Turkey
Caverns
Caves of Tokat
Kunduz Cave
Location: Tokat, Artove District
The cave is located
at the vicinity of Yesilyurt, at a distance of 4 km. to district center,
and is 1500 m. away from the road and at 300
meters height inside the borders of Kunduz Village.
Properties: The entrance of the cave is at the shape of a round archway
and the cave is covered with stones and soil. The cave was formerly used
as a mint. Necessary investigations and information was not carried yet.
Indere (Ballica) Cave
Location: Tokat, Pazar District
The cave is located
inside the borders of Ballica Village located at 6 km. southeast of Pazar
and is 600 meters southeast of the village.
Properties: Ballica Cave, having two layers above the entrance and five
layers below the entrance is a seven - layered beautiful cave. There
are small ponds, drippings, dry natural pools and small polls in every
layer. The amount of mud and wet clay is high although there is no water
flow at each layer floor. This fact makes climbing and descending difficult.
The respiration is interestingly easy inside the cave.
The entrance of the cave expands in the direction of east - west upside down. After 45 - 50 meters of the entrance a wide saloon is reached. This saloon contains remains (plastered walls, plastered material depot etc.) displaying that this cave is used until the historic periods. After this point the cave expands into directions altering between north and northeast with a gallery of 25-30 meters. There are chambers on left and right sides of the gallery and the gallery finally leads into a big saloon. There are numerous stalactites, stalagmites, pillars and water ponds inside this saloon. The cave expands to upper layers after branching into north and northwest as two different layers. This section which is accepted as the first layer is 150 meters away from the entrance.
The second layer which is 10 meters below in the first shape of a large saloon. There are stalactite, stalagmite and pillars present inside this saloon. There is a descend to the third layer at the end of the second. The third and fourth layers contain pillars, stalactite and stalagmites and displays a breath taking scenes for the visitors. The shortest distance between the end of the fourth layer and the entrance of the cave is about 350 meters. There is a lake at the 5th layer.