The beautiful Hevsel Gardens are about the same age as the ancient city of Amed which is called Diyarbakir today. Back in the 3rd-4th centuries AD, these fertile lands used to be a source of water and food for inhabitants of a fortress, which ruins still border the lands. The other side of the Gardens is protected by one of the largest rivers in ancient Mesopotamia, the beautiful full-flowing Tigris.

Like many centuries ago, the Gardens still occupy a huge area of 700 hectares and some modern scientists believe they remember all the events starting from the Assyrian Empire. It was then, almost 3,000 years ago, when they were first mentioned on cuneiform clay tablets. Since the Hevsel Gardens were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2015, these lands became a subject of exploration in an attempt to uncover the mysteries.

Volcanic activity, climatic conditions, soil erosion – all of them can tell us what life has been looked like in the ancient city and in the Gardens from the Ice Age to the Present. While scientists and researchers are trying to solve the riddles of the past, contemporary travelers enjoy the look of the Gardens and meet their inhabitants.

Nowadays, there are so many birds in the beautiful green Gardens that they are defined as one of the largest bird reserves in Turkey. You can find here such fearsome carnivores as a long-legged buzzard and a European honey buzzard, a short-toed snake eagle and a little owl, as well as a lesser kestrel, a small falcon, included in the Red List. In total, there are almost 800 different species of birds in the reserve.

There are some small mammal carnivores found closer to the river like otters and squirrels, hedgehogs and martens, and the bigger ones – foxes. A long time ago, an ancient citadel built in the 3d century was also a part of the Gardens along with its defensive walls and watchtowers. Today they are considered to be a separate tourist attraction but that is another story...