Summary
Even when it’s sunny, warm, and relaxed, there are times when we look for dark, cold danger. Which, along with the kind of breathtaking beauty that fills up your phone’s picture gallery in an instant, helps explain why the Saklikent Gorge is so popular.
Saklikent is in the southwest of Turkey, close to the “Turquoise Coast.” This is a beautiful stretch of the Mediterranean where most tourists get off their planes and spend a week or two relaxing on the beach before going home.
Some do go further inland, and after less than an hour of driving, they reach one of Turkey’s most amazing natural sights: a tall, narrow crack in a steep cliff face through which a blue, icy river flows down from the Taurus Mountains.
This is Turkey’s biggest canyon. It’s about 18 km long (11 miles) and has walls that are up to 300 m (984 feet) high. People also call it the “Lost City” or the “Hidden Valley.” It’s in its own national park.
When summer rolls around, it’s a magnet for tourists and day trippers who congregate at its busy lower reaches for a fun splash in its chilly cascades, a waterside kebab, a quick marvel at the steep canyon sides and then a ride down the river in a rubber tube.
Plenty of day tours offer Saklikent on their itineraries, with departures from the coastal cities of Ankara, Fethiye or Kaş, and smaller resorts in between. Most don’t hang around for long.
High risk
Saklikent doesn’t say it’s risk-free. There are big warning signs both before and after you enter that say bad things are coming. “Children can walk the first 500 meters of the canyon’s walking path as long as they are with an adult,” they say. “Going further comes with security risks.”
Things are very bad, even for adults. People who go upstream more than a mile without a guide or the right gear “face a high risk for the safety of life and property.” Some people may not want to explore because of these kinds of signs, but others may see them as a challenge.
At the entry to the tunnel, everyone is having a good time. Guests pay less than $2 for tickets and then walk along a narrow crack in the rock on a wooden path that hangs over the moving water. In the sky, a huge Turkish flag moves with the wind.
This soon opens up into a large natural pool with drops of icy water coming off of all sides. A lot of people sit at camp tables and drink and eat food. Their bare feet are in the cold river, and their hands are around a hot Turkish tea.
There are delighted whoops and squeals from those horsing around in the benign torrents, enjoying a chilly dousing before sitting out in the sunshine to dry off. Crowds build up as the day marches on. It’s a fun, happy place – but only in good weather.
“In winter, when it rains, all this is kaput,” says Salih Demirel, one of the guides who help visitors explore Saklikent’s higher sections. He describes raging torrents smashing through the picnic area after heavy rains.
For that reason Saklikent is best avoided outside of late spring to early fall. Even in summer months, it is advisable to check the weather forecast as downpours can create problems – two people died here in July 2014 after a rare summer flash flood.
Visitors are also urged to wear hard hats, which are available to rent, though few do. Appropriate shoes are a must and are also offered for hire, but anything suitable for clambering over rocks and wading through water and mud will do.
Raging torrents
After that, things get tricky and amazing.
In some spots, the murky, cloudy water goes all the way across the gully, so you have to walk through it without knowing how deep it is. Without fail, people’s legs fall into holes that are flooded, bags fall, and kids who are being carried high on their parents’ shoulders grip tightly onto their parents’ faces as they cry.
Sometimes the marble and limestone walls get too close, and people have to crawl under huge, scary rocks that fell from above and got stuck in the space between them. It can also get dark because sunshine has a hard time getting through the growing crack.
After going for a couple of kilometers, the path leads into what looks like a room. To get further, you have to climb over a series of dangerous rock ledges, often with water running over them, and swim through cold, deep pools.
This is what the signs said would happen.
This is where most people come back. If people want to go ahead, they should use one of the guides, who are often waiting here to pick up customers. You don’t have to have one, but it might come in handy on this possibly dangerous landscape.
An important part of the canyon is that the guides know where the water is too deep and where the danger spots are.
“There are a lot of accidents, and we’ve had to carry people out who broke their legs.”
It’s easy to see why they would keep going with Demirel leading the way. It is already very dangerous because of the steep rock walls on both sides and the fast-moving water all around. You don’t even have to crawl up a waterfall while looking for hand or footholds.
Demirel shows you where the secret ropes are and helps you get up the harder parts. To keep people safe, he also finds safe ways to cross swimming pools. At some point, the path leads into what appears to be a large cave that was formed by huge forces over millions of years and is full of huge rocks.
The end of the road is in sight, after one last climb over the rocks and a splash through the last small pool.
People who make it here will find a small stream and a low cave opening that looks like there’s more to come, but you can’t go any further. You can explore the upper parts of the canyon, but not from this point.
The trip to this point takes about an hour and is sometimes scary, but also exciting and calming. It’s just as exciting to walk back down, which takes 30 minutes and has many of the same problems.
When you finally get to the crowds near the entrance, the return of warmth and light feels like a victory lap. Most of those people will never know the Hidden Valley’s real secrets.