The Volcanic Lakes of Karapınar

Meke Gölü is a lake formed by a volcanic eruption with the cone of a later volcano rising out of the middle of it. The black and red patchwork of lava rock rising in a strange cone seems other-worldly in contrast to the flat green plains that surround the lake. While years ago the lake completely surrounded the inner cone, leading to people refering to it as the ‘mavi boncuk’ (the evil eye bead) of nature, the water level has dropped drastically connecting the inner cone to the shore. While this is a shame in some regards it has also brought about another level of strangeness to the site. For whatever reason, the smaller ponds that are now left over are all different colours and would even seem to have different mineral make-up. When I last visited there were deep brown, pink, and white pools. Some stank while others didn’t. Some were so full of minerals that the waters edge was covered in crystals and any tuft of grass or stick that was in the water would become coated with crystals. Make sure to drive around the lake and view it from the edge of the crater and also go down to the waters edge and explore before climbing the martian landscape of the cone!

Despite being just a couple kilometres away from Meke Gölü, Acı Gölü looks completely different. Rather than lava rocks of red and white, the lake is ringed by strangely brittle cliffs of black and white zebra stripes set in a wide and low circular crater of tumbled boulders and green scrubland popular with grazing herds. From what we could see, people come here to swim though I have no idea if the strange mineral rich waters that leave behind black and white striped mineral cliffs are safe to enter. Personally we were totally satisfied to stay out of the water and just take in the amazing landscape that we found ourselves in!

Besides these two lakes there are a number of other sites that may be worth visiting though information is very limited. There appears to be a small patch of desert-like sand dunes as well as a number of other interesting sink-hole and crater lakes. Beyond this the local government has posted a list of ancient city-mounds with nearly forty entries! If you find any more information about these places or anything else you think we should see we’d love to hear from you!