Crimean Natural Reserve

Crimean natural reserve is closed for free visit. If you want to familiarize with it, you may go to a very impressive Museum of Nature in Alushta, with great taste and scientific authenticity decorated. Its expositions tell about a history of reserve, today's work of its cooperators in preservation of flora and fauna. Also they tell about scientific research of several generations of scholars. Great diorams reflect life of forest reserves, flora on mountain plateau, show wonderful landscapes of mountain and forestry Crimea. Excursions around rooms of Museum are accompanied by birds' singing, recorded on a tape in spring forest.

There is a dendrozoo (6 h.) near the Museum. It presents 160 sorts of trees and bushes, 170 sorts of graminaceous plants. Animals and birds live on open areas and hollows. They are the most interesting inhabitants of Crimean forest. Nowadays, according to agreement with reserve, were organized excursions around the very prohibited forestry.

Thick woods of oak, beech and pine occupy almost 95% of the territory of the reserve. Only separate areas of yaila and few meadows are treeless. The flora of the reserve consists almost of 1150 sorts (44% of all flora in the Crimea), including number of plants endemic for the Crimea (Steven's maple, Bibershteyn's mouse-ear chickweed, yaila's cockshead, ash onion and etc.). In the wood you may see giant trees: oak, yew, alder... Altogether there are more than 200 of such giants in the forestry. In the valley of the river Ulu-Uzen lime is grown. It's the thickest tree, its trunk has almost 6,5 m in the circuit.

Deer, roe, mountain fox, badger and other mammal inhabit prohibited forests. Altogether there are 40 spices. Moufflon from Korsika, squirrel from Altaj, boar from Far East are successfully acclimatized here. Many of rare animals and plants are put into the Red Book.

Crimean deer is a pride of prohibited forests. He is the biggest and the most beautiful animal in the mountain Crimea. The popularity of animals-deer, roe, wild boar, moufflon is kept up on a certain level for the aim to preserve forestry. The only native-born area of growing Crimean birch is situated within the prohibited forestry, on the mountain downhill, near a waterfall, named after N.A.Golovkinskij, researcher in the Crimea. Every of these north peri is an alive heiress of faraway glacial epoch. It were conditions of severe climate and large snow fields appeared on yailas. Gradually, while growing warmer, the birch began to die out. It preserved only in the kind of small boskets at the most ardous, shaded and damp places of Main mountain range.

Strange as it may seem, but the first who found the birch, it was our great poet A.S.Pushkin, not a botanist. The poet crossed the Main Range on the ancient pass - Shajtan-Merdven (Baker's Stairway) in 1820.