Durasan Şah Tabiat Parkı

About Durasan Şah Tabiat Parkı

Durasan Şah Nature Park is a protected area of state forest in the hills of Kahramankazan district, north-west of Ankara. It was declared Türkiye's 226th nature park in 2018 and covers about 146 hectares. It is managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Nature Conservation and National Parks directorate. The directorate puts the park about 55 km from Ankara, 10 km from Kahramankazan town and 46 km from Kızılcahamam. When the park was declared, the ministry described the forest as rich in wildlife, with brown bear, wild boar, wolf, fox and hare as well as many bird species. The name comes from local history. According to the ministry's announcement, the nearby village of Tekke was the birthplace of Durasan Şah, a leading figure in the area in the early years of the Ottoman state, and the village grew up around the mosque, dervish lodge (zaviye) and tomb he had built. The village was known as Beyköy and Zaviye, was renamed Verimli after the dervish lodges were closed in the early Republic, and took back the name Tekke in 1998. The park is a place for quiet forest walks and picnics rather than organised activities, and a car is needed to reach it. Combine it with Kahramankazan's other sights, or continue north to the forests and thermal springs around Kızılcahamam.