Spirit in the sky: Turkish Highline Carnival

Adrenalin junkies from all over the world are gathering in southern Turkey for this year's Turkish Highline Festival where they will ‘literally' walk on a tightrope
Starting on March 2, the 7th Turkish Highline Carnival will be taking place in Antalya's Geyikbayırı region for what will be a week-long festival in which slackliners from all over the world will be coming to test their skills on a dozen or so highlines set up in limestone crags with views of the Mediterranean. For slackliners, rock climbers and spectators, it couldn't get any better. But wait, it does! That is because as tradition goes, many of the highliners will also be performing in costume.

This year's Turkish Highline Carnival will be the seventh edition and will take place from Saturday, March 2 to Saturday, March 9 at the crags located in Geyikbayırı, which is a village located less than 30 kilometers from Antalya's city center. Highlining is slacklining done at elevated levels, while slacklining is similar to the art of walking a tightrope. At this festival, organized by the Turkish Slackline Association, there will be 20 to 24 highlines set up between 15 to 100 meters in elevation.

The base camp and sponsor is Josito Camp, but there are a number of camp sites that service the rock climbing crowd, as Geyikbayırı is easily considered Turkey's top rock climbing destination and is well known worldwide in the climbing scene. As many highliners also tend to be rock climbers, there will also be rock climbing taking place on the sidelines. As for the accommodation options, don't be swayed by the venues being referred to as camp grounds because they also offer bungalows, guesthouses and even chalet options. All the lines are within walking distance of all camps, so once you are in Geyikbayırı you will not need to use a car.