Dupnisa Mağarası

Useful Information

Location:	Strandzha Mountain Range, 5.5 km southwest of Sarpdere village. The only road to the cave starts at Sarpdere. (41.840654, 27.555469)
Open:	16-MAY to 14-NOV . [2021]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System
Dimension:	L=3,150 m, VR=70 m, A=345 m asl. V=120,000/a [2013]
Guided tours:	L=450 m, VR=61 m.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Tel: +90-.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

2005	opened as a show cave.

Description

Dupnisa Mağarası (Dupnisa Cave) is located near the village Kırklareli. The cave was used for Sparagmos, an ancient Dionysian Ritual. There is a close connection to Dionysos, the god of wine, as the name of Dionysus is believed to be derived from Mount Nysa, which is right above the cave of Dupnysa. This is one of the caves which is actually named cave. To be more exact, the Bulgarian word Dupnitsa (Дупница) translates hole or cave. Bulgaria is only a few kilometers to the north. In other words, Dupnisa Magarasi actually translates Cave Cave, obviously an unintended tautology.

The mountain ridge at the border between Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece is called Rhodopes, consists of marble and is full of cave. There are numerous show caves in the area in all three countries. However, the Turkish part which is called East Thrace is by far the smallest and this cave is actually the only show cave on the Turkish side.

The cave is rather big with three parts in two separate levels. Each part has its own entrance and they are all connected. The cave is entered through the lower level, a cave which is called Sulu (Wet) and the entrance is at an altitude of 345 m asl. The cave river emerges through the entrance and is a tributary to the Rezve deresi (Rezve River), the frontier between Turkey and Bulgaria. It has erosional forms but only little speleothems. After an ascent of 60 m the visitors reach the upper level which is dry or in speleologic term fossil. It means that no river flows through the cave and so it does not grow any more, but also that there is no river which could destroy the speleothems and thus has much bigger speleothems. The second cave is named Kuru (Dry) and has an abundance of speleothems. Stalactites, stalagmites, stalagnates, and any kind of flowstones, are reaching massive proportions. The tour ends at the second entrance at 406 m asl, 61 m higher, and visitors return to the cave entrance on a trail through the forest in 15 minutes.

The third cave named Kız (Maiden) is also in the upper level. It is not part of the tour, as it is a bat sanctuary. It is home to approximately 60,000 bats of eleven different species. The bats are also the reason why the cave is closed during the winter months.