The salt pans of Bima Bay occupy nearly 7 square miles and have been producing salt for centuries. The salt from Bima has been traded throughout the Indonesian archipelago for centuries. It is also believed that Bima salt made it to Malaysia and the Phillippines along the travels of Bugis sea gypsies.
Though today Bima salt is one of the islands most important commodities, the production is still largely a cottage industry. This is because salt pans are farmed by hand via individual families or even small cooperatives.
It no longer serves as an industrial mine and instead operates mainly as a tourist attraction. The deep grey salt deposits formed in the Miocene Era, or about The first mention of the salt in Wieliczka was in the 12 century when a Benedictine Monastery was granted rights to salt from the mine. The mine was in operation from the 13th century, until , when the formal industry was shut down.
It even survived occupation by the Germans from to It was built in as an offering for the years-long fight against flooding in the lower levels caused by catastrophic magnesium potassium mining. The mine also features a Crystal Grotto in the lower levels and historic saline baths that make it a huge tourist destination. It is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes with no drainage source. Lithium and boron are both extracted from the Salt Flat brine in the form of ulexite and double or triple salts of lithium sulfate.
This occurs in the southern region of the salt flat. The Prahova Salt Mine has the distinction of being the largest salt mine in Europe. It is no longer used for industrial purposes but has a far more interesting one now. That is for healing and medical excursions. It is laid out for the public in 14 breath-taking galleries, pun intended. Visits to the salt mine are recommended to treat some respiratory infections, after all!
In these galleries, you can see motifs, sculptures, and busts carved of salt, including a bust of Decebal the last King of the Dacians.
These were the ancestors of the Romanian people. The galleries are over 55 meters high, which is taller than the height of the Statue of Liberty without the foundation.
The true credit for discovering the salt in Khewra goes to his horse. A brave soldier tried it himself and discovered the salty flavor. Today, the Khewra salt mines are the second largest in the world. According to official records, a total of , tourists visited the Khewra mine in the year , including , Pakistani visitors and 2, international tourists.
However, tourism experts and tourists expressed concern over the dilapidated condition of the road from Lila interchange to Khewra town, saying that the government should ensure the provision of facilities for tourists. The train would arrive Khewra at 11am and departed at 4pm for Rawalpindi daily.
Cleanliness is another issue. Tourist guide Hussain complained that visitors did not care about cleanliness and threw trash and plastic bottles everywhere. Fazal Khaliq is a journalist with a focus on culture, tourism and archaeology. Facebook Count. Twitter Share. Khewra mines: A salt wonder for tourists The mines are considered the oldest in the salt mining history of the sub-continent.
Fazal Khaliq Published 26 Sep, am. Comments 31 Closed. Popular Newest Oldest. Tabinda Niazi. Sep 26, pm. Beautiful pictures taken by you. Loved the camera result and information but train was also supposed to be captured alongwith its track inside. Recommend 0. A wonderful place for visitors. It has lot of potential and needs to be developed well to attract tourists from all over the world. Tourists shall not be allowed plastic bottles inside the mines and drinking water kept in mud pots can be provided inside or outside the mines to the tourists!
Humayun Aftab. Have visited twice the most amazing beautiful wonder, however saw so much litter strewn around and inside the water bodies, that it saddened me no end. On enquiry I was told that Monday the mines are closed for visitors. Why can't the Management clean the place up and strictly forbid any food carried inside the mines by the visitors. Unfortunately we as a nation are not proud of our heritage.
Thanks for Sharing such a wonder with us. Its amazing and lovely to see detailed report. Suliman SN. Wooooow its so amazing. Kumar Varanasi.
Surreal beauty. Sami Mallik. Life expectancy among those sentenced was low. In ancient Rome, salt on the table was a mark of a rich patron; those who sat nearer the host were "above the salt," and those less favored were "below the salt". Very old wooden stairs Photo: P. The salt mine in Hallstatt, Austria Hallstatt deserves special mentioning, since it has been in operation for some 4.
After all, even a historic cultural period is called "Hallstatt period". Recently, the wooden stair shown to the left was found during the mining process. It was carbon dated to BC! Lest this contribution gives the wrong impression, it has to be clearly stated that salt does of course not only come from salt mines, but is also produced in large quantitities from the evaporation of seawater, rather than by being extracted from sedimentary deposits. Such sea salt is mentioned in the Vinaya Pitaka, a Buddhist scripture compiled in the mid-5th century BC.
The principle of production is evaporation of the water from the sea brine. In warm and dry climates this may be accomplished entirely by exposing the brine ponds to the sun, but in other climates fuel sources have been used. Modern sea salt production is almost entirely found in Mediterranean areas and other warm, dry climates.
Category: Global-Geography. Special Information. V iew. Tunnel into the mine Photo: H. Crystal Valley. Ceiling of rocksalt Photo: H. Stalactites of salt Photo: H.
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