Karula National Park is
national park in southern
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
. It was established in 1979 as a protected area and in 1993 became a national park. It is the smallest national park in Estonia.
The park is located in
Antsla
Antsla is a town in Võru County, southern Estonia, it is the administrative centre of Antsla Parish.
Antsla borough was renamed town of third rank by Konstantin Päts from 1 May 1938. The settlement is known since 1405. The town has a furnitur ...
and
Rõuge
Rõuge ( vro, Rõugõ) is a small borough (') in Võru County in southeastern Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Rõuge Parish.
Rõuge põhikool.jpg, Rõuge school
Eesti Ema monument Rõuges.jpg, Monument for Estonian Mother
Rõuge Va ...
parishes in
Võru County
Võru County ( et, Võru maakond or ''Võrumaa''; vro, Võro maakund) is a county in southern Estonia. It is bordered by Valga County and Põlva County and is the only Estonian county bordering two countries - Latvia ( Alūksne Municipality an ...
and
Valga Parish
Valga Parish ( et, Valga vald) is a rural municipality in Valga County. It includes the town of Valga.https://www.valga.ee/ (accessed 4 March 2020)
Settlements Town
* Valga
Boroughs
* Tsirguliina
* Õru
* Laatre
Villages
* Hargla
* ...
in
Valga County
Valga County ( et, Valga maakond or ''Valgamaa'') is a first-level administrative unit and one of 15 counties of Estonia. It comprises the former area of Valga District. The present-day county was created on 1 January 1990. The capital and lar ...
. The park covers almost a third of the
Karula Uplands and is characterised by its hilly topography, its many lakes, the great
biodiversity
Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...
and traditional
cultural landscape. The flora of the national park is rich, and includes several species red-listed in Estonia such as the
Baltic orchid,
mezereon and the
daisyleaf grape fern; the latter is only found in three locations in Estonia and Karula is one of them. The fauna also incorporates unusual and threatened species, such as the
pond bat
The pond bat (''Myotis dasycneme'') is a species of vesper bat. It is found in Eurasia from France to Russia and Kazakhstan.
Physical characteristics
The bat is medium-sized, with a noticeably short tragus for a species in the genus ''Myotis''. ...
, the
lesser spotted eagle
The lesser spotted eagle (''Clanga pomarina'') is a large Eastern European bird of prey. Like all typical eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. The typical eagles are often united with the buteos, sea eagles, and other more heavy-set Acc ...
and the
black stork
The black stork (''Ciconia nigra'') is a large bird in the stork family Ciconiidae. It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his ''Systema Naturae''. Measuring on average from beak tip to end of tail with a wingspan, th ...
. Mammals like
elk
The elk (''Cervus canadensis''), also known as the wapiti, is one of the largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. The common ...
,
lynx and
polecat
Polecat is a common name for several mustelid species in the order Carnivora and subfamilies Ictonychinae and Mustelinae. Polecats do not form a single taxonomic rank (i.e. clade). The name is applied to several species with broad similarities ...
are common.
See also
*
Protected areas of Estonia
Protected areas of Estonia are regulated by the Nature Conservation Act (), which was passed by the Estonian parliament on April 21, 2004 and entered into force May 10, 2004.
Overall Estonia has 15403 Protected Areas covering 21.21% of the country ...
*
List of national parks in the Baltics
This is a list of the national parks in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Estonia
There are 6 national parks in Estonia.
Latvia
There are 4 national parks in Latvia.
Lithuania
There are 5 national parks in Lithuania.< ...
References
External links
*
*
Karula National Park
National parks of Estonia
Protected areas established in 1979
1979 establishments in Estonia
Antsla Parish
Rõuge Parish
Valga Parish
Geography of Võru County
Geography of Valga County
Tourist attractions in Võru County
Tourist attractions in Valga County
{{Europe-protected-area-stub