Başpınar Nature Park

Overview

Guide

Başpınar Nature Park lies in the countryside of the Aksu district of Isparta, seven kilometres from Aksu itself. It was declared a nature park by the Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs on 11 July 2011. The park sits in the valley of a branch of the Aksu stream, east of the Sorgun dam, at an altitude of 1,365 metres, and covers about 39.5 hectares.

Most people come to it as one stop on a nine-kilometre walking route that starts in the centre of Aksu and runs through the Zindan Cave, past trout farms and through the park itself before reaching the Sorgun dam. There is no steep gradient along most of it.

Coming into Aksu from the direction of Eğirdir, the walk begins at a fork about five hundred metres past the government house on the main street, where you turn left to the north. After some seven hundred metres a fish farm and a cemetery come into view and the route turns right to the east.

This road leads to the Zindan Cave with fine views of the valley on the way. The cave is closed in winter because it fills with water; in other seasons it is open during working hours, and information about visiting can be had from the district special administration office of the Aksu district governorship. Past the cave the road winds along the valley floor, keeps offering views, and takes walkers past trout farms; at the forks along the way you keep straight on.

Başpınar Nature Park lies on this road and makes a suitable place to rest or to spend a day out. Beyond the park the road runs level for a while and then climbs steeply to the Sorgun dam.

There are no endemic plants in the park. The woods are of black pine, Türkiye oak, aspen and juniper, with a few lime, ash, plane and cedar among them. Wild boar, wild goat, wolf, fox, jackal, squirrel, hare, stone marten, badger, weasel, hedgehog, mole and pond terrapin live here, and lynx are seen rarely. Bats live here too, and among the birds are the dipper, owls, the great spotted woodpecker, the cuckoo, the kestrel and the nightjar.