The Prut River is the largest watercourse in southeastern Europe. It flows through three states, overcoming almost a thousand kilometers, and flows into the Danube. In the upper reaches it is a turbulent mountain river, but in its lower course it is very swampy and has a weak current.
The Prut River: a general geographical feature
The total length of the river is 967 kilometers. It carries its waters from the slopes of the Carpathian Mountains to the Danube. About 70% of its length falls on the border of two modern states of Europe. These are Romania and Moldova.
The Prut River originates in the Carpathians, at the foot of Mount Hoverla, the highest point in Ukraine. Here it has a pronounced mountainous character: steep, steep banks and a very high current speed (up to 1.2 m / s). The bottom of the Prut in the upper reaches is rocky, there are frequent flash floods after heavy rains.
Bypassing the city of Chernivtsi, the Prut River enters a flat area, where its channel becomes more winding, and the flow gradually slows down. In spring and summer, the Prut here quite often overflows its banks. Near the village of Costesti in Moldovaa large reservoir was built on the river in 1976. This made it possible to use the waters of the Prut to irrigate large areas of land both in Moldova and in Romania.
In the lower reaches, the Prut river valley expands significantly. The channel in this place is often divided into separate branches. The Prut River flows into the Danube near the Moldovan village of Giurgiulesti, just 120 kilometers from the place where the latter flows into the Black Sea.
The area of the Prut basin is small (when compared with the total length of the river) - only 28,000 square meters. km. The slope of the channel varies enormously, from 100 m/km in the upper reaches to 0.1 m/km in the lower reaches. The main tributaries of the Prut River: Cheremosh, Rybnitsa (in Ukraine); Larga, Viliya, Lopatinka, Kamenka (in Moldova); Giren, Bahlui, Harinca (in Romania).
Coasts and shipping
The banks of the river are very diverse: in the upper reaches they are steep and rocky, in the lower reaches they are gently sloping, composed of clay deposits. In the middle reaches, the right bank of the river is much higher than the left, Moldavian. It is curious that in the north the Prut and Dniester valleys are located very close to each other, the distance between the banks of both rivers in some places is only 34 kilometers.
Between the town of Lipcani and the village of Titcani, the banks of the Prut are decorated with numerous outcrops of chalk rocks. In some places they reach a height of 10-15 meters. In many parts of the river valley, traces of the old channels of the Prut can also be seen.
The largest settlements located along the banks of the Prut: Vorokhta, Yaremche, Kolomyia, Chernivtsi, Novoselytsya,Lipcani, Costesti, Ungheni, Leova, Giurgiulesti.
Navigation on the Prut is possible south of the city of Leova, as well as within the Costesti reservoir. Upstream of the river it is limited. The main problems for navigation on this river are rocky rapids, too high current speed and low water level in the channel during the summer-autumn low water periods.
River Prut: fish and fishing
Catching fish on the Prut River is not large-scale, industrial. The ichthyofauna of the watercourse is generally similar to that of the Danube. The species diversity of fish makes fishing on the river very interesting and unpredictable.
In the upper reaches of the Prut, trout, gudgeon, sculpin and Danube salmon are found. Chop, char and goby are also found. In the middle reaches of the river, you can catch pike, perch, roach and even catfish. In the lower reaches of the Prut, within the floodplain lakes and old branches, carp, crucian carp, roach, perch and other fish species are found.
Famous attractions along the river
The Prut is a popular water tourism destination, particularly in its upper reaches. The section of the river between Vorokhta and Yaremche is ideal for extreme rafting. It is a 30-kilometer series of endless rapids and stone ledges.
A well-known attraction in the upper reaches of the river is the Prut waterfall. It is located near the tourist base "Zaroslyak", from which the ascent to Mount Hoverla begins. The waterfall consists of several powerful cascading streams with a total height of 80 meters.
Downstream of the river, inthe resort town of Yaremche, there is another waterfall - Probiy. Its height is 8 meters. Directly above the waterfall is a pedestrian bridge and an observation deck for tourists.
Several interesting sights can be found in the middle reaches of the Prut. So, on the left bank of the river in Moldova (near the villages of Coban and Branishte) there is a unique natural formation “Valley of a Hundred Hills”. In fact, there are much more hills here - over three thousand. Their origin is not fully understood. According to one version, these are the remains of a coral reef of the relic sea.
If you go along the river even further south, then in the city of Ungheni you can see another attraction - the Eiffel Bridge. In 1877, the then unknown engineer Gustave Eiffel went to Romania, where he built a railway bridge that connected the two banks of the Prut. Interestingly, only in 1998, thanks to archival searches, the author of the Ungheni bridge project became known.
Conclusion
The Prut is a river in southeastern Europe, 967 kilometers long. It flows through three states and flows into the Danube. Fishing on the Prut is not on an industrial scale, performing only a recreational and sports function. Along the banks of the river there are a significant number of attractions of both natural and anthropogenic origin.
