İnsuyu Mağarasın

Water of the cavern - Insuyu Cave

Useful Information

Location:	İnsuyu Yolu, 15000 Çatağıl/Burdur Merkez/Burdur. From Burdur center 11 km on D650 to Antalya, turn left 900 m to cave signposted. (37.659409, 30.375224)
Open:	All year daily 8:30-18:30. [2023]
Fee:	Adults TRL 20, Children TRL 10. [2022]
Classification:	Karst Cave. river cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=8,100 m, A=1,230 m asl.
Guided tours:	L=597 m, D=30 min. V=65,378/a [2011] V=50.000/a [2017]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	İnsuyu Mağarası, İnsuyu Yolu, 15000 Çatağıl/Burdur Merkez/Burdur, Tel: +90-248-277-20-77. E-mail:
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

1952	cave discovered ny Temuçin Aygen.
1965	opened to the public.
2000	cave restored under the patronage of Governor Necati Develioglu, son-et-lumiere installed.
2016-2018	cave renovated, new light system.

Description

İnsuyu Mağarasın (Insuyu Cave) is a river cave, visited by boat it has a sequence of nine lakes which once made the cave quite worthwhile. Unfortunately, the surrounding plain is quite fertile but requires irrigation, as a result, numerous wells were drilled during the last twenty years and the irrigation caused a massive lowering of the water table. So the cave is now dry, the lakes are gone, and the boats are removed. The remaining cave is unfortunately quite unspectacular, despite the new light system.

"The most appealing feature of Burdur is Insuyu cave, the second largest cave of the world. It is 12 kilometers from Burdur. There are millions of stalactites and stalagmites as well as nine pools in the cave which is 2.150 meters long (but only 597 meters are open to visitors today) and it is good for wandering in little boats. Since the water in the cave is curing for diabetes, it is widely visited by diabetics."
Burak Sansal, allaboutturkey.com

We suppose there is also a frog which transforms into a prince when kissed, a hidden pirate treasure, the last resting place of the ark of the covenant, and of course the axis of the world goes right through the last chamber. The website of Burak Sansal is quite informative in most cases, but the cited text is a condensed concatenation of the weirdest and most ludicrous lies about the cave. Most of them are quite common, while some nonsensical details show some creativity. For example, any other cave in Turkey heals asthma, while this one heals diabetes.

The cave is the first show cave of Turkey, opened to the public in 1965 with support by the Governor Vefik Kitapcigil, the presdident of the Turkish Cave Research Organization Dr. Temucin Aygen, and the geologist M. Nihat Coscun. Almost any other show cave was actually opened between the 1990s and 2010, as a result of increasing tourism. Unfortunately, the country lacks an institution which collects such information and publishes reliable articles, and as a result most statements are only cave guide lore at the end of the day. The cave was restored in 2000 with the patronage of Governor Necati Develioglu. The electric light was renovated, creating a son-et-lumiere, but with traditional light bulbs, as LEDs did not yet exist. As a result, the light system was again updated 2016-2018. The result is an "odd, sickly orange or green throughout the cave", according to recent visitors.

Another problem is the blatant lack of actual information and explanation of numerous quite spectacular features. The lack of water revealed spectacular solutional forms which are not explained. The entrance is an artificial tunnel, but the natural entrance is a now dry karst spring which is nevertheless quite interesting, but not part of the tour. It’s probably a good thing that most visitors will never see this spot. There is a limestone block which was obviously cut from the massive limestone with a saw, which cut through a small cave with a pillar. This cave is quite spectacular, but the geotope is not explained, there is no sign, and no protection, it was just dropped on the grass between some bushes. We have no idea if this all is a result of ignorance, stupidity or laziness. Its also possibly a result of the tourists, which seem to be more interested in a selfie with the gate with the name Insuyo written on, than the cave. Yet we tend to think that they come to the place to see something extraordinary and this chance is squandered. By not using the chance to inform the visitors about caves, speleogenesis and the environmental problems of pumping groundwater, the site loses its educational character and becomes an annoying tourist trap like thousands others.

Visitors are equipped with completely useless helmets. Then they enter the cave through a turnstile and an artificial tunnel, which was built in 1962. The tours are unguided, which unfortunately tempts some visitors to leave the path and hug a stalactite for a good selfie. The pictures on google are quite sad.