Tourism in Russia > Kamchatka > Volcanoes of Kamchatka > Uzon Caldera

Uzon Caldera

About 40, 000 years ago, о series of explosive eruptions of the Uzon volcano formed a round collapsed volcanic crater or caldera. The crater's diameter is around 10 km (6 miles). The lost cataclysmic event took place here 8,500 years ago: it left behind another, smaller crater, about о kilometer in diameter inside the caldera. The crater filled with water and became the Dalny Lake.

The Uzon Сalder a was opened up to the civilized world by one of Kamchatka's naturalists, Karl von Oietmar, in 1854. The caldera, a truly fantastic natural object, is located within the boundaries of the Kronotsky Nature Preserve.

It took thousands of years for the unique volcanic world to form in the Uzon areo. Behind the rugged boulders, you will find almost all of the wonders Kamchatka is famous for: hot springs and rivers with freezing water, poisonous mud holes and sparkling clean lakes full of fish, the berry-filled tundra and birch-tree forests, mountains and swamps, birds and animals. Scientists Irom all over the world dream of coming to Uzon: this place is like a giant chemistry lab where minerals form and where poisonous boiling water is the preferred habitat for some algae and bacteria.

Tourists are attracted to the exotic Bannoye Lake. This lake is also a volcanic crater, but a rather small one, only 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter, tilled with hot water (+40°C or + 104°F) that has a high concentration of sulfur Bothing in the Bannoye Lake is thought to rejuvenate and restore the body.

The Uzon is also famous for its little volcanoes and brilliantly colorful boiling mud holes. Tiny eruptions con take place after о rain. Also impressive are the so-called "Devil's Frying Pans" - thermal open areas where the rumbling boiling waters are disguised by о thin mineral chain.

The Uzon Caldera is especially picturesque in the Fall when the tundra and the birch tree forests turn crimson and gold. September is the month when dozens of bears gather to feast on the fields of ripe blueberries.