Eğirdir Lake, a hidden natural wonder in the south

Located within the borders of Isparta in southern Turkey, Eğirdir Lake takes the mantle of the most stunning scenic areas in the Lakes District.

A tectonic lake, 482 square kilometres in size, Eğirdir Lake is recorded as the fourth largest lake in Turkey, however, it is suggested it now holds second spot as a result of a shrinking of Lakes Tuz and Beyşehir recently.

With an average depth of 14 meters and length of 50 km, the Eğirdir Lake is also called “Yeni Renkli” by local residents, as it takes on different colors depending on the time of day. Having a link to the smaller Lake Kovada in the south, Eğirdir Lake is also notable for having two small islands, both tourist attractions, Can Ada and Yeşilada.

Apart from generating electricity, the lake is also of primary importance as a popular tourist attraction.

“The number of tourists visiting the Eğirdir district in 2007 was 31,112, most of whom were from Israel, Germany and Japan, while this number was already reached in the first 9 months of 2008, with most visitors being Israelis, German and English,” Mustafa Serttaş, branch manager of Isparta Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, told the Hürriyet Daily News.

All the hotels and guesthouses in Eğirdir work at full capacity, especially during the summer months, noted Serttaş, who also added “the Eğirdir Lake plays a distinctive role in that it is hand in hand with the Eğirdir Alpine Commando Unit located on the steeps.

Fishing and hunting forbidden“In order to facilitate the lake to refresh its live population, it is strictly forbidden to hunt and fish crawfish and silver carp in the lake for the duration of four years. Our institute also conducts an extensive project to increase the live population”, said Dr. Ramazan Küçükkara, head of Eğirdir Fishery Products Research Institute.

Highlighting that their project never pursued financial gain, Küçükkara also pointed out that the Eğirdir Lake was used for the irrigation of nearby land, while there was no electric generation for now.

Wrong administrative applicationsOn the other hand, some local authorities agree that the lake is losing popularity as a result of poor administrative applications. One of these names is Ömer Şengöl, Eğirdir mayor, who is of the opinion the Eğirdir Lake is much more beautiful and scenic than those in Switzerland, however wrong administrative applications do not facilitate the lake to rise in popularity.

“The foremost problem with the lake is the excessive protectionism by the authorities. It is such that they almost do not want to share the lake with others for the fear of harming it. However, we could both protect the lake of 3 million years, and sustain this endearment; there is no need to obstruct its tourism potential”, said Şengöl. It is necessary to take rational decisions for the sustainability of this potential, he added.

Another problem is the deficient bed capacity and social facilities in the district, which has 8 hotels, 20 guesthouses just with a capacity of 800 beds. This hinders the growth of the lake as a tourist destination, noted Şengöl, who also stated that there has been ‘tourism culture’ in Eğirdir for years, which ensures visitors to enjoy a comfortable and high quality holiday. We had many sophisticated hotels here back in the 1960s when such highly popular hotspots today as antalya did not have this much popularity.

Moreover, the data obtained from the Eğirdir Tourism Bureau shows that the Eğirdir Lake, which had a Blue Flag for many years, does not own one now. The lake has also been suffering from a substantial decrease in the water level recently.

Some other tourist destinations in the Eğirdir district include Kovada Lake, Yazılı Canyon, Eğirdir Castle, Dündarbey Medresesi, Hızırbey Mosque, Yeşil Ada and Ayastefanos Church, which all are worth seeing.