“The Brush on the Saltings”, THE SALT MOUNTAIN from Romania, UNIQUE in the

world
Touristical Attraction
At the end of the Ursu Lake from Sovata – the greatest and the warmest salt lake in the
world – there is another unique place in the world, namely “The Brush on the Saltings”,
that is a salty lake covered with vegetation, including trees.

A similar place exists only in Israel, near the Dead See, but near this lake the vegetation
does not exist, and the area is empty and, from this point of view, the Brush on the
Saltings from Sovata is unique on the planet, being surrounded by an extremely rich
vegetation.

In order to treasure the uniqueness of the area, the Sovata Townhall signed with the
Central Regional Development Agency, on the 26th of July 2011, the financing contract
for the project “The Road of the Sovata Salt – Rehabilitation and extension of the
infrastructure of visiting the natural reservation of Ursu Lake and the brush on the
Saltings”, which is under execution and will be ended this month and will give the
possibility of the tourists to visit the area, but, in the same time, to protect it.

The Mayor of the Sovata city, Peter Ferenc, said the on the “Salt Road” there is the
Reservation “The Ursu Lake and the Brush on the Saltings”, which lays over a surface of
79 hectares, comprises two arranged lakes, Ursu și Aluniș, as well as other unarranged
four lakes, respectively Roșu, Verde, Paraschiva and Mierlei Lakes. The Salt road will
have wooden paths, pontoons and pavilions, so that the tourists can admire the only brush
in the world, as well as the salty unarranged lakes, without affecting the reservation in
any kind.

“This is our last project on POR which should end this year, on july, and I hope that the
builder will comply with the period contracted so that on the 20th on July, when the
contract ends, the Salt Road will be handed over. At the moment, one works intensely,
two alleys dedicated to study will be placed around the lake – the Salt alley and the Bear
alley – practically two paths which will pass through certain zones from the protected
alleys, as panels which will describe what this protected area means, what this region of
the salt means.

Certainly, there will be also certain panels about the flora and the fauna of the region,
with explanations about what exactly is the element which makes this region different
than other regions. We know very well that this is a unique region, not only in Europe,
even in the entire world, because nowhere near the salt heliothermal lakes one cannot
meet a such an abundant vegetation. Therefore, we are unique, from this point of view
and we considered that it is very important to also explain tourists this phenomenon, to
take greatest care of this regions, of this forest which is situated near the Ursu Lakes. Of
course, it is important that the tourists to use exactly these paths and not to walk near the
entire places, therefore we should create better conditions for walking through this paths
and near these forests.
The lakes which cannot be used for bathing shall be closed, but there will also exist the
possibility of walking around them, and the existing salty cliffs will have to be
illuminated, because those people who take a walk at night should be able to see how
these salt cliffs look like”, said the mayor of Sovata, Peter Ferenc.

The Mayor showed that, in this manner, one tries to create an even bigger recreation
space for tourists, not only for those who come to treatment – because Sovata is
renowned by its salty waters, by sapropel clay, by its walking places and recreation
places.

“This is what we want to develop through this project, so that the tourists which come to
the Sovata treatment to have possibilities of walking through a very healthy area, because
the air is rich in salt, at the middle of nature, of the woods, where the walk and then the
rest on a bench is highly important for those who visit us”, said Peter Ferenc.
At the moment, the physical stage of the Salt Road Construction is of 80%, and the
material one is of 60%, as the public illumination part and the video control part have not
been illuminated, as it requires a great sum.

Now it is very important for one to build, as quickly as possible, the illumination of the
region and the video control, because, from a valuable point of view, it is large enough
and it is also very important to be used as quickly as possible. We also have delays at a
tower (watch tower, w.n.) of 28 metres high, with visibility over the region.
Unfortunately, this tower, because of the salty lake, should be moved, therefore, it will
probably not be moved until the 20th of July, and we should make an extension of the
contract. We found a place where the drillings allow for the construction of the tower,
they will be at the end of an alley of study, that of the salt, by we hope that, at the middle
of the summer, it will be ended and used by the tourists”, said Peter Ferenc, who
specified that the total value of the project is of 1.100.000 euro.

The General Director of SC Balneocliamaterica SA, Sovata, Fulop Nagy Janos, noticed
the importance of this project for the station, especially because of the fact that, in
Romania, the balneoclimatheric stations lack the amusement possibilities, a fact which
makes the companions of those who come to treatment to get bored.

“Generally speaking, a pacient who comes for treatment problems, comes accompanied
by husband/wife or other family members, and the persons who do not come with
treatment purpose must spend their time somewhere. And, of course, to also have a
pleasant stay and a pleasant, active vacation. Well, for these people, from 10 to 15 years,
something has begun to happen in the balneal stations of Romania. We, the Sovata, are
also part of this, with different efforts made, in the first place, by the public local
administration and this is where this project is framed, the Salt Path.
I think that it is benefic for all the tourists who come to Sovata to be able to walk through
this path, placed around the lakes and the protected natural area, which is an area of 79
wood hectares and the water gloss, which is named “The Ursu Lake and the Brush on the
Saltings”, natural protected area. Entering this natural protected area, the people who visit
it can realize how is there so much salt, a very salty land and rich vegetation in the same
space, I might even add unusual for the areas in which the salt is predominant.

This land is crossed between the Ursu, Aluniș, Roșu and Verde, Negru and Mierlei
Lakes, one having the possibility of seeing the indicators on which the depth, the length,
the width, the concentration in salt are written, therefore hidro-morphological elements of
the lakes, but also of the areas, over the areas which predominates this area. At the end,
there is a place in which one can make a pleasant walk, with places where one can serve a
mineral water, a fresh drink, a bear, therefore it is a place where those who did not come
to the station can find their place with specific treatment purposes”, said Fulop Nagy
Janos.
In order for one to highlight the uniqueness of the area, the historian Josza Andras,
achieved a research after which on established that both the Ursu Lake, which is the most
visited place by the tourists who visit the Sovata Balneoclimatheric Station, and the area,
have three world records: the first one is that the Ursu is the world’s greatest and hottest
heliothermal lake, the second one is that it is the only salt lake surrounded by a rich
vegetation, because of the volcanic soil which has been deposited in time, and the third
world record – The Ursu Lake is the only natural lake in the world whose birth date is
known by an exact precision.

This one sustains that the Ursu Lake has been formed in 1875, on the 27th of May, at
11.00, on the place of a pasture on which two rivulets were running, which disappeared
within a whole dug within the salt mountain. The historian says that, at the mentioned
date, 11 o’clock, after a torrential rain, the waters attracted the hay and the vegetal
remaining from the pasture and made a hole within the salt mountains, and, thus, one
reached a lake of about 3.000 metres (AGERPRESS, National Press Agency).

Source: http://www.financiarul.ro/