Few types of recreation or leisure activities can compete with being in the bosom of nature? Who will refuse the pleasure of feeling the spirit of complete freedom, inhaling clean air, saturated with the aromas of herbs and leaves?
Depriving yourself of the opportunity to contact nature more often is a retribution for the benefits provided by scientific and technological progress. From year to year, there are fewer and fewer places that would retain their original appearance. The problem raised prompted the birth of ecological tourism, which is in charge of helping to organize cultural recreation. Reserves and the national park of Crimea cannot be left without attention.
Crimean Nature Reserve: Creation
It has been almost a hundred years since the formation of the natural Crimean reserve. It was in the pre-revolutionary year of 1913 that the tsarist government decided to create the Imperial Hunting Reserve. At the same time, such rare artiodactyls as bison, Dagestan tur, Corsican mouflon, bezoar goat, Caucasian deer appeared on its territory.
It's been 10 moreyears. The passions associated with the revolutionary events subsided a little, the civil war died down. The Council of People's Commissars of the young Soviet country issued a special Decree on the transformation of the former tsarist reserve into a nature reserve. Initially, its territory had an area of 16 thousand hectares, but by the end of 1923 it was increased by 7 thousand hectares. Reserves and national parks of Crimea are increasingly attracting vacationers who are supporters of eco-tourism.
At the end of the 50s, the reserve changed its status, with the light hand of Khrushchev, it becomes the Crimean state reserve and hunting ground, where only high-ranking officials could be located. Only in 1991, the government of the Ukrainian SSR signed a decree, thanks to which the territory again turned into a state reserve. It is located in the center of a group of mountain ranges under the general name of the Main Crimean Ridge. Currently, the national park of Crimea occupies almost 33.4 thousand hectares.
Climate and flora of the reserve
Climatic conditions of the Crimean Reserve cannot be called stable. The exposition of the mountain slope and altitudinal zonality have a huge influence on this factor. For example, on the uppermost belt, negative temperatures can last up to four months during the year. In the highlands, atmospheric precipitation falls in large quantities (more than 1000 millimeters per year), due to which the sources of many rivers of Crimea appeared in the center of the reserve, includingTavelchuk, Alma, Kacha, and others. There are almost three hundred springs in the mountains of the Crimean Reserve. Many of them are healing, especially the famous spring Savluh-Su stands out - its water is saturated with silver ions.
The flora of the territory under state protection is quite diverse, the number of species exceeds 1200. Forests grow separately from each other, where one of the following tree species predominates:
- Crimean pine and Scotch pine;
- oak;
- hornbeam;
- beech.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the forest areas of this protected area in terms of soil protection and water conservation. Not all locals know what national parks are in Crimea.
Who lives in the main reserve of Crimea?
Animals of the class of vertebrates are represented by more than two hundred species. A red deer or a moufflon, a swiftly rushing Crimean roe deer, should not come as a surprise. Black vultures, griffon vultures and owls, of which there are several species, feel at ease. The state has taken under protection fifty-two species of animals, and thirty are listed in the Red Book of Europe. These include:
- black stork;
- bustard;
- gray crane;
- owl;
- Crimean scorpion;
- pink starling, etc.
The rivers of the protected area cannot boast a large number of freshwater species. But among them there are such rare fish asCrimean barbel and brook trout. There are not so many corners of the planet where you can find freshwater crab. The nature reserves and national parks of Crimea are the natural heritage of all the people, so people should take care of such magnificent places.
Ecological trails and recreational areas were created here especially for tourists. Everyone who wants to get acquainted with the rich nature of Crimea has a unique opportunity to see it with their own eyes.
Y alta Mountain Forest Nature Reserve
The starting point of the reserve with an area of 14 thousand 176 hectares is 1973. What nature reserves and national parks are in the Crimea excites many vacationers. In Soviet times, this territory was the main he alth resort, so people are wondering if there are forests and ecologically clean corners today.
On the slopes of the mountains of this reserve grow trees with fairly tall trunks - the Crimean and ordinary pines. Thickets of oak and beech are sometimes replaced by undergrowth, which consists of evergreen representatives of the Mediterranean. And this is not surprising, since the climate at the foot is the same as in the resorts of the Mediterranean Sea. The higher the slope, the greater the contrast.
Protected plants of the reserve
The number of species of those plants that need state protection is 78. Here are some of them:
- Adenophora Crimean;
- maidenhair (or venus hair);
- small-fruited strawberry;
- high juniper;
- Crimean rockrose;
- Crimean peony;
- Crimean violet;
- Bieberstein's shard and others
There are also species that have become widespread only within the protected area (the scientific term is "endemic species"), for example:
- Crimean bindweed;
- carnation low;
- Crimean geranium;
- Dubrovnik Yaylinskiy;
- Crimean peony and others
Such national parks of Crimea should be under special protection. A list of park area names can be found in this article.
Animals of the reserve
Reptiles crawl or bask on stones in the sparse grass: Crimean lizard, Crimean gecko, snake snakes, yellow-bellied lizard (legless lizard), copperhead (from the family of already-shaped). Under the reliable protection of the state there are animals from the genus of bats: bats, night bats, horseshoe bats and evening bats.
Ai-Petri, the Uchan-Su waterfall (only 8 km from Y alta), the Three-Eyed Cave on Ai-Petri, the Devil's Staircase Pass (or in the Turkic version "Shaitan-Merdven") can be considered the pride of the Y alta Reserve.
Employees of the Y alta Reserve pay special attention to educating the population in environmental matters. This purpose is served by ecological trails and routes for everyone who wants to get more information about local attractions. The national parks of Crimea are becoming more and more famous. The names of these places were approved in the distant times of the USSR. It is important to treat these places with care so that our ancestors can also appreciate the natural beauties of Russia.
Azov-Sivash National Natural Park
This park appeared almost twenty years ago - in 1993. Before that, there was the Azov-Sivash Reserve. Although the natural park is considered Crimean, however, some of it is located within the Kherson region. In other words, it occupies the western coast of the Sea of Azov with an area of 57,400 hectares.
The lion's share of the park's territory is located on the sea spit called Biryuchy Island and other small islands located nearby. Almost fifty species of fauna that live in the Azov-Sivash National Park have been included in the Red Book. Of course, the main national park of Crimea cannot be compared with this territory.
Reserve "Cape Martyan"
If you drive a little to the east of the famous Nikitsky Botanical Garden, you will definitely meet the Cape Martyan Nature Reserve on the way. The entire area of its territory, including the Black Sea area, is 240 hectares. The status of a reserve was assigned to it in 1973, although the state took it under protection back in 1947.
The visiting card of the reserve is a relict forest, where at least five hundred species of vegetation grow, mostly belonging to the Mediterranean type. The name "Red Strawberry" (or "Small-fruited Strawberry") can be found in the International Red Book. This is the rarest representative of broad-leaved evergreen trees, which are found mainly in the eastern part of the European continent. This is also a national park of Crimea,therefore, the inhabitants and plants of this area are treated in a special way.
Reserve "Swan Islands"
In the Karkinitsky Gulf - a part of the Black Sea, limited by the northwestern Crimean coastline - there are Lebyazhy Islands and a reserve of the same name. Its total area is 9612 hectares.
The reserve is part of the trajectory along which birds fly from Europe to the south (to Asia, Africa). Cormorants, flamingos, herring gulls, herons, etc. have chosen the islands to build their nests. In total, there are up to 265 species of birds.
Everyone should visit the national parks of Crimea, a list of which is presented in this article. These places delight and amaze with their naturalness.
