Thursday, August 20, 2009

Malbog Sulphuric hotsprings - Buenavista

A short visit to the Malbog Hotsprings in Buenavista - the first thing that literally hits you in the face is the smell of hydrogen sulphide - a homely smell of rotten eggs - the Malbog Hotsprings are volcanic in origin, and hydrogen sulphide is a common gas where sulphur and heat are present.

Getting to the springs themselves is slightly difficult - the road leading to the springs' entrance is not paved, and at one place one has to ford a stream. The car made it, and we survive to tell the tale!

First photo is the main pools - the water isn't actually hot at all and seemed to be at ambient temperature. The circular cistern in the background bubbles with gas constantly, however the swimming pools seem to be more still.



This little spring also bubbles gas constantly, and yet again the water was not even tepid ..



the sky was looking gloriously ominous ..



I guess this acacia was struck down by lightning - it looks really nice now that it has been converted into a sort of flowerpot



this is the bottom of one of the pools - many bright colours due to the deposits of sulpher, and i'm not sure what causes the blue (copper maybe? copper sulphate is blue ..) .. quite a 'primeval soup' type of image ..