Ugra National Park
Ugra is the national park of Russia in the Kaluga region among the rivers Zhidra, Vyssa, Ugra and Oka. Park area 986 km2. Picturesque valleys attract the attention of a huge number of tourists with their picturesque landscapes. The history of statehood of Russia, which is marked by the Great Standing, is closely connected with the Ugra River". The forest includes dense forests from the "Hotlight", which protected the Moscow state from the raids of steppes. Large centers of spiritual life of the inhabitants of Russia – famous monasteries called Kazan Amvrosievsky and Optina Pustyn were also founded.
In order to preserve the natural complex and historical and cultural heritage monuments, in 1997 a national park called Ugra was organized here". The main tasks of this park also include various scientific research, the development of eco-education, eco-tourism, and the protection of rare species of animals and plants.
The natural landscapes of a park called Ugra are quite diverse. Here you can find combinations of moraine deposits that are formed using glaciers of various centuries of glaciation, various swamps, as well as sand hills in low parts of the relief. The main water arteries of this park are the Zhidra and Ugra rivers, which have a huge number of different tributaries.
The main wealth of Ugra Park is forests, which occupy approximately 63 percent of the entire park. In the north, near the Ugra River, there are mixed coniferous-broad-broad forests, where there are areas of clean pine and complex boron. Zhydrinsky territory is distinguished only by broad-leaved forests, where you can find unique old-age ash oak forests, which are about 200 years old. In total, approximately thousands of species of vascular plants grow in this park, of which 165 are regionally rare, and 5 are in the Red Book of Russia.
In the Ugra Park, there are approximately three hundred species of vertebrate animals, of which approximately 48 are mammals. The largest number of types of discharge rodents and kunyh are available here: ondatra, beaver, forest marten, otter, black chorus and American mink. Among the predatory in the park you can meet a brown bear and a fox. In the floodplain lakes of the Zidra River, there is a Russian exhuhol, which is a Russian endemic listed in the international Red Book. In the hollows of ancient trees live such bats as a mustachioed nightstand, a goshan, a giant evening party and a red-haired evening party. And a giant evening party is listed in the Red Book of Russia.
The territory of the Ugra National Park has such a mixing of cultural, historical and natural resources that provide it with a special place both in the region and in Central Russia. There are approximately two hundred tourist sites within this park. Among meadows and forests, the Ugra and Zhidra rivers flow. Here you can admire the beauty of valleys that attract tourists with their picturesque landscapes.
When traveling in Ugra Park, tourists can visit the natural attractions of Kaluga Region, as well as get acquainted with historical monuments. Among these historical monuments is the famous monastery called St. Vvedensky Desert, Chertovo Gorodishche, Shamordinsky Monastery, Obolensky Manor, ancient Slavic fortress settlement near the Ugra River.
