With its lush vegetation and abundant wildlife, Absheron
National Park offers magnificent scenery for all those fascinated
by nature.
Established on the basis of Absheron State Nature Sanctuary, the
park stretches 783 ha in the administrative territory of Baku
city.
The park's territory is mostly covered with sea sand. Coastal
sandy plants, reed meadows, and annual salt marshes are common
here.
The climate of the area is semi-arid, specifically semi-desert
and dry steppe. Nearly 25 plant species exist in Absheron National
Park.
Nestled at the southeastern end of the Absheron Peninsula in the
Shah Dili territory, the national park is home to more than 50
birds and animal species, including gazelles, jackals, foxes,
rabbists, Caspian seals, birds like silver gulls, wheezing swans,
white-eyed black ducks, sandpipers, bald-coots, etc.
The Caspian seal, which is considered a rare species, is
encountered in the Caspian Sea area of the Absheron National Park,
It is observed in the seal cape mostly in May-August.
Note that Caspian seal is included in the Guinness Book of World
Records as the smallest seal in the ocean.
Meanwhile, gazelles, which can be often seen at Absheron
National Park, are included in the Red Book of Azerbaijan.
Gazelles are known as swift animals. Some are able to run at
bursts as high as 100 km/h (60 mph) or at a sustained speed of 50
km/h (30 mph).
Since ancient times, these beautiful creatures have occupied a
unique place in the literature, folklore, and art of the
Azerbaijani people.
For centuries, all poets, from the great romantic and epic poet
Nizami Ganjavi to Samad Vurgun, praised the beauty of these
animals.
Shirvan National Park is home to at least 6,000 gazelles. The
work is currently to reintroduce the gazelle to its historic
habitat in other parts of the country and the Caucasus.
This national park was created with a view to the conservation
of the foremost components of a semi-desert landscape, the
protection of goitered gazelles listed in the Red Data Book of
Azerbaijan, and species of fauna that are typical of this
territory.
