Bashkiriya National Park
Bashkiria National Park was founded in 1986. The National Park is located on the southwestern slopes of the Southern Urals, west of the Uraltau watershed, on the lands of 3 administrative districts: Meleuzovsky, Kugarchinsky, Burzyansky.
The uniqueness and beauty of the Bashkiria National Park lies in the fact that it is located at the junction of the mountain forest area and fields. In addition, there is a boundary between the biogeographic zones of Europe and Siberia. Bashkiria National Park was created to preserve the unique natural complex of mountain forests and create prerequisites for the development of tourism. On the east side, the park is adjacent to the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve. The total area of the park is 832 km2, including 250 km2 of the Nugush reservoir.
The mountains of the Southern Urals originated over 250 million years ago. During which the mountains were subjected to massive destruction under the influence of tectonic forces, and transformed into plateaus. There are a lot of rivers in the park. As the mountains rose, the rivers crushed the valleys, paving a new channel for themselves, as a result of which the nature of the mountains became diverse and added charm and beauty to the relief. The landscape is divided by river valleys, some rivers have formed deep canyons with large projections of bizarre shapes: "Sphinx", "Devil's finger", "Castle", "Duck's nose". Rivers such as the Belaya, Nugush, Kuzha, and Uryuk are saturated by snow and rain and groundwater. Some rivers go underground, forming cavities in the limestone.
There are many places in Bashkiria National Park that are worth paying attention to. Among them is the Kuperlya karst bridge, named after the river of the same name, which created the bridge for many millions of years. By eroding limestone underground, Cooper formed a large cavity, which later collapsed, leaving an isthmus 35 meters long and about a meter wide.
Another example of the painstaking work of rivers is the Kutuk-Padina tract, bounded by the Yaman-Tau and Kibiz ranges, as well as the Nugush and Belaya rivers. The tract is a paradise for a speleologist. It has more depressions, gullies, more than 30 caves, arches, wells, springs, chasms, karst tunnels. Some of the valuable places are the Sumgan-Kutuk cave, the Kutuk-Sumgan River, Cook-Kul, Lake Cook-Kul. Sumgan cave impresses with its stone arches and scales. The longest underground palace in the Urals. The total length of the tunnels is 9860 meters, and the depth is 134 meters. The caves are striking in their beauty, attracting more and more tourists to themselves. But still, it is better to go down to the caves in full gear and with a guide.
The flora of Bashkiria National Park consists mainly of broad-leaved forests. In the center of the park, due to its impassability, the centuries-old trees in which they hide have been preserved. Pine forests are found in places. There are over 750 species of plants in the park, among which 40 are on the verge of extinction, more than 225 species of birds, and almost all animals of the Urals are also found, among which you can often see: brown bears, wolves, squirrels, lynxes, chipmunks, muskrats, roe deer, moose, ermines, martens, minks, badgers. Pike, taimen, grayling, and walleye can be easily caught in rivers and reservoirs.
Tourism is developing more and more in the national Bashkiria. Tourists are attracted by caves, picturesque forests, and rushing rivers. There are routes for speleologists to the Kutuk tract. There are also equestrian and pedestrian routes in the park. More than 30,000 people visit the park every year. Tourists are attracted by the Belaya River, the Nugush reservoir, and the Kutuk tract.
