İncirliin Mağarası

Useful Information

Location:	Gökçeler Canyon, Milas district, Muğla Province. From Gökçeler follow road to Kuzyaka, after 1.2 km turn left, 1.4 kmto the cave. (37.189722, 27.761944)
Open:	All year daily -18. [2020]
Fee:	Adults TRL 5, Children (0-12) free. [2020]
Classification:	Karst cave
Light:	Incandescent Electric Light System Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=450 m, H=2-20 m, T=17 °C, H=85%.
Guided tours:	L=155 m. only V=20,000/a [2017]
Photography:	not allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	İncirliin Mağarası, Gökçeler, 48200 Milas/Muğla, Tel: +90-530-391-97-91.
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

27-FEB-2008	declared a 1st degree Archeological and 1st degree Natural Site by the Muğla Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board.
2013	study by the Milas District Governorship, begin of development.
APR-2016	opened to the public as a show cave.
DEC-2016	archaeological excavations by the Muğla University.

Description

İncirliin Mağarası (Figs Cave) is located on the rim of Gökçeler Kanyonu. It was developed as a show cave with trails and electric light since 2013. On the canyon rim a wooden hut which serves as ticket office and base camp was erected. It has a cafe named Kayon Teras Kafe (Canyon Terrace Cafe) with a view on the canyon. Also trails to the cave entrance and into the gorge were built. Its a 450 m walk to the cave entrance, which takes about 10 minutes. The problem is the way back after the cool cave tour, which is uphill in the heat. There were once 14 water mills in the canyon, three of them still exist. The canyon has 30 caves, but İncirliin is the only one open to the public.

The huge cave entrance, 10 m wide and 8 m high, was used as a shelter. Excavations revealed remains from the 6th century BC. But the oldest remains in the cave seem to be 8,000 years old. Quite exceptional is the discovery of human remains in the Gösteri Salonu (Performance Hall), which is 155 m from the entrance. The human and animal bones, stone tools and ceramic materials were found during the excavations carried out under the consultancy of Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University Archeology Department faculty members. The Milas Museum Directorate teams also conduct archaeological excavations.

The cave is praised for the wealth of speleothems including stalactites, stalagmites, and rimstone pools. Most chambers are separated by a several meters height difference from the next one. As a result it was necessary to install staircases, one of them is a quite spectacular steel spiral staircase. The Gösteri Salonu (Performance Hall) in the middle of the cave is the lowest part 7 m below the entrance. The Damlataş Galerisi (Dripstone Gallery) at the end of the show cave is 12 m above the entrance.

This cave is rather special in various ways. There are no stories told about being the longest cave of the world, being the only one of its kind, and about curing respiratory diseases during the tour. There are actually guided tours and photography is forbidden, and the guides check this. The guides do not speak english, and as far as we know there are no leaflets or audioguides in foreign languages. They have a working website, but it contains only a youTube video. The other content is less interesting than most other pages on the web. We were quite stunned, but then we discovered the coloured light in yellow, blue and green and were reassured.