The Natural Environment Climate & Change Agency (NECCA) has announced that the Samaria National Park will be open from both of its entrances for the year 2025, from today Tuesday 6th May, bad weather having prevented its opening as scheduled on the 1st of the month. NECCA states that it has completed all the necessary annual maintenance works on footpaths, infrastructure, communications and all the functions associated with the accessibility of the Gorge and the safety of visitors.
This year for the first time, it has secured the use of a nowcasting app, which will warn of possible extreme weather conditions within two hours at specific points in the Gorge.
Visitors are reminded that in accordance with the National Park Operating Agreement, visitors assume complete personal responsibility for their safety during their entrance and stay in the National Park, accepting the risks, especially in cases of emergencies and unforeseen incidents, and are obliged to take whatever measures they deem necessary for their safety. Tickets can be booked online at: https://samaria-tickets.necca.gov.gr/checkout.
(Haniotika Nea, 05/05/25)
Useful information for visitors, including the Samaria Park Rules and Regulations, routes and conditions, details of buses from Chania and boats from Agia Roumeli etc, can be found at: https://www.samaria.gr/tips-for-crossing-samaria/. NB: This is a site set up by the Samaria Park Management Board before it was absorbed into NECCA and has not been updated since 2022. It has been kept open “for archive purposes” and the information about timetables and fares etc should be independently checked.
Nowcasting
Meteorological nowcasting is weather forecasting on a very short-term period of up to 2 to 6 hours. “The forecast is an extrapolation in time of known weather parameters, including those obtained by means of remote sensing, using techniques that take into account a possible evolution of the air mass. This type of forecast therefore includes details that cannot be solved by numerical weather prediction models running over longer forecast periods.” (Wikipedia)
In the past couple of years, the new Samaria management has been criticised for closing the Gorge unnecessarily for extended periods when heavy rainfalls were expected but did not materialise. This led to complaints from tour companies and operators who were suffering disruption to their schedules and consequent loss of income. The introduction of nowcasting should allow for more accurate control of access to the Gorge, which can attract up to 3,000 visitors a day in the summer.
Safety in the Gorge
Sudden downpours in the Gorge can produce flash floods and also rock falls, which have been the cause of some recent accidents. In September 2024 a 35-year-old female tourist died in the Gorge following a rockfall which crushed her leg, causing uncontrollable bleeding. (Ekathimerini.com)
It was the fear of such incidents which was leading to the extended closures. However, local residents and businesses have criticised the new management as unnecessarily risk-averse in an environment which is inherently risky. It is for this reason that visitors are now informed that they enter the Gorge at their own risk and must take whatever precautions they think necessary for their personal safety.
Professional guides wear safety helmets in the Gorge as a protection against rockfalls, and while they have not been made obligatory, there have been suggestions that the management may make helmets available at the entrance for visitors who want to use them. We have received no information so far that this is being implemented.