Mud volcanoes, ancient petroglyphs and flaming mountains – Azerbaijan should be your next adventure. Photo / 123rf
Little-known Azerbaijan is an unlikely candidate for your next holiday, and that’s exactly why you should visit, writes Alistair Smith
All around me, mud is bubbling and oozing from deep in the bowels of the earth, making strange gurgling sounds: a plop, a gloop and maybe even a splosh.
But there’s no spurts of hissing steam, no fierce boiling heat, no stinking sulphur smell, no geysers shooting skywards on cue.
For these are the “mud volcanoes” of Azerbaijan, and they are completely different from the thermal activity we’ve come to expect at Rotorua or the volcanic regions of Japan.
We’ve travelled an hour southwest of the Azerbaijan capital Baku, a thriving, bustling east-meets-west, old-meets-new city on the Caspian Sea, along 60 kilometres of highway that says “oil”: classic head-bobbing onshore pumps, offshore rigs, refineries, shipyards, land that has been restored and revegetated.
To reach these mud volcanoes of Gobustan, our tour group transfers to a hardy 4WD minibus, while independent travellers opt at 20 manat ($19) a pop for local soviet-era taxis that appear to be falling apart, driven by maniacs with no concept of safety.
A rough road takes us across flats zigzagged by rusting pipelines, train tracks, nomadic sheep herds, and along a clay track that couldn’t really be classified as a road, potholed and churned up by vehicles attempting the journey in the wet.
Then suddenly we gun up a steep rise to lob on to a high plateau, a grey moonscape scattered by mostly conical mounds, two to three metres high.
Grey mud, forced from the depths of the earth by gas associated with the oil field, oozes from vents, not always at the “peak” of the volcano, dribbles down the sides and quickly begins to set like drying cement. This surface cracks up, forms a dust and then resets solidly, but with a hollow ring.
Visitors scramble over this landscape to take pictures, for the area is uncontrolled, and local medical practitioners arrive with large ladles to scoop mud into plastic containers to use for a range of therapeutic and cosmetic purposes.
Apparently Azerbaijan has half of the world’s 700 mud volcanoes, many of them under the Caspian Sea, and, like so many of the country’s attractions they remain little known, since the country was unvisitable under Soviet control until comparatively recently.
Just 15 minutes away from the volcanoes, at the Gobustan Reserve, you’ll find what is understatedly described as “an open-air archaeological museum”, but we are talking about observing the life and times of cave-dwelling neolithic man, clearly depicted in petroglyphs chipped into rock. Images of hunting, flora, fauna and lifestyle, many of which need interpretation even although some are remarkably clear despite dating back 5000 to 8000 years. One looks remarkably like a Viking longboat, and is the subject of much speculation.
Unlike the volcanoes, at this Unesco Heritage site entry is well controlled (admission for foreigners 10 marat, $9.40) with a rough but clearly designated track taking you from one set of petroglyphs to the next, set in a landscape of caves and boulders the size of a house tossed around by ancient earthquakes.
There’s a great little museum, crowded at times, and try out the Gavel Dash near the entrance, a “singing stone”, a two-metre long rock that chimes like bells when struck.
Want another, “different” landscape? Then head out of Baku in the other direction, again through green and red nodding oil pumps, for the so-called “flaming mountain” of Yanardag, on the Absheron Peninsula. You won’t exactly see a mountainside ablaze, but there are several vents through which flaming natural gas has been burning non-stop for perhaps 5000 years. Pose for a photograph in front of them, and you’ll feel their fierce heat.
Little wonder then, that it was in this part of the world that the Fire Worshipping Zoroastrian religion has its roots, and the nearby temple of Ateshgah was a pilgrimage site for centuries … until, late in the 19th century, the permanent flames on a tower in the middle of the complex spluttered and died.
The answer to this catastrophe undoubtedly lies in a photograph on display within the temple. In it, an oil derrick virtually overlooks the temple walls, one of a field that may contain the first commercial oil-well in the world (although somebody in Pennsylvania might dispute that), which began production in the 1840s. Oil drilling upset the flow of natural gas, and the fire in the temple was extinguished.
Just as the Zoroastrians discovered it’s unwise to rely on a single source of inspiration, so the Azerbaijan Government is trying to wean itself from total reliance on oil, and encouraging tourism is part of that – although ironically the country’s motto is Land of Fire (or Flame).
It’s an interesting destination, even if you do not venture out of the capital of Baku, population 2.5 million.
The area of town once known as “the black city” because of pollution associated with oil refineries and related industries, has been totally cleaned up, and there are architecturally spectacular new buildings, interspersed with traditional European styles that pre-date the Soviet takeover of 1920. There’s been a boom in sporting stadiums, many built with the specific purpose of attracting international events, and Baku hosts high-speed street-circuit Formula 1 Grand Prix racing, the home straight being part of an avenue that borders what is normally a waterfront esplanade entertainment area (speeds here reach 349km/h.)
And at the heart of it all is the Unesco Heritage Old City, where within 12th-century defensive walls (the racing cars whizz by them, too) where you can explore ancient hammans (bath houses), caravanserais of the Silk Road, a sprawling 15th century Shah’s palace, mosque and mausoleum. A climb to the top of the ancient Maiden Tower gives an overview of the old city, where the cobbled streets are today lined with art studios, souvenir shops, carpet shops and little hole-in-the-wall places selling yummy sweets.
Back in the day, you’d have been looking the other way, out over the salty plains bordering the Caspian Sea for the approach of potential invaders. Today, however, hopefully these invaders will be tourists.
GETTING THERE
Fly non-stop from Auckland to Dubai with Emirates in about 17 hours. This connects with a flydubai flight to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.
Details
New Zealand passport holders require a visa for Azerbaijan, obtainable online at evisa.gov.az at a cost of $US25 ($40).
1 New Zealand Dollar = 1.06 Azerbaijan Marat.
From skipping the queues to planning your parade spot, here's all you need to know.