Five new caves come to light in Turkey’s Black Sea provinces

Five new caves have been discovered in the Küre Mountains National Park, which is located inside the borders of the two Black Sea provinces, Bartın and Kastamonu, local authorities said on Jan. 7.

Speaking to the state-run Anadolu Agency, the head of a local association dedicated to local tourism, Satı Lüftü Okçu, said, "We will finish the reports of these new caves in 15 days and will share them with public."

According to the official website of the park, there are about 100 caves inside the park. Recently, nine researchers from the Anatolian Speleology Group Society (ASPEG), working with Okçu's local association, have discovered three horizontal and two perpendicular caves.  

"Our friends are searching all the way under 26 villages and the Drahna Valley that are inside the national park," Okçu said.

"We aim to find new places to bring them into local tourism," he added.

According to Okçu, ASPEG has been working in the region for quite some time "to explore, research, report and map caves."

The discovery of the new caves is pleasing, he stated, giving an example of a cave named Kemerli, which is inside the park. 

"All of these new findings are new gains for tourism. For example, officials constructed an observation terrace in the Kemerli Cave where people came to watch the view. Any new cave is a new tourism potential."

Küre Mountains National Park is believed to have the highest number of caves after Carlsbad Caverns National Park in the United States.

The deepest cave is Ilgarini cave, with a depth of 250 meters, and the longest cave is Eşekçukur Kuylucu, which is 1.5 kilometers long.

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