Alam-Pedja Nature Reserve

Alam-Pedja covers around 34,000 hectares of floodplain, bog and forest where the Pedja, Põltsamaa and Emajõgi rivers meet. It has never been drained or cleared, and there are no through roads - which in a country as small and accessible as Estonia makes it genuinely remote.

What you actually see

• Flooded forest - in spring the rivers spread out and the woods stand in water.
• Raised bog and wet meadow - the mosaic the reserve exists to protect, crossed by boardwalk.
• Trail entry points - Kirna, Palupõhja and Selli-Sillaotsa, several with observation towers.
• The wildlife list - elk, wild boar, wolf, lynx and beaver resident, black stork and greater spotted eagle breeding, cranes on passage.

When to go

April to May is the spring flood, when the rivers spread through the forest and a canoe becomes the way to move. June to September has the boardwalks passable and the birds active, with mosquitoes a serious factor. Winter is frozen and silent, and the best time to read tracks.

Honest expectations

This is not a park with facilities. Away from the marked boardwalks it is genuinely difficult ground - wet, trackless, and easy to get turned around in. Going into the interior without local knowledge or a guide is a bad idea.

Insects between June and August are worse here than anywhere else on this list. That is not an exaggeration.

Nearby

Tartu is about an hour southeast. Emajõgi canoe routes run from Tartu into the reserve, and Lake Võrtsjärv lies just south.