Darvaza Gas Crater, Anti-Mainstream Tourist Attraction in Turkmenistan

Located around 266 kilometers from the city of Ashgabat, the crater containing a fire that has a diameter of about 70 meters has been burning for 47 years with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius without ever extinguishing it.

INDEPHEDIA.com - Darvaza Gas Crater, also called Door to Hell, is a rare, mysterious tourism site on this earth in the form of a gas crater in the middle of the Karakum Desert, Darvaza Village, Turkmenistan. This place deserves to be included in the bucket list of anti-mainstream travel seekers.

Located around 266 kilometers from the city of Ashgabat, the crater containing a fire that has a diameter of about 70 meters has been burning for 47 years with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius without ever extinguishing it. Darvaza Gas Crater issued a red flame, similar to a bonfire.

During the day, this crater looks like the place where the meteor fell, because it was a deep hole and a burnt black tinge around it. Whereas, at night, Darvaza Gas Crater is able to illuminate the desert region with its flame from the crater 20 meters deep.

The existence of Darvaza Gas Crater's anti-mainstream tourism is still unclear. Various issues emerged regarding its formation. One of the most famous is due to the mistakes of researchers from the Soviet Union (currently Russia) while carrying out natural gas drilling.

It is known, Turkmenistan is known to have abundant natural gas reserves. This made a Soviet researcher intend to make observations. He mining in 1971.

Unfortunately, at that time he made a wrong calculation. As a result, when mining, the area where the heavy equipment he carried collapsed and formed a large hole.

The big hole then emits toxic natural gas. Natural gas with a mixture of hydrocarbon and methane gas does not emit odor, but is able to make people who breathe in oxygen deficiency if exposed for a long time.

Finally, the researcher set fire. Incorrect recalculation, the burning fire which was thought to only last for a week turned out to survive until now.

Every year no less than 12-15 thousand tourists visit this extreme tourist spot in Turkmenistan. When visiting anti-mainstream tourism, remember to always be careful and alert. Because, Darzava Gas Crater does not have a protective fence, so you can fall into it.

Not only that, the land in the form of desert was also reported to be prone to landslides. Because of the danger of this place, since 2004 the President of Turkmenistan, Gurbanguly, has asked residents of Darzava to move to another place for security reasons.

However, Darzava Gas Crater is very suitable for inclusion in your bucket list that is happy with anti-mainstream tourism. Because, here you can see the amazing scenery that comes from natural fires in the middle of the stretch of the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan. (WS.IN/ENG/*)