In the northeast of Amasya, in the mountainous belt between Taşova and Ladik, the forest thins as one climbs and gives way to broad, grassy flats. The Borabay and Sarıçiçek yaylas (highland summer pastures) are the best-known pasture grounds of this belt. Referred to together in some descriptions as the "Borabay-Sarıçiçek Yaylas", these flats lie on the eastern slopes of Karaömer Dağı at an average elevation of about 1,650 metres. For centuries a summer refuge for those escaping the oppressive heat of the low valleys, the yaylas are also the setting of a way of life bound up with the livestock, milk, cheese and summer festivals of the village of Boraboy below.

Official descriptions usually give the name of the pastures as "Borabay", while the village itself and the people of the area prefer "Boraboy"; both forms refer to the same place. Just below the yaylas lies Lake Boraboy, formed when a landslide blocked the course of a stream. Since the formation of the lake and its nature park are described in a separate article, the focus here is on the heights above the lake, on yayla life, on yayla produce and on the festivals.

Karaömer Dağı and the Location of the Yaylas

Karaömer Dağı, the mountain that carries the Borabay and Sarıçiçek yaylas, is one of the principal mountains of Amasya. It extends between the Tersakan Çayı and the Destek Çayı on one side and Akdağ on the other; to the north, the North Anatolian Fault marks its boundary with the Canik Mountains. Its highest point is Karaömer Tepesi at 1,979 metres. At this height it is the tallest mountain in the province after Akdağ (2,062 metres), followed by the Sakarat, Tavşan and İnegöl mountains. The eastern flank of the mountain descends towards Boraboy and the western flank towards Ladik. A description of the nature park states that the mountain range begins at Ladik in the west, extends between Lake Ladik to the north and Akdağ to the south, and has the town of Boraboy as its eastern limit. The Sarıçiçek and Borabay yaylas occupy the flats on the eastern side of this range, at heights close to the upper limit of the forest.

The waters of the yaylas drain into the Yeşilırmak basin. The Destek Çayı, which runs between Karaömer Dağı and the Canik Mountains, flows for 35 kilometres before joining the Yeşilırmak at Taşova; its minimum discharge is given as 0.5 and its maximum as 130 cubic metres per second. The Çatağın Deresi, which feeds Lake Boraboy, also descends from these heights; it is recorded as rising at Çivili Tepe on the foothills of Akdağ. The yaylas lie in a transitional belt, influenced by the humid Black Sea climate to the north and the drier Central Anatolian climate to the south. This is the main reason for the botanical richness of the yaylas of Amasya: species of both the Black Sea and the Central Anatolian climates are found here side by side.

The official lists of Amasya's yaylas include the Sarıçiçek Yaylas alongside the Kabaoğuz, Tavşandağı, Akdağ, Destek, Boğalı, Çatalçam and İnegöl yaylas. The information given for Sarıçiçek in these lists is brief: flats on the eastern side of Karaömer Dağı with an average elevation of about 1,650 metres. Fuller information can only be gathered from the accounts of the people of Boraboy who actually use the pastures, from the local press and from the notes of trips made to the area.

The Yaylas of Boraboy

The village of Boraboy lies 17 to 18 kilometres from the district centre of Taşova and about 58 to 63 kilometres from Amasya; the distance is given with small differences in the sources, depending on the point from which it is measured. The village's yaylas bear the names Aşağıyayla, Yukarıyayla, Keçiyatağı, Çukuralan and Kozlu. Local sources add the Ağıllıbucak and Çamalanı yaylas to these. The gravel road that comes from the village and continues along the lakeshore forks after a while: the left branch descends towards Amasya, while the right branch climbs as far as the Ağıllıbucak, Aşağıyayla and Çamalanı yaylas. Seen from the spot at about 1,600 metres where the forest ends and the Ağıllıbucak spring rises, the area around the lake looks like a green hollow set in dense forest.

The most populous of these yaylas is Aşağıyayla. According to the local press, about forty households live in summer at this yayla, which stands at roughly 1,400 metres; it has an open road and electricity and draws its water from natural springs. The elevation of Aşağıyayla shows that it stands somewhere between a yayla in the strict sense and a summer extension of the village. Geographers in the Black Sea region distinguish the meadows above the natural upper limit of the forest as true yaylas, and the temporary settlements within the forest belt at 1,000 to 1,300 metres as mezra (intermediate stations); Hayati Doğanay and Ogün Coşkun use the term "sayfiye yaylası" (resort yayla) for settlements between 1,000 and 1,700 metres that people visit mainly for rest. The lower yaylas of Boraboy come close to this last definition, while flats above the forest line such as Sarıçiçek are the true pastures where the herds spend the summer.

The arrival of a road and electricity at Aşağıyayla has also changed the way the yayla houses are used. This change is part of a trend seen across the yaylas of Turkey as a whole. According to Doğanay and Coşkun, the number of yaylas in the country is falling as urbanisation advances, and a large part of the yayla settlements that survive now serve recreation rather than their traditional role in livestock farming. In the Boraboy yaylas the two functions still exist side by side: on the one hand the yayla to which people go up for milk and cheese, on the other the summer retreat of townspeople and of fellow villagers returning from abroad and from the cities.

Sarıçiçek Yayla

Sarıçiçek Yayla lies above Lake Borabay, on the flats of the eastern slopes of Karaömer Dağı. With an average elevation of 1,650 metres it is markedly higher than the lower yaylas of Boraboy, and it is largely an area of open meadows above the upper limit of the forest. The yayla can be reached both from the Taşova side, by way of Boraboy, and from the Ladik side, by forest roads that branch off beside Lake Ladik. This two-way connection explains why the yayla has always bordered the pastures of villages on both the Amasya and the Samsun sides.

The notes of off-road trips organised to the area from Samsun record that most of the road to Sarıçiçek is unpaved and that the yayla can only be reached with four-wheel-drive vehicles, on a journey of moderate difficulty. On a camp held in the spring of 2015, the route from Samsun via Asarcık to Lake Borabay and on to Sarıçiçek was noted as 101 kilometres, with the return made on asphalt by way of Ladik and Kavak. During the same group's trip in the autumn of 2019 it was recorded that the road on which they had been stuck in the snow the previous winter was dry in autumn, that an old yayla cemetery lay beside the yayla road, and that rubbish left by visitors had become a problem even in these high places. Yayla cemeteries are important traces showing that people did not spend only a few weeks on the yaylas but stayed for long periods every summer, generation after generation.

No documented information has been found on the origin of the yayla's name. It is reasonable to suppose that it comes from the yellow-flowered plants that cover the meadows in early summer, but no record confirms this. Since there are other yaylas of the same name in Turkey, care is needed in determining which of them the information circulating under the name Sarıçiçek actually belongs to. The clearest example of this confusion is the reputation for cheese and honey discussed below.

The Name Sarıçiçek and the Reputation for Cheese and Honey

The claim that Sarıçiçek Yayla lay within the Dağili nahiye (sub-district) in the Ottoman period and has been known for centuries as a "source of cheese and honey" is also repeated in some promotional texts about the yaylas of Amasya. This information in fact belongs to another yayla of the same name. Sarıçiçek Yayla in the north of Malatya, lying between the districts of Arapgir, Arguvan, Kemaliye and Divriği and marking the boundary of three provinces, belonged to the Dağili nahiye in the Ottoman period and has been called a "paradise of cheese and honey". Every spring, tribes from the surrounding villages go up with their herds to this yayla at 1,500 to 1,700 metres, stay until September, and send cheese made from the milk of thousands of sheep to the neighbouring provinces. This Eastern Anatolian yayla, where the Kozluk Çayı flows through valleys known as Kayaarası, is not the same place as the Amasya yayla on Karaömer Dağı.

No Ottoman-period document showing cheese or honey production at the Sarıçiçek of Amasya has been found in the sources examined, and it has no connection with the Dağili nahiye. This does not mean that cheese and honey are not produced on the Borabay-Sarıçiçek yaylas. On the Boraboy yaylas, milk, butter, cheese and eggs are produced especially in spring and summer, and these products are sold to visitors. Beekeeping is also counted among the livelihoods of the village of Boraboy. Beekeeping is widespread on the yaylas of Taşova; news such as bears attacking beehives at Karakese Yayla on Akdağ appears from time to time in the local press. "Cheese and honey" can therefore be considered a valid description of Borabay-Sarıçiçek as well; but the description does not rest on a documented Ottoman reputation, and refers instead to the products of a yayla economy that continues today.

Yayla Life and Production

Boraboy's relationship with the yaylas goes back to the village's founding story. According to the local history compiled by the village association, an Arabic waqf deed (pious endowment deed) dated 1257 relates that the families who founded the town first used the Bostan Deresi area, two kilometres south of the present settlement, as their winter quarters and lived a nomadic life in tents. According to tradition, animals that ran off on a stormy day took shelter in the present valley, sheltered from the wind, and the families who set out to look for them liked the valley and settled there. This old cycle between winter quarters, yayla and settled village helps to explain why livestock farming and transhumance are still alive in Boraboy today. The settlement history of the village and the traditions about the origin of its name are treated in detail in the article on the villages of Taşova.

The yayla season lasts from late spring, when the snow recedes and the meadows turn green, until autumn. The pattern that Doğanay and Coşkun describe for the Black Sea yaylas helps us understand production on the Boraboy yaylas. In this pattern, people go up to the yayla carrying empty vessels such as tins, cauldrons and troughs, and on the return these vessels come down to the village full of butter and cheese. The milk is processed on the yayla; some of the houses on the Black Sea yaylas have, next to the animal shelter, a place called the sütlük where cheese and butter are made. The stone-walled pens near the houses are where the morning milking is done and where the flocks are guarded at night. Part of the milk, butter, cheese and eggs produced on the Boraboy yaylas in spring and summer is today sold to visitors who come to the yayla and the lakeside.

Boraboy's table also reflects this yayla economy. Local dishes include Boraboy köfte, grilled meats, içli pilav, water-buffalo yoghurt, soups and şirvanlı helva. In the village, marmalades of fruits such as apple, rosehip, plum and quince are made by natural methods. Apples and pears head the village's agricultural products, while trout farming, beekeeping and flour production are mentioned as secondary livelihoods. The presence of water-buffalo yoghurt in the local cuisine shows that livestock farming on the yaylas was not limited to sheep and cattle.

The side of yayla life built on solidarity is also emphasised in descriptions of the area. It is said that a traditional way of life based on tolerance, mutual help and respect for elders allows the people of the area to live in harmony, and that this is reflected in hospitality towards visitors. Boraboy's population has fallen sharply over the last half century: having reached 2,583 in the 1970 census, it had dropped to 732 by 2021. For this reason the yaylas and the summer festivals have become one of the main occasions through which the people of Boraboy, scattered across large cities and abroad, maintain their ties with the village.

Yayla Festivals

The yaylas of Amasya are known as much for their summer festivals as for their natural beauty. Together with the Akdağ and Kabaoğuz yaylas, Borabay is counted among the places where these festivals are at their liveliest. The Boraboy festival is organised by the Boraboy Education, Culture and Solidarity Association, active since 2005, and is held around the lake; its official name is the "Boraboy Lake Festival and Picnic". Its main participants are the villagers together with fellow villagers living away from home. Held in midsummer, this gathering serves as a day of reunion for families who live scattered for the rest of the year.

The twenty-first festival was held on Saturday 8 August 2026. The programme included a concert by the folk singer Sevda Kılıç, a recital by the pianist Alpaslan Uzun and performances by a davul-zurna (drum and shawm) band; the event was presented by Mihrican Dağlı Kaya. Official speeches were given at 13.00, after which a group photography exhibition showing the lake and its surrounding forest in all four seasons opened at the lakeside country restaurant. Clown shows and outdoor games were organised for children. A large group of officials attended the festival, among them the District Governor of Taşova, the Mayor of Taşova Ömer Özalp, the Boraboy headman İzzet Öz and the Amasya Provincial Director of Culture and Tourism Yaser Ergün. In a statement after the festival, the association's board thanked the participants and expressed the wish: "May our unity and solidarity last forever."

The Boraboy festival is one of the yayla festivals held every summer in and around Taşova. The eighteenth Makmarardı Yayla Festival, the Yemişen Yayla Festival of the village of Çakırsu and the fifteenth yayla festival of the village of Kozluca are other summer gatherings reported in the district's local press. The Kabaoğuz Yayla Festival, one of the long-established festivals of the province, was held for the thirtieth time in 2026, from 31 July to 2 August, at Aphaz Yayla in Gümüşhacıköy; it followed a traditional programme with a festival bonfire, concerts, karakucak wrestling and the auction for the title of festival ağa. What these festivals have in common is that, as the economic importance of transhumance declines, they keep alive its social side: coming together and the bond between people from the same place. The fact that the Boraboy festival is held on the lakeshore is likewise a result of the natural unity between the yaylas and the lake.

Climate and Seasons

Summers on the Borabay-Sarıçiçek yaylas are cool and calm. Meadows wet with dew in the morning warm up under a mild sun towards noon, the air cools quickly in the evening, and even in midsummer warm clothing is needed at night. Winter, by contrast, is long and snowy. The local press has reported snowfall in the high parts of Taşova at the end of May, snow at Aşağıyayla in mid-April, and snow cover approaching fifty centimetres in midwinter. In the same winters the surface of Lake Boraboy freezes over.

The yaylas take on a different appearance in every season. In spring and summer the flats, covered with flowering meadows, are well suited to nature walks, running and photography. In autumn, while the beech and chestnut forests of the lower slopes turn yellow and red, the forest roads leading up to the yaylas are dry and passable. In winter the yaylas are covered with snow; the roads are often closed and these heights can be reached only by experienced groups with suitable vehicles and equipment. Each of the four seasons offers campers and photographers a different landscape.

Vegetation

The road up to the yaylas passes through forest whose cover changes layer by layer. On the north-facing slopes around the lake, oriental beech, black pine, Scots pine and oak predominate; on the south-facing slopes, Scots pine and black pine are found with mixed scrub. Some descriptions state that hornbeam, beech and chestnut stand out on the north-facing slopes and Scots pine and black pine on the south-facing ones. As one climbs, the forest thins out and, above about 1,600 metres, gives way to open yayla meadows.

The vegetation of Karaömer Dağı has also been studied scientifically. The phytosociological study by Arzu Cansaran, Ömer Faruk Kaya, A. S. Ertekin and Osman Ketenoğlu, published in Acta Botanica Gallica in 2010, defines the mountain as a transitional area between Central Anatolia and the central Black Sea region, and in terms of plant geography between the Euro-Siberian and Irano-Turanian floristic regions, and describes seven new plant associations belonging to three different vegetation types there. Assessments made in Amasya have identified 245 endemic taxa within the province, 29 of which are reported to occur in Amasya, Akdağ and the area around Lake Boraboy. The colourful spring cover of the yaylas is part of this rich flora.

Access and Walking Routes

The starting point for the climb to the yaylas is Boraboy. Municipal vehicles run regular services between Taşova and Boraboy. The village is reached by a road of 63 kilometres from Amasya and 45 kilometres from Ladik in Samsun province. The lakeshore is reached by turning left at the 44th kilometre of the Amasya-Taşova road onto the Taşova-Samsun road and turning left again at its 14th kilometre. Beyond the lake the road is gravel and deteriorates steadily towards the upper yaylas; even in dry weather it is safer to go up to Sarıçiçek and the high flats in a four-wheel-drive vehicle.

Footpaths starting around the lake run through beech and pine forest and allow day walks up to the yaylas. Walking routes linking the lake with Kaleboynu, Lake Gındıra and the yaylas are also used by hikers. A review of Amasya's ecotourism potential lists Sarıçiçek among the yaylas capable of serving yayla tourism, and identifies the Boraboy yaylas as suitable areas for off-road vehicle trips. The yaylas are also suitable for camping and picnics; however, since the yayla flats are interwoven with privately used pastures and yayla houses, care should be taken when choosing a campsite not to harm the animals and pastures of the yayla residents.

Those going up to the yayla should be prepared for mountain roads and rapidly changing weather. Clothing suited to the season, sturdy footwear, a warm layer for summer evenings and enough water should be carried. Routes linking Lake Borabay with Sarıçiçek and the other yaylas of the area can form the backbone of a nature trip lasting several days.

Conservation Problems

The yaylas of Amasya have come under serious pressure in recent years. Official descriptions state plainly that the yaylas have been damaged by causes such as excessive use of agricultural chemicals and fertiliser, overgrazing and the clearing of fields, and that on the upper parts the soil has eroded until bedrock is exposed in places. In the forests along the edges of the yaylas, young trees are not replacing the old ones, and the forest line is gradually moving downhill. This observation is particularly important for yaylas such as Borabay-Sarıçiçek that lie on the boundary between forest and meadow.

The opening of roads has made the yaylas easier to reach, but it has also brought new problems. Rubbish left along the yayla roads and uncontrolled vehicle traffic are among the complaints most often voiced by local people and nature groups. In recent years the local press has also reported protests by villagers against mineral exploration drilling at Yaylasaray, one of the yayla villages of Taşova. Almost every assessment written about the area stresses that the sustainable protection of the yaylas requires the regulation of grazing, control of construction on the yaylas and raising the awareness of visitors.

Chronology

1257: According to local historical compilations, an Arabic waqf deed of this date relates that the families who founded Boraboy used the Bostan Deresi, south of the present village, as their winter quarters.

1928: The village appears in the records under the name Boraboy.

24 December 1952: By Law No. 5996 the district of Taşova is attached to Amasya; Boraboy thus becomes a village of Amasya province.

1961-1964: The village takes the name Gölbeyli; the date is given differently in the sources, as either 1961 or 1964.

1970: The village's population reaches 2,583 in the census.

27 February 1971: Gölbeyli becomes a township (belde) and a municipality is established.

1978: The area around Lake Borabay is laid out as a forest recreation area.

13 July 1993: The surroundings of the lake are declared a first-degree natural protected area.

30 March 1995: By decision of the Council of Ministers the village takes back the name Boraboy; the decision is published in the Official Gazette on 3 May 1995.

2005: The Boraboy Education, Culture and Solidarity Association is founded.

2010: A phytosociological study of the vegetation of Karaömer Dağı is published.

2013: Boraboy's township status comes to an end; the lake and its surroundings are declared a nature park.

8 August 2026: The 21st Boraboy Lake Festival and Picnic is held.

Bibliography

Academic studies

Official sources

Other sources

Online sources