Yugyd Va National Park
Yugyd Va National Park was established in 1986 and is located in the Komi Republic. Due to its territory of 18,917 km2, this park is the largest national park in the entire territory of Russia, which is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the "Virgin Forest of Komi".
Yugyd va is indeed very large – the park's territories are spread out in 3 districts of the Komi Republic at once: Pechorsky, Intinsky, and Vuktylsky, and the spurs of the Circumpolar and Northern Urals are located in the western parts. About 60 percent of the park is occupied by a dense forest. On the south side, the park is adjacent to the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve.
Birch, larch, spruce and cedar grow in the forests of Yugyd. In addition, this park is considered to be the largest dark coniferous taiga massif in Europe. The landscape of this area is very beautiful: mountainous, foothill, field zones. I would especially like to see that industrial facilities have not reached these places - the nature here is really not mutilated by people, it's all one small village.
Yugyd Va Park is famous for its huge variety of mammals, approximately 43 species, as well as 190 species of birds. "Yugyd va" in translation from the Komi language means "clean/bright water". Huge rivers, tributaries of the Pechora, begin in the foothills of the Ural Mountains. The most respectable of them are Shchugor, Kozhim, Podcherem, Bolshaya Sonnya and Kosyu. The water in these rivers is so clear that it is quite easy to see its bottom at a depth of about eight meters. Naturally, marine life did not leave such clean water unmarked – Pechora salmon, grayling, whitefish, cheese, taimen and so on live in the rivers. However, fishing is strictly prohibited in this area. In addition to rivers, there are also more than 80 lakes in the park, but most of them are located in mountainous areas.
Tourists are most attracted to the mountainous areas of this Yugyd Va Park. The spurs of the Northern Urals are located in the southern part of this zone, where the peaks of the mountains are flat and there is no forest. This area is not very high – the highest point here is a mountain called Telpos, which is located at an altitude of 1,617 meters. The circumpolar Urals is the most picturesque. Some of the most inaccessible points of the Urals are located here: Mount Narodnaya - at an altitude of 1,895 meters, the Bell Tower – at an altitude of 1,640 meters, the Saber – at an altitude of 1,425 meters, as well as Mount Manaraga – at an altitude of 1,662 meters, which is a kind of symbol of the park.
Yugyd Va National Park is becoming more popular from year to year. The park management is doing its best to develop more and more new tours for tourists, as well as observation decks and parking lots. Czechs, Poles, Fins, and Balts often come to the park to admire the local views and conquer the mountains, swim along the Kozhim, Shchugor, or Podcherem Rivers.
