Yugyd Va is the largest national park of Russia: its area is about 2 million ha (1894.1 thousand ha), it stretches 280 km from north to south and 120 km from west to east.
The national park was settled in 1994 for conservation of the primary nature of the Sub-Polar and Northern Urals including unique landscapes, numerous nature attractions, biological diversity of plant and animal world, as well as historical-cultural monuments as natural sacral objects of indigenous people. The largest part of its area is open for visiting. There are ready-made touristic routes to introduce people to its unique nature.
The national park is among the largest nature reserves not only in Russia but abroad. It is the European largest woodland of practically undisturbed primary boreal forests. The Yugyd Va National Park and the Pechora-Ilych State Nature Biosphere Reserve have a common border in the south and together form the UNESCO World-Wide Nature Heritage Site ‘Virgin Forests of Komi’ from December, 9 1995.
The highest peaks of the Urals are situated on the territory of the park and along its borders. They are the Narodnaya Mountain (1895 m), the Karpinsky Mountain (1803 m), the Kolokolnya (bell-tower) (1721 m), the Telpoz-iz (1620 m), the Sablya (saber) (1497 m), and the original park symbol – the Manaraga (1662 m).
One of the main properties of the park is crystal-clear and ecologically pure natural water. It is highlighted in its name: Yugyd Va it translated from the Komi language as ‘white water’. Numerous montane rivers in the park originate from the west slope of the Urals and flow into the Pechora River, one of the European largest and clearest rivers. Large rivers of the park are the Kozhim River, the Kosyu, and the Bolshaya Synya in the Sub-Polar Urals and the Podzherem River and the Shchcugor in the Northern Urals.
The Yugyd Va National Park is the lowest-populated national park in Russia with almost no permanent settlements. The northern indigenous communities as Mansi, Nenets, and Khanty people lived here nomadically in the past.
The unique and diverse nature complexes of the park first thank to its large area and then to a mountain relief of the area with a prominent altitudinal division into climatic zones. The spacious territory is inhabited by over 700 species of higher plants, 300 moss species, over 40 species of mammals, 200 bird species, over 1000 species of invertebrate animals. There are many endemics and relicts among representatives of the plant and animal world including rare species introduced into the Red Data Books of the Russian Federation and the Komi Republic.
The Yugyd Va National Park hosts over 700 species of lichens and fungi. The northern part of the park, i.e. the Kozhim River basin, is best studied. It is inhabited by 635 species. Mountain tundra areas, rock slides, carbonate rocks on mountain river shores are prominent through highly diverse lichens. Many of them are rare species in the Komi Republic as Lichenomphalia hudsoniana, Arctocetraria andrejevii, Cladonia luteoalba, Hypogymnia austerodes, Nephroma helveticum, Pilophorus robustus, Vulpicida juniperinus, Lobaria halli, Chaenotheca laevigata, Lasallia rossica, Evernia divaricata, Collema nigrescens, Enchylium polycarpon, Peltigera collina, Psora rubiformis, Stereocaulon symphycheilum, etc.
Dates: 09.12.2019 – 09.19.2019
Charge: 360 Euro.
During the trip, you will visit scenic landscapes and geological monuments of the Yugyd va national park, gold mining ground, and the Maldynyrd Ridge. Transport on the territory of the national park will be carried out on all-terrain vehicles. Accommodation will be organized in the single room guest houses (10 people in one house) at the Sanavozh camp site with electricity and stove heating. Bedding, daily bath and food are included.
The maximum number of participants in the tour is 18 people.
A detailed exursion program of the stay in the national park can be found here.