Tunceli'nin turkuaz buzul göllerine üç saatlik yolculuk: İki mevsim aynı rotada manzara büyülüyor

Located at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters in the Ovacık district of Tunceli, the Mercan Glacier Lakes and their surroundings attract nature lovers with their winter and summer landscapes. The Ovacık district, especially in spring and summer, revitalizes tourism with its cool air, plateaus, waterfalls, and glacier lakes. In the district, where mountaineering activities are also developing, the snow on the surface of the glacier lakes in the Mercan Mountains has begun to melt as the weather warms up. The glacier lakes, which have shades of blue, turquoise, and green, are currently on the itinerary of nature lovers from the city center and surrounding provinces. Nature lovers who come to the district on day trips, after preparations, set off from the district center by car and travel to Şahverdi village at the entrance of the Mercan Valley. From there, nature lovers continue their route on foot, and after walking for 3 hours on challenging paths, they reach the Mercan Glacier Lakes at an altitude of approximately 2,000 meters. Nature lovers, who visit lakes in three different locations in turn, picnic and take photos in certain areas or swim in the lakes to cool off. - Winter and summer landscapes together Nature lovers who experience two seasons at once in the region can see the hooked-horned mountain goat, brown bear, and wild goats in their natural habitat. Murat Bahçeci, President of the Elazığ Mountaineering and Search and Rescue Sports Club, said that they carry out activities to bring people together with nature. Stating that the interest in nature trips is increasing every day, Bahçeci said: "We enable people to see natural beauties live, not just in photographs. Every year, approximately 300 people come to Tunceli from Elazığ in groups of 30-40 people, and this number can increase even more with promotion. There are peaks in the Munzur Mountains that are over 3,000 meters high and have not yet been discovered, attracting the mountaineering community in Türkiye. Of course, we have only recently started to discover them and we are learning their names from the local people." Bahçeci stated that there are many trekking routes in Tunceli and that they prefer to organize trips to areas that everyone can easily visit. - "This is a corner of paradise, I recommend it to everyone." Nature lover Samet Asutay explained that he spent time in the Munzur and Mercan Mountains by changing his route from Bursa to Tunceli. Stating that the region's wildlife particularly caught his attention, Asutay noted the following: "Last year was my first visit and at that time we had the chance to see many animals such as brown bears and wild goats. This year, when we came to the Mercan Glacier Lakes again, we were fortunate enough to see these animals. This is a corner of paradise, I recommend it to everyone. Last year there was almost no snow. Now there is 1-2 meters of snow around every lake. This year there was an average of 20-25 days of seasonal shift and serious snowfall." Nature enthusiast Samet Korkmaz also stated that he came to Tunceli for the first time and had enjoyable moments in its countryside. Korkmaz pointed out that Tunceli has a magnificent geography, saying, "The wildlife here is very active. We saw many mountain goats and brown bears. We filmed them. Besides that, the air, water, flowers, and endemic plants are very beautiful. In addition to the Mercan Valley, Merg Plateau, and Kırkmerdiven Waterfalls in the region, the city centers are also so beautiful that we especially loved the mountains."