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Nature
Geology
The main characteristic of Pano Riza is its enormous cliffs that demarcate the south glacis of Psiloritis and divide the Limestone Mountains from the soft sediments of the lowland zone. Millions of years ago, an array of breaches cut the rocks, picked up the mountains and created the Messara Basin. These breaches formed the cliffs that are the characteristic element of all the south glacis of Psiloritis. At the same time, however, there are elevating underground walls that force the water of Psiloritis to emerge from the mountains. These walls formed the fountains of Gergeri and Zaros, which are now a means of running the bottling industries of the area. Smaller fountains across the mountain area quench the visitors, the shepherds and the animals thirst as it is happening around the Rouvas forest. Pebbles and blocks cover many parts of the cliffs composing red blocks of rock. On these blocks, glued sand and pebbles still appear, demarcating primeval coastal lines from eras where the sea covered the whole of the lowland zone. Inside the sediments of this zone, the limestones, the bluestones, the argils and the plasters, there is buried a number of fossils such as corals, limpets, sea urchins, sharks teeth, sirenias (large sea mammals) and sea goats. The richness of rocks and fossils of the area is presented in the School Museum of Natural History of fauna and flora in Gergeri. The limestone platters of Psiloritis offer a large variety of easy to process structural material for the shepherds’ shelters (mitato), while the yellowish limestone of the low land zone helped the traditional architecture to form a large variety of buildings and constructions. Precipices, rock roofs and caves are spread across the mountain zone most of which, however, are inaccessible to people and appropriate only for experienced cavers. "Kamaraiko" is the most significant cave of the area, due to its archaeological value, since there were found distinct style pottery samples. Apart from the gorge of Gafaris with the beautiful path that leads to the forest of Rouvas, the gorges of Vorizia and Kamares are similarly impressive due to their wild landscape.
Flora
Pano Riza of Psiloritis presents a particular floral interest mainly due to the Kermes Oak forest of Rouvas. Kermes Oak (Quercus coccifera) in its arboratious form, prevails here along with the deciduous maples (Acer sempervirens), that give a colourful form to the dark green forest during winter. Protected by fencing, in the heart of the forest, there is a large cluster of the unique indigenous tree of Crete, the Cretan Zelcova (Zelcova abelicea) which due to its rarity is often referred as the "Unrecognizable tree". The flora of the Gafaris gorge is impressive. The gorge is crossed by a pedestrian path that starts from the Votomos area in Zaros and ends up to the flat ground of Agios Ioannis at the Rouvas forest. In this area, besides the Kermes Oaks, one can see enormous cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens) and hollies (Phillyrea latifolia), as well as pines (Pinus brutia). During spring and early summer many endemic plants present a particular interest, such as the Cretan arum (Arum creticum), the Cretan cyclamen (Cyclamen creticum) and two endemic protected orchids, the Cretan Kephalantiro (Cephalanthera cuculata) and the Cretan orchid referred as "sad" (Epipactis cretica). At the paths and the vertical rocks of the area’s gorges, such as the gorge of Vorizano and Karamaiko, one can admire the beautiful plants that grow in the clefts of the vertical rocks many of which are endemic, such as the rock lettuce (Petromarula pinnata), the Cretan Hypericum jovis and the plant symbol of Crete, dictamus (Origanum dictamnus). During winter the area is equally interesting, due to the area’s geoherbs such as cyclamens (Cyclamen graecum), narcissuses (Narcissus tazetta) and crocuses (Crocus oreocreticus, Crocus laevigatus).
Fauna
Pano Riza could be characterized as a shelter and at the same time as a base for food hunting of the big raptors and scavengers of central Crete. The magnificent cliffs, the impressive gorges, the rock roofs and the abrupt slopes of the southern part of Psiloritis are ideal for the nesting of these birds. From the northern parts of Pano Riza, lammergeyers,
At lower altitudes one can easily come across hoopoes (Upupa epops), Orphean Warblers (Sylvia hortensis), ortolans (Emberiza hortulana) and several other birds, which are relatively rare in Crete. Partridges (Alectoris chukar) and cushats (Columba palumbus) are included in the commoner bird species.
The green lizards (Lacerta trilineata) and the Ocellated Skinks (Chalcides ocellatus) have an intense presence in the area, while the protected river turtles (Mauremys rivulata) maintain their populations in the wider area of Zaros (Koutsoulidis, Votamos etc).
The presence of the Cretan wildcat (Felis silvestris cretica) is also important in this area. This animal maintains one of the most significant populations in the island. The dense bushes and the Kermes Oak forests in the province of Amari and Pano Riza (From the Koundoures area to Rouvas) are considered by experts as the most important nesting and hunting biotopes for this rare animal.
Finally, at the forested glacis of Agios Mamas and Rouvas areas, there are frequent reports o" the arboreal "edible dormouse" (Glis glis), a rodent which was considered a good eating during the ancient times. It is said that the Romans made it popular in Crete.
