MAP: CARAORMAN
Ukrainian village in the heart of the Romanian Danube Delta
Of interest is the discussion of the Crisan-Caraorman Canal and the drawing of all six George meanders as shortcutted � each made credible by the map publisher at www.caraorman.ro knowing the area intimately.
600 x 499   jpg

Thumbnail with text is at  www.caraorman.ro/vacanta/traseu/eng.html
Full-sized map is from  www.caraorman.ro/vacanta/traseu/traseu30.jpg
Text accompanying thumbnail reads in part:
Route � Caraorman
      How to get to Caraorman one can choose the classic route: with the regular river ship or the rapid ship from Tulcea to Crisan and from Crisan there is a smaller ship that does regular cruises to Caraorman.
      The yellow represents the Tulcea-Crisan course and the orange represent the Crisan-Caraorman course.  The river ship leaves at 13:30 from Tulcea and gets in Crisan at about 16:10.  From here the passengers will travel by a smaller ship that should reach its destination at about 17:00.

Thumbnail with text and photographs is at  www.caraorman.ro/caraorman/eng.html
Full-sized map is from  www.caraorman.ro/locuri/harti/Delta.html
Text accompanying thumbnail reads in part:
Caraorman a village in the heart of the Danube Delta.
      The name of CARAORMAN comes from Turkish and means The Black Forest.  The village is about 3.5 km long and 500 m wide and lays on the Caraorman sand bank between the Sulina branch and The Sfantu Gheorghe branch, at about 12 km from Crisan.  The Caraorman sand bank is a sandy soil of sea origin with a length of 18 km a maximum width of 8 km and height up to 7-9 m. To get to Caraorman, one can use more routes.
      The village population is made of Ukrainians (appreciatively 490 inhabitants, just about as many as in Crisan) welcoming and hard working people whose main occupation is fishing.  In the Danube Delta live approximatively 15 000 people of different nationalities: 80% Romanians, 10% Lippovans, 10% Ukrainians.  There are very clear differences between Lippovans and Ukrainians: those of language, habits, traditions and ever physical appearance.  The language of the inhabitants of Caraorman is very close to the Ukrainian language and care also be met in: Sf. Gheorghe, Murighiol, Crisan, Letea.  The large surface of the sand bank on which the village is situated has permitted that beside the main income source (fishing) the villagers breeded cattle.  Breeding cattle has reached its highest scores in 1987-1989 when the cattle population surpassed 2000 items.  After the Revolution of 1989 the distraction on purpose of this branch of agriculture as well as the staggering rise of fish prices, has made the villagers to re-orient themselves towards fishing, giving up cattle breeding, which had become an unprofitable business.
      Caraorman is a village with large gardens and well made households.  The specific element of Delta's houses is the reed roof, which gives them a certain rustic charm.  In the Danube Delta the reed is used as construction material for roofs, fences and other out buildings, as the Danube Delta is the largest area in the world with reed thickets.

Thumbnail with text and photographs is at  www.caraorman.ro/locuri/cri-cara/eng.html
Full-sized map is from  www.caraorman.ro/locuri/harti/Crisan-Cara.html
Text accompanying thumbnail reads in part:
The places of recreative fishing � Caraorman The Crisan-Caraorman channel

This channel was finalized at the beginning of the 80's and was part of a very ambitious project of transforming Caraorman into a major economic center for the Danube Delta.  The exploiting of sand hills near the village was wanted.

Its large dimensions betray the dictator's intentions of making it a high traffic channel.  It was deep initially, but the natural process of clogging has reduced its depth in some places except its last portion where there isn't any stream so there weren't many alluvionary deposits.  Its position, almost across the Danube and the fact that the entrance from the Sulina branch is nearly clogged, has also reduced its stream.

Map is from www.dunarea.net/articol.php?id=107.

The canal from the Sulina to Caraorman can be seen to be called the Crisan-Caraorman Canal.  Its continuation to the south-east is called the Caraorman Canal.  In other maps, however, the former is called simply the Crisan Canal: MOSAIC: WHOLE DANUBE DELTA ROMANIAN MAP and MAP: DONAUDELTA.

The forested ("Padurea") area south-west of the village of Caraorman is much smaller than the UNESCO Strictly Protected Zone #6 Caraorman which encloses it, as can be seen in the DDBRA map below.  The Caraorman Strictly Protected Zone is described at  www.caraorman.ro/caraorman/padure/eng.html, and a photograph of its 400-year-old oak tree is presented at  www.caraorman.ro/caraorman/padure/eng.html.

Former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu's grand ambition to exploit Caraorman's sand caused him to build not only the grand Crisan-Caraorman Canal, but also extensive industrial structures and housing in preparation for the boom that never followed  www.caraorman.ro/caraorman/santier/eng.html.

UNESCO Strictly Protected Zone #6 Caraorman.  From  www.ddbra.ro/ENG/DDBRA/Z-carE.htm

The Crisan-Caraorman Channel near its connection with the Litcov Channel, from  www.caraorman.ro/locuri/cri-cara/eng.html.

Even though some maps show the Crisan-Caraorman as the thinnest line (MOSAIC: WHOLE DANUBE DELTA ROMANIAN MAP and MAP: DONAUDELTA), it appears broad enough when sailing it.  Power lines can be seen crossing the canal in the distance.