Soomaa National Park

Protected area in Estonia

Soomaa National Park is a national park in south western Estonia. Soomaa ("land of bogs") protects 390 km2, the park was created in 1993. Soomaa has been an Important Bird Area since 1989, a Ramsar site of protected wetlands since 1997 and a Natura 2000 area since 2004.

The national park, situated in Vahe Eesti (aka Meso Estonia), was created in 1993 to protect large raised bogs, flood plain grasslands, paludified forests, and meandering rivers. The territory of the national park is mostly covered with large mires, separated from each other by the rivers of the Pärnu River basin — the Navesti, Halliste, Raudna and Lemmjõgi rivers. Of the raised bogs, the most noteworthy is the Kuresoo Bog, whose steep southern slope, falling into Lemmejõgi, rises by 8 metres over a distance of 100 m.

On the eastern margin of the national park, lie the highest dunes on the Estonian mainland, situated some 50 kilometres off the contemporary coastline. The most characteristic coastal formations of the predecessor of the present Baltic Sea, the Baltic Ice Lake (11,200–10,600 years ago), which marks the one time water level, are situated on the north western and western edges of the Sakala Upland. The Ruunaraipe Dunes are the highest of the area. The dune ridge, winding from northwest to southeast is a 1.2 km long sand ridge, whose maximum height is 12 metres. In 2009, the Soomaa National Park, as the largest intact peat bog system in Europe preserved as wilderness, joined the PAN Parks network of wilderness areas, as it proved excellence in combining wilderness protection and sustainable tourism development.

When vast amounts of water run down the Sakala Upland, the rivers of Soomaa cannot contain it all. The water flows over flood plain grasslands and forests, and covers roads, disrupting connection with the outer world. In some years the spring floods have risen by a meter a day for 3–4 days. The Riisa flood area is formed in such a way; with a surface area covering 175 square kilometres at its largest, it is the biggest regularly flooded area in Estonia and whole Northern Europe. At the maximum flood level the water covered area can be 7–8 km across. Steep sloped, raised bogs stand as islands in the water. The flood is often called the "fifth season" in Soomaa.

The Soomaa National Park Visitor Centre is situated in South West Estonia between Pärnu and Viljandi county, being located in the middle of the park 44 km away from the centre of Viljandi and Pärnu cities. Building of the visitor centre was finished in 1998 and has been placed on the historical crossroad of ancient winter ways that were used up to the beginning of 20th century for transporting goods from Pärnu to Viljandi. The aim of the Visitor Centre is to give all information needed for those tourists, who come to explore the nature of Soomaa. There are printed out information for several nature trails as well as media guides, films and small public library. It is also possible to order nature
educational lectures and participate in different workshops and programs.