Karapinar Crater Lakes (Konya)

Close to the township of Karapinar, 95 km east of Konya, lies one of the world's natural wonders the Mekedag Salt Crater Lakes and which can easily be reached by a tourist coach, as it takes you within 2 km. along the Konya-Eregli highway in a southerly direction.

The Meke salt crater lake, beautiful enough to be included in the world's geomorphology literature is an example of a Caldera. "Caldera" is a world of Spanish origin but is it now used worldwide to describe a volcano with two mouths one inside the craters of volcanoes and which rise up. In the case of the Meke salt lake a second eruption took place inside the first giving rise to a second mouth within the crater lake itself. Seen from the air it resembles Mexican hat, with a lake forming a ring around a peak in the centre.

The Turkish Monopolies administration used to extract salt from the Mekedag salt crater lake and the ruins of the ancient salt mine can still be seen. The water level of the lake is 981 m. the height of the second small crater inside the large crater is 1120 m. The crater's circumference is approximately 4 km. Facing the high plateau village of Karapinar (Kurtul plateau) which is a left turn after traveling 6 km. along the Eregli main road, is an earth road going south and which leads to the shore of the crater. As trucks use this road to load building material from the shore of the crater it is in good condition.