SAKLIKENT GORGE

Saklikent is situated near Toros, between Fethiye and Kas for thousands of years. Situated east of Esencay Valley, Saklikent has not been discovered recently. Villagers living in this region discovered Saklikent almost 20 years ago.

Saklikent Gorge ("Hidden Canyon") is the longest and deepest gorge in Turkey - 18 km long and so steep and narrow that the sun does not penetrate the water, leaving it deliciously icy-cold in the summer. Once inside, water-sculpted limestone canyon walls soar above you. Saklikent is a Canyon which is unbelievably beautiful, mystic and fascinating. You can walk one kilometre through water to reach Saklikent.

In a day in Saklikent, you can walk in the Saklikent Gorge by looking unique beauties in nature & you can embark on an adventure by joining Canyoning activity & you can feel excitement and freshness of the river by rafting & you can shout your freedom by paragliding.

Or, you can discover unique beauties of the nature, or visit historical places. These activities doesn’t require much effort.

At nights, if you want you can listen to the sound of the river which please you greatly by the joy of smoking water-pipe, or you can come to River Bar for a crazy fun.

Remember to dress appropriately - you will get wet, and avoid taking big expensive non-waterproof cameras!

Be sure to bring submersible shoes as you will sometimes be walking in shallow water or mud. Plastic shoes can also be rented River Bar. However, after a while water goes beyond one’ s height. There start the caves. You can see the sky occasionally. You feel yourself on a different planet among high rocks. You don’t feel the Mediterranean’s distressing heat in this Canyon.

A total of 16 caves have been discovered in the rocks, whereas prehistoric man encountered this place and used it for shelter..

There is 700m. difference in height between the entrance and the exit of Saklikent. While walking through Saklikent you generally sink deeply into wet clay. On the way you can take a quick shower under small waterfalls.
But it is impossible to reach to the end of the canyon due to the natural conditions. At the trials up to today, technical teams could reach to the end of the Canyon by the help of security belts.

Located a short drive from Patara, Tlos, Pinara, Xanthos and Letoon; Saklikent Gorge is a 18km canyon which was formed by the sliding of the base plates and the erosion of the water. You can walk thru the natural style bridge and walk in the canyon and even have a mud bath; or if you are more adventurous you can hike further upstream in the ice cold waters of the canyon.
 

Here's the question. How can a gorge 20 km long and hundreds of feet deep that carries vast volumes of snow melt every year be virtually invisible until you're inside it? Here's the plan, you turn up at the right time of year (which varies depending where your attitude to 'activity holidays' lies on the scale between mellow and suicidal), pop on some shoes that you don't mind getting wet and start the ascent. Please don't be put off at this point if I'm making it sound scary. It isn't unless you try and battle ice cold torrents at neck height any time before April. I've 'done the gorge', or at least parts of the 4km that are walk able, at several times of year and with varied groups of companions (some bits under some conditions are very difficult unless you're with the sort of friends who don't mind you standing on their heads). If you want a nice relaxing paddle with the odd high step then I'd go for late summer, after the water has warmed up enough to make falling over fun and while there's still enough of it left to fall over into.

If you don't fancy the hike then the 150 metres of walkway you need to traverse to get to the gorge proper is fun for everybody and the clump of tea houses, some of which serve food, which have been craftily inserted there make a great place to chill out for a while. Particularly pleasant on a summer evening when the coach trippers have headed back to their hotel resorts and you can grab a beer that's been sitting in the running water all day.

It's difficult to do this place justice with photos and descriptions. Much, much fun if you're up for it and very nice if you've had a heavy evening the night before and just want to sit around going 'wow'.