Asprokremmos Dam

Asprokremmos is one of the largest reservoirs in Cyprus, holding back the Xeros river in the hills inland from Paphos near Nikoklia. The dam was built to supply water to the Paphos district and its farmland, and the sheet of water it created now sits in open country of low scrub and dry hillside, with the Troodos foothills rising behind.

The reservoir has become one of the better birdwatching spots in the west of the island. Water in a dry landscape draws a great deal in, and the shoreline and the surrounding scrub see waders, raptors and migrants passing through in spring and autumn. It is also a working fishery, stocked and fished under permit, which is much of the traffic it sees.

Water level varies enormously with the season and the year. After a wet winter the reservoir is full and the shoreline sits high; in a dry summer it draws back a long way and exposes wide margins of pale rock and mud, which is where the place takes its name. There is no development at the water, and access is by unsealed roads off the main route between Paphos and Limassol.