Blue crabs and birds in the Goksu Delta

If you’re a keen twitcher, then you’ve heard of the Goksu Delta, just on the outskirts of Tasucu. It’s a wildlife reserve composed of 35 km of sandy beach extending either side of the low spit of Incekum Point backed by acres of wetlands and two huge lagoons. Green and leatherhead turtles come here to breed and migrating birds land here to rest up for a while during the spring and autumn migrations. We spent a whole day there with Suleyman Arslan from the local Belediye as our guide.

Anything out there? The view from one of the hides

Ahh - what's this?

Turtle heaven

Although we don’t know a sparrow from a reed warbler, we took our ships binoculars with us and spotted a jackal in the reeds at the water’s edge and many kinds of wading birds.

Lagoon view

We stopped for lunch at a beach hut belonging to the fisherman’s cooperative beside the salt water lagoon, and ate freshly caught wild seabass and the special blue crab that is only found in the delta.

Suleyman catches his blue crab for lunch

......and here it is ready to eat with lemon chilli dip

You could imagine yourself in the south Pacific

Fish traps beside the salt water lagoon

On the way to Silifke afterwards we passed an encampment of makeshift tents which would not have looked out of place on the steppes of Mongolia. Under the shade of an awning a group of teenagers was dancing to the strains of a vibrant folktune.  We were told the people who lived there were nomads who had come from the east to pick the strawberries and apricots now in season.

While we were visiting Silifke Castle a wedding party arrived for a photo session, giving us an excuse to tease Suleyman about the fact that he’s still unmarried. He’s still raving about the girls he met in Thailand last year.


We finished off our tour at the underground chapel of Ayia Tekla. St Thecla was a female disciple of St Paul. She lived as a hermit in this cave that was later consecrated as a shrine in her memory. 

Suleyman tries out an empty grave for size at Ayia Tekla

Suleyman generously invited us to his home for breakfast the next morning where he lives with his mum, who served up the best borek we’ve ever eaten. 

Breakfast at home with the Arslans

Despite having few words to communicate, we talked about our respective families with the help of photos and Suleyman had to put up with more good-natured joshing about his singleton status.  We were very touched by their hospitality.