Akamas is a promontory and cape at the northwest extremity of Cyprus with an area of 230 square kilometres.Ptolemy described it as a thickly wooded headland, divided into two by summits rising towards the north. The peninsula is named after a son of Theseus, hero of the Trojan War and founder of the city-kingdom of Soli.
Until the year 2000, the peninsula was used by the British Army and Navy for military exercises and as a firing range. Under the 1960 Treaty of Establishment, the British Army was allowed to use the Akamas for exercises for up to 70 days a year.
At the southern end of the peninsula is the town of Pegeia and on its northeast side the town of Polis. Due to the mountainous nature of the peninsula there are no roads running through its heartland. Furthermore some roads marked on Cypriot road maps of the area are not tarmaced. Visitor attractions in Akamas include a loggerhead turtle sanctuary and the Baths of Aphrodite where the goddess is said to have bathed, near Polis. As the area is therefore relatively inaccessible, there is a large diversity of flora and fauna there. Indeed the European Environment Agency noted that it was one of only 22 areas of endemism in Europe. This however looks like it may be threatened by tourist development and the planned A7 motorway between Polis and Paphos; organisations such as the Green Party of Cyprus, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth are taking action to protect the area.
Akamas supports a wide diversity of life including many vulnerable species, some of which are endemic to Akamas. Wild flowers include cyclamen, turban buttercups, alyssum (alyssum akamasicum, endemic to Akamas) Cyprus tulip, and many species of orchid, yellow gorse and white rock rose.
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