The meaning of spelunking is the recreational sport of exploring caves. It is an activity small groups or the entire family can enjoy. Turkey just so happens to be well known for its wondrous and majestic underground spelunk-able paradises.
With vast underground lakes, churches and cisterns, stalactites and stalagmites, these caves are an entirely different world just waiting for you and your family to explore! Some caves and caverns carry dangers of spelunking, which require special training and equipment to explore. Rest assured, the caves that are for professionals are clearly marked and the others will have you exploring with tour guides that are specially trained for spelunking for beginners.
Carbonate rocks underlie approximately one third of Turkey. The intense karstification (from the root word karst, which is irregular limestone in which erosion has produced underground streams and caverns) is spread almost all over Turkey (but particularly found in the regions of the Taurus Mountain Range, in Northwest Anatolia, in Southeastern Anatolia, and in Konya closed basin) - both high and low altitude areas. There are approximately 40,000 known caves and caverns with some of the largest and extensive in the world.
The Taurus region is the largest karst region in Turkey, starting close to the Aegean coast, going through the northeast of the Mediterranean sea to the western border of Iran and over eastern Anatolia. The width of these carbonate units can stretch over 120 miles long with peaks of the limestone ridges as high as 9800 feet.
Central Anatolian region, located in the north of Taurus belt, is a closed basin bounded together with towering mountains over 3900 feet in elevation. Recrystallized hard limestone, which bounded the basin on the south and west, are the extension of Taurus.
The northwest Anatolia and Thrace limestone blocks covers limited areas when compared with other regions with Eocene limestone.
As one, a group, or an entire family, come and get lost in the world of spelunking here in the ideal country of Turkey.
