Stavros tis Psokas (mouflon)
Here you can see the mouflon, a wild sheep found only in Cyprus.
The story
Stavros tis Psokas is a forest station deep in the Paphos Forest: there is a forestry office, the chapel of the Holy Cross, a campsite and a guesthouse. Nearby is a fenced part of the forest where you can see mouflon up close. The mouflon, agrino in Greek, is a wild sheep found only in Cyprus. It is the island’s largest wild land mammal, and it appears on the 1, 2 and 5 euro cent coins. In the 1930s hunting left almost no mouflon, and the whole state-owned Paphos Forest was closed to hunting. Today this forest is part of Natura 2000, the European network of protected natural areas.
The mouflon (agrino) is a wild sheep found only in Cyprus; it is depicted on the Cypriot 1, 2 and 5 euro cent coins, and you can see it up close at Stavros tis Psokas. The Paphos Forest is part of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas.
Visiting
Go by car on winding mountain roads: from the west through the village of Lysos, from the east from Kykkos Monastery through Cedar Valley. At the forest station, a few minutes’ walk from the enclosure, there is a café, a campsite and a guesthouse; for now, rooms can only be booked by phoning the forest station.
Photos
Sources
- Τμήμα Δασών (Υπουργείο Γεωργίας): Σταυρός της Ψώκας — κατασκηνωτικός χώρος, ξενώνας, αγρινά
- Department of Forests: Fauna — the Cyprus mouflon (Ovis gmelini ophion)
- Department of Forests: Protected Forest Areas (Natura 2000)
- European Central Bank: Cyprus euro coins (mouflon on 1, 2, 5 cent)
This text was written by AI from open sources. An expert will still check it. Found a mistake? Write to us. Support
