Karula

Karula National Park was established in 1993 in southern Estonia, in the counties of Valga and Võru, and at some 123 km² it is the smallest of the country's national parks.

Its relief is of glacial origin and highly characteristic: an undulating landscape of kames, hills formed by the accumulation of sediment in hollows of the retreating ice, among which are set close to forty small lakes. That fine-grained topography, without great differences in height but in constant change, is uncommon in so flat a country.

The plant cover combines pine and spruce forests, mixed broadleaf woods, hay meadows and small peat bogs, and much of the territory is a traditional farming landscape with scattered farmsteads, fields and hedgerows. Conserving that cultural mosaic, maintained by small-scale agriculture, is as much a part of the park's objectives as protecting the natural habitats. The wildlife includes elk, beaver, lynx, black stork and a varied forest birdlife.