Canyoning in Harmony Canyon (Goynuk, Türkiye)

On the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, near Kemer, on the Goynuk River there is a wonderful canyon. Actually, it has the same name as the river. But it’s difficult to promote a place with such a dissonant name, and the local tourist industry has come up with a new name for the canyon - Harmony Canyon. They’ve made something like an active recreation center here - you can swim in a mountain river, ride a zip line, or climb rocks. But the main entertainment is, of course, canyoning.

Canyoning is like walking along the bottom of a canyon. Simply due to the fact that the bottom is a mountain river (not a stormy one), the walk becomes quite a fun and sporting event.

In order to go canyoning here, you must rent a wetsuit, life jacket, helmet and special slippers. Without this, you simply will not be allowed on the route. True, the guards do not sit here all year round and before the start of the tourist season it is quite possible to get into Harmony Canyon for free.

Another thing is that in high water it won’t be comfortable here without a wetsuit, but with a helmet you feel much calmer while overcoming obstacles.

The coldest and deepest section is at the beginning of the route. Here you need to swim, and if it weren’t for a wetsuit and vest, it would be scary (that your legs would cramp from the cold). But then the beauty begins.

The most photogenic place on the route is the Hanging Stone. This is a house-sized boulder that is stuck between the canyon walls tens of meters above the ground.

It’s true that it won’t be easy to photograph this beauty. After all, the camera needs to be carried dry somehow. These pictures were taken with a waterproof camera, but just in case, we carried it not in a wetsuit pocket, but on our heads, in a helmet. As it turned out, this saves from river waves, but not from fogging.

We enter Harmony Canyon on the third day of our Lycian Way hike. Maybe you are with us too?

Kirill Yasko, June 2014.