Turkey's eastern natural wonders

have just seen Nemrut Dagi crater, as against the tomb one, and passed Mt. Ararat in the last couple of days and they are stunning. The crater is 45sq. km in diameter so decided not to walk round it. Down at the bottom there are hot and cold lakes for those wanting to swim and masses of flowers and butterflies.
We stayed in Tatvan at the Dilek hotel and were taken up the mountain by Hakim in his old minibus as the roads would have wrecked the car. His father Mehmet was one of the original guides for the area and you can actually stay in their village if you want to. Up on the mountain we met his cousins and neighbours bbqing fish by the lake and looking for wolves so on the way down we were accompanied by two swarthy men with rifles and one with a pistol but they were very friendly and were polite enough to ask if it was Ok to smoke in the bus !!
That night we camped just below Ishak Pasa Palace outside Dogubayazat, fantastic scenery and our hosts were hospitable proud Kurds. Pete managed to find a Grey Necked Bunting and then after visiting the Palace we drove by the Iranian and Armenian borders. We were protected by a massive miltary presence and apart from the roads it all went smoothly. The drive has been fantastic, Lake Van is stunning, Mount Ararat is awesome and the steppe areas are dotted with marshes full of White winged Black Terns. Now in Ardahan on the way to the Black Sea coast.