The Mari Forest or Mariy Chodra ( Mari and russian: Марий Чодра) is a
national park
A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...
Mari El Republic
The Mari El Republic (russian: Респу́блика Мари́й Эл, ''Respublika Mariy El''; Meadow Mari: ; Hill Mari: ) is a republic of Russia. It is in the European Russia region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga Rive ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. The park has an area of and was established in 1985.
Flora and fauna
Mariy Chodra was created to protect rare plants: more than 115 rare plant species are documented. There are fourteen tourist routes in the park; the most popular attractions being Yalchik, Glukhoye, and Kichiyer Lakes, the rafting on the
Ilet
Ilet ( chm, Элнет, ''Elnet'', russian: Илеть, ''Ilet'', tt-Cyrl, Илләт, translit=İllät) is a river in Mari El, Russia. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .Yushut Rivers, Pugachov's Oak, and the Maple Mountain.
There are more than fourteen tourist centers in Mariy Chodra, which play a major role in the recreation of the republics of Mari El,
Tatarstan
The Republic of Tatarstan (russian: Республика Татарстан, Respublika Tatarstan, p=rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə tətɐrˈstan; tt-Cyrl, Татарстан Республикасы), or simply Tatarstan (russian: Татарстан, tt ...
, and
Chuvashia
Chuvashia (russian: Чувашия; cv, Чӑваш Ен), officially the Chuvash Republic — Chuvasia,; cv, Чӑваш Республики — Чӑваш Ен is a republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is the homeland of the Chuv ...