Suta de Movile: over 3,500 mounds, not a hundred

The name misleads

The first time you hear "Suta de Movile", the Hundred Mounds, you picture something you could count. In fact there are over 3,500. The name is left from a time when nobody had set about counting them, and "a hundred" simply meant "a great many".

The place has been written about for a long time. Almost every text about the reserve says that Dimitrie Cantemir mentioned it in Descriptio Moldaviae, in 1716, under the Latin name Centum Monticuli, that is a hundred little mounds. We looked for the passage and found it quoted nowhere with a page reference, so we give it as it stands: an attribution that gets repeated, not something we have verified.

The reserve covers 1,072 hectares on the terraces of the Prut, between Braniste, in Riscani district, and Cobani, in Glodeni district. The strip is eight kilometres long and between 1.7 and 2.3 kilometres wide.

What it looks like

It looks like a field where the ground boiled and set again. Round mounds, some the height of a person, others the height of a ten storey block. The tallest, the Gypsy's Mound, is around thirty metres. They are not set in rows and have no visible logic, and that is where the strange feeling of the place comes from: it looks made by someone, but it is not.

If you have read elsewhere that Movila Tiganului is sixty metres high, that is not a mistake but a different measurement. The reserve sits on six terraces of the Prut, one above the other, and the sixty metre figure is taken from the level of the lower terraces up to the top, not from the base of the mound. Measured as a mound, it is over thirty metres. Both figures are correct, but they say different things.

Where they come from

Here is where it gets interesting, because there is no single accepted answer. Three explanations circulate.

Underwater reefs

The most widespread geological hypothesis says the mounds are the remains of reefs from the Mediterranean basin of about 20 million years ago, that is from the same warm sea that left behind the toltre of the Prut, the limestone cliffs near Duruitoarea Veche. If the hypothesis is right, the mounds and our gorge are relatives.

Landslides and settling ground

The second explanation is less romantic: surface geological processes, that is landslides, collapses and settling of the ground on the terraces of the Prut, which would have shaped the relief into its present form.

Burial mounds

The third belongs to the people of the villages: that they are mounds raised over the dead of old battles. It has no scientific support, but it has been passed down through the generations and explains why the place has always been regarded with a kind of respect.

What else is there

The reserve is a protected area of IUCN category V, that is a terrestrial landscape, and since 1998 it has been administered by two organisations: the Glodeni State Forestry Enterprise, over 657 hectares, and the "Braniste" agricultural enterprise, over 415. Oak woods grow on the plateaus, and in places oak mixes with cherry.

In 2012 the place appeared on a Moldovan postage stamp of 4.20 lei.

When to go

Many people miss the moment. At midday the mounds vanish. Light from above flattens them and you think you are looking at an ordinary field with a few bumps. The relief only shows when the sun is low, that is, in the first hour after sunrise or the last two hours before sunset. Then every mound gets a shadow and all of them appear at once.

In early spring and late autumn the grass is short and the outlines show best. In winter, with the snow partly melted, the mounds appear as black and white waves.

How to get there from Duruitoarea Veche

It is a drive, not a walk. It is about 13 kilometres by road, some 25 minutes, heading south towards Braniste and Cobani. In the same corner of Moldova lies Padurea Domneasca, the country's first scientific reserve, so many people see both in the same day.

From Hanul Cu Noroc, at Duruitoarea Veche, this is the natural Sunday outing of a weekend in the area: on Saturday you do the cave, the museum and the lake, and on Sunday the mounds. Nicolae will tell you the exact route and help if you want a guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many mounds are there at Suta de Movile?

Over 3,500, although the name says a hundred. The heights range from 1 metre to 30 metres, and the tallest is called the Gypsy's Mound. The reserve covers 1,072 hectares, on a strip 8 km long and 1.7 to 2.3 km wide.

Where is the Suta de Movile reserve?

In northern Moldova, on the terraces of the Prut, between the villages of Braniste, Riscani district, and Cobani, Glodeni district. Approximate coordinates: 47°49′06″N, 27°18′07″E.

How did the mounds form?

There is no single accepted answer. The main geological hypothesis says they are the remains of underwater reefs from the Mediterranean basin about 20 million years ago, that is from the same sea that left the toltre of the Prut. The second explanation invokes landslides and settling of the ground. The third, the local one, says they are burial mounds left after old battles.

When is the best time to visit Suta de Movile?

In the first hour after sunrise or the last two hours before sunset. At midday, light from above flattens the relief and the mounds practically disappear. In early spring and late autumn, when the grass is short, the outlines show best.

How far is it from Duruitoarea Veche to Suta de Movile?

About 13 kilometres by road, some 25 minutes by car, south towards Braniste and Cobani. You cannot get there on foot. Many visitors combine it with Padurea Domneasca on the same day. From Hanul Cu Noroc it is the natural Sunday outing on a weekend spent in the area.