Kurşunlu Şelalesi Tabiat Parkı

About Kurşunlu Şelalesi Tabiat Parkı

Kurşunlu Şelalesi Tabiat Parkı is a protected nature park in Aksu, on the northern side of Antalya, built around the Kurşunlu waterfall. The water drops about 18 metres, and below the main fall a chain of seven small pools is linked by smaller cascades. The waterfall sits inside a canyon about 2 km long, and the area was first opened to visitors as a park in 1986. It was declared a nature park on 21 May 1991 and later enlarged to 586.5 hectares. The park is fed by the Kilise, Kalabatlı and Gelinuçtu springs, and the stream continues below the falls as the Kocadere. Red pine (Turkish pine) dominates the woodland, with oriental plane, bay laurel, carob, wild olive, mastic and fig trees scattered through it. Surveys for the park's management plan recorded 261 plant species, 14 of them endemic, and 128 vertebrate species, including 88 bird and 22 mammal species. Facilities listed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry include toilets, a small mosque, children's play equipment, a country restaurant, a kiosk, a viewing terrace, picnic tables, footbridges, a historic water mill and walking paths. Activities listed are nature walks, picnics, photography, observing the plant life, camel rides and angling. The ministry gives opening hours of 08:30 to 17:30. The park is roughly 20 minutes by car from central Antalya along the D400 towards Isparta, and buses and minibuses from Antalya bus station run directly to the waterfall. April to December is described as the best time to visit.