Saklıkent Canyon is one of the deepest canyons in the world and is a natural beauty close to Fethiye-TURKEY. It is 300 metres deep and 18 kilometres long.
The canyon is between two mountains. When we first visited the canyon, it was raining on one of them and they closed the entrance to the canyon because of the flood risk. Now you may get a little idea about the current of the river.
A week later we visited the canyon once again and this time we were able to get in. But there was a minor problem, I had dislocated my knee a few days ago. I was considering not going deep into the canyon and just to hang out in the shallows and enjoy the view. But I removed my knee guard and hubbled into the canyon. Boy, would it be a huge mistake if I didn’t!
The first challenge was the freezing cold spring water at the entrance. I found myself a rock and settled on it and refused to go in the water for a while because it was so cold that it actually hurt my feet and my legs. But the really cold part is at the beginning, once you push through the freezing water and enter the canyon the water temperature becomes a lot more tolerable.
There are parts where the water is knee high and current is weak. And there are other parts where the current is strong- strong enough to push you forwad that you feel the need to grab onto something to not to fall- and the river is deep. It’ll soak your shorts and you need to lift your backpack high to keep your equipment dry.
You need to walk narrow paths and climb the rocks sometimes to pass. It is pretty slippery from the beginnig because of the mud and when you combine this with strong current it is quite possible to fall. I suggest you to wear sea shoes, if you don’t have one, they sell and rent the shoes at the canyon as well.
After a few hours of walking, climbing and trying to decide whether to go a little bit further, there came a point where we needed to get into neck high water. We weren’t in our bathing suits and was pretty tired so we decided to go back.
Confronting with all of these difficulties with a dislocated knee was a little crazy and pretty hard at some parts. But seeing the miraculous natural formations and the beauty the rocks offer to you, seeing less and less sunlight the more you go deep in and the sunlight peaking through the rocks and creating beautiful light beams, seeing the rocks change colour with each step was worth it.
The Saklikent Canyon makes you feel so small and remind you that you are a part of a nature that is far greater than any of us.