Armenia Nature

The mountainous nature of Armenia results in a series of highly diverse landscapes, with variations in geological substrate, terrain, climate, soils and water resources. These landscapes support a great variety of habitats, which in their turn support distinctive flora and fauna.

Armenia has mountainous steppe, semi-desert, high rocky mountains, grasslands, temperate forests, sub-alpine meadows, lush valleys, lakes and rivers as well as old oak forests.

For the biologist, Armenia is heaven for exploration. It is rich with fauna and flora, but what is amazing is the biological diversity of wild life. It varies from dry semi-desert species of flowers and insects to typical temperate forest inhabitants like bears and wolfs. Special attention should be given to flora, insects, birds and reptiles of Armenia. Some of them are endemic to Armenia.

Armenia’s flora is so diverse and rich it seems all you would have to do is add cacti, palms and a rain forest, and you would pretty much complete the world’s diversity of plant life.

The weather changes according to the great variety of geographic terrain. While it may be sunny and hot in the Ararat valley, 60 kilometers away in Sevan it may be cold and rainy, and snowing in the upper regions of Aragats.

The climate varies from subtropical to continental; temperatures can range from -41OC to +42OC. In the southern plain regions the climate is arid and extremely continental. The climate of northern mountainous regions is milder and damper. Annual rainfall is about 570 mm, ranging from 114 mm in the semi-desert zone to about 900 mm in the high mountains.

The wide variety of Armenia climate makes it one of the most popular destinations in the southwestern Asia.