembophyllaceae. The genus has a cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of th ...

'' * '' Scilla monanthos'' * '' Riccardia palmata'' * '' Blepharostoma trichophyllum'' * ''

Rhododendron caucasicum ''Rhododendron caucasicum'', the Caucasian rhododendron or the Georgian snow rose, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Rhododendron'' native to the Transcaucasus and Anatolia. Its hybrid cultivar 'Christmas Cheer' has gained the Royal ...

References

{{Wikidatacoord, Q6050845, display=title Rize Province Plateaus of Turkey