Test out your ninja warrior skills at Forestanbul!

Forestanbul is an outdoor adventure park, spread out over an expansive area of 65,000 square meters in Istanbul's deepest forest, which just happens to be a short ride from the city's major metropolitan areas of Maslak and Sariyer. Situated in the Kurt Kemeri Mesire Alanı of Belgrade Forest, Forestanbul consists of an adventure park with all sorts of adult jungle-gym type challenges, such as swinging from trees, crossing suspension bridges, rock climbing, paintball and even a free-fall jump, just to name a few of the activities available, making this the perfect adventure location for adults and children.

I had the opportunity to speak with Gürgel Özver, the manager of the facilities, who just happens to be one of Turkey's top rock climbing female athletes. Gürgel, who has been sports climbing for 15 years, has also spent six years on Turkey's national team, competed in numerous international competitions and has even placed in the Balkan Championships. Therefore, visitors can rest assured that they are in extremely capable hands as they try to realize some of their wildest dreams by swinging from trees in the forest.

I asked the very attractive and athletic Gürgel who came up with the idea and who brought it to Turkey. "The German Saysu firm is the founder and concept creator of our adventure park. There are quite a number of similar style parks in Germany, but Forestanbul is now Turkey's biggest adventure park," says Gürgel.

Asking Gürgel what kind of activities are available at the adventure park, she tells me, "We offer a number of activities in our adventure park. First and foremost, there is our rope course, but there is also paintball, a climbing wall, a huge swing, free fall, go-karts, bikes and horseback riding activities. In addition, on request we can also provide orienteering, archery and other similar activities."

The adventure park is dominated by an impressive high rope obstacle course that consists of tracks set up between trees. There are 11 different challenges, each of varying levels of difficulty. "Our high rope course has a height limit of between 130 to 200 centimeters. Children under the height of 130 cm need to be accompanied by their parents to use the park," Gürgel adds.

There is also a 13-meter-high rock-climbing wall with four different routes. My personal favorite is the giant swing, perfect for adults at 15 meters high. For the not so faint of heart, there is also a 13-meter high free fall jump as well as paintball, go-karting, horseback riding, orienteering and even a restaurant serving up classic fare of grilled meats, pastas and salads and an expansive picnic area making it the perfect location for a big get together or party. But Forestanbul is also excellent for small groups, families and couples who want to spend time together doing something active and is even a great place to come alone to not only meet similar adventure-seeking souls but also to spice up your workout.

The adventure park is open for visitors in three different sessions. The first, which is also discounted, runs from 9:00 am to 12:30, the next session starts at 13:00-16:30 and the last session runs from 17:00 to 20:30. Trust me, this is ample time in the adventure park as by the time you complete all of the challenges you have had a full exhilarating yet exhausting forest adventure in just a few hours.

For the most part, visitors make reservations before they arrive at Forestanbul because it can get packed sometimes with big groups, especially as they also tend to host corporate bonding events. In any case, the door is always open to those who just show up and want to climb or tour the premises, but it you want to guarantee your entry into the adventure park, make sure to reserve your spot first.

I asked Gürgel just how crowded it can get, to which she says that can easily accommodate 180 people during each session. "However, at the same time, the park's other units are also in active use, there have been times when the number of daily visitors to our adventure park has reached nearly a thousand." I also asked if they accommodated visitors who do not speak Turkish, and Gürgel assures me that "If our guests who don't know Turkish tell us beforehand, we are able to provide English speaking trainers. However, there are always staff members at the park who can help out when it comes to speaking English."

Forestanbul also provides special orienteering courses and I asked Gürgel to tell me a little bit about the activity. "Orienteering is an activity we organize upon request. We place certain targets in points throughout the forest and we mark them on a map we provide for you. After receiving map training, you go off into the forest to try to find the targets we have set up and then people are scored according to the duration."

The facilities also offers short horseback riding tours but soon plans to expand into training and forest tours. Gürgel also explains that they organize birthday parties for all ages and also have a conference hall onsite in the park and an area for corporate activities where companies hold employee team bonding and motivation activities. "Next year we are also going to hold concerts and festivals and will increase our activities for younger kids aged four to eight," Gürgel tells me.

This winter, Forestanbul also plans to hold cooking workshops and other seasonal activities, in the meanwhile, the adventure park and all of its activities will remain in full force throughout the winter, Gürgel assures me adding "stay tuned to our social media pages for future events."

I highly recommend Forestanbul for an excellent day out with family or friends and even or especially yourself, if you want to embark on a series of wonderful physical challenges and learn outdoor survival skills in Istanbul's biggest forest for a healthy outdoor adventure.

Check out http://www.forestanbul.com