On the moon? Mud Volcanoes in Buzau, Romania
Mud Volcanoes at Paclele Mari, in ROMANIA
Am I on the moon?
I am not crazy, I promise. It’s just that for a second there I thought I was teleported on the moon.
What am I talking about? An interesting phenomenon at Berca Mud Volcanoes, on a national reservation in Buzau County in Romania. There are small volcano-like structures (few meters high cones) caused by the eruption of mud and natural gases.
How is this geological phenomenon happening? The gases erupt from around 3 km deep towards the surface of the earth, they go through layers of clay, salty water and mud. They overflow through the mouths of the volcanoes, the gas creates bubbles and the mud dries at the surface, creating a cone shaped structure and a moon-like landscape, with almost no vegetation around (because the soil is very salty and only some rare species of plants can survive). The expelled mud is cold, because it comes from the outer layers of the Earth’s crust and not from the mantle, like real lava volcanoes.
Mud Volcanoes in Buzau, Romania. Paclele Mari
1. PACLELE MARI
The next set of pictures is from Paclele Mari. The entry fee is only 1 euro for adults (for children is even cheaper!) amd here is a free parking space at the entrance. There is also a hotel and restaurant to grab something to eat or drink (not very good looking inside, but the tables in the sun outside were OK).
So, welcome to…the moon?
It looks like it’s on the moon
Paclele Mari. Mud Volcanoes. No life growing here
A gas muddy bubble at Paclele Mari
Cones all around
There was a group of children who came on a trip
A dried bush at Paclele Mari
Empty
The mud overflows the cone and it’s leaking all around
More bubbles. And on the background, the building with a green roof is the hotel/restaurant
A closeup of a little cone
Dried mud on a big cone
Cracks in the mud
This is at Paclele Mari
A nice cone
The last picture from Paclele Mari
2.PACLELE MICI
The next set of pictures is from Paclele Mici, which, as I said earlier, offer a wider landscape, with more and larger cones than in Paclele Mari. The entry fee is also 4 lei (1 Euro)The parking space costs 4 lei (almost 1 Euro) and from there you have to climb on a path for about 5 minute until the entrance. On the left hill there’s a Hollywood-like sign with “Vulcanii Noroiosi” (Mud Volcanoes) 😀 . The weather was perfect for photos, sunny with blue sky..until a large cloud took over.
A bigger crater at Paclele Mici
Beautiful blue sky
Beautiful, isn’t it?..and smelly
Beautiful
Impressive Landscape in Buzau at Mud Volcanoes
Sunny weather in November
Craters and cones
I find this landscape very beautiful
Emptiness
Bubbly gas and mud
Little Cones
This is not a lake. It’s mud coming from underground!
There were 2 people there. Can you see them? they are very small on the left
Bubbly mud
You have a furry friend? Then you can take your pet it with you! I was searching on the Internet whether or not it’s allowed to enter with a dog there (I wanted to take my doggie Miki with me). I couldn’t find any information regarding this subject, as there is no official page of the Muddy Volcanoes. So I “risked” and took her with me anyway. At the entrance there was a big sign: no smoking…no pets allowed…etc. But not to worry! The lady at the entrance was very nice; she just advised me not to let my dog get close to the cones or step into the mud (there was also a big stray dog there who was freely exploring the place).
This is my doggie, Miki. She came with me to visit the Muddy Volcanoes in Buzau. It’s possible to take your furry friend as well, just be careful not to let them step in the mud 🙂
The sign with “Vulcanii Noroiosi” is written on the left hill. This is the beggining of the path that you have to climb to get to Paclele Mici Volcanoes
A cottage next to the parking space
Bye bye Muddy Volcanoes! I liked visiting you. I hope you will get many visitors from now on!
Tip! As you saw in photos, there are 2 locations to see the Mud Volcanoes (Paclele Mari and Paclele Mici) and are located very close to each other (5 minutes by car). I recommend you start the visit with Paclele Mari with smaller cones (it’s the road to the left in the intersection at the Mud Volcanoes – there are signs) and After that, go see Paclele Mici with bigger, more numerous and more impressive cones. Nevertheless, both locations are fantastic!
I hope you enjoyed the photos. Impressive, isn’t it? I liked it very much. Another great reason to visit Romania 🙂
Don’t miss:
- Romanian locations I hope you find some inspiration for your next travel 😉
So many great shots here! Thank you for sharing and explaining what we are looking at 🙂
Whoa, super neat!
Awesome pictures!
Thank you Sue! I am glad you like the pictures. The weather and the light was great, that’s probably the main reason for a good photo. Also the landscape is very interesting 🙂
Your beautiful pictures, nature is beautiful.
This place looks amazing, kind of alien but beautiful. I’m amazed at how you are able to capture the color, texture and depth of each scene with such great composition!
Thanks a lot! the place is great for photography because the sun reflected in the mud, creating great lighting conditions. And we all know how important the light is for photography 🙂 It does look like in a movie with aliens, that’s true 😀
This is quite interesting as I never would have associated this geological phenomenon with Romania. My compliments on your wonderful and informative photography.
This looks amazing!! I am actually after a little advice. I will be teaching in Romania over the summer (exccciiiited) it is somewhere I have always dreamed of going! Bram Stokers descriptions of the countryside as his horse drawn carriage made its way to Dracula’s castle piqued my curiosity, then I looked into it and have yearned to go ever since. Anyway my question is, I am considering whether to stay for 7 or 12 days after my contract ends. I was wondering if it is rather cheap out there and also whether 7 days will actually be enough time? Its not that much of a difference I guess but I am on a little bit of a tight deadline.
hi! First of all congrats for the teaching! Where exactly will you go? in what city?
Second: Bram Stoker’s novel is not something to rely on when imagining Romania 😀 Dracula’s castle is just a fiction of the book and the Bran Castle that foreigners think is Dracula’s Castle, has nothing to do with the reality (more info on google or wikipedia)
Third: regarding your question about how many days to stay..I assume you want to see more places in Romania? You can visit the capital, Bucharest (https://photocory.com/category/bucharest ) for 2 days at least, maybe go to Bran Castle and Peles Castle (https://photocory.com/peles-castle-romania ) , if you like the mountains we have plenty, you can go see the Sphinx (https://photocory.com/the-sphinx-romania)
I think 7-10 days are enough to see some nice places here and there. Romania is a big country so you have to pick a region, because it’s impossible to see it all in a week. I hope this helps you. Feel free to keep in touch if you have more questions! 🙂
Thanks very much for that :D. Yeah I read something about him actually wanting to base Dracula on a mountain in Romania or something like that I cant remember exactly.. although I will still visit the castle. I will be teaching in Brasov which looks amazing!