Carpathians

Carpathian National Park was established in 1980 in Ivano-Frankivsk province, in south-western Ukraine, and protects some 515 km². It was the country's first national park and remains one of the most visited.

Within its territory rises Hoverla, at 2,061 metres, Ukraine's highest mountain and the highest point of the Ukrainian Carpathians, within the Chornohora massif. The landscape combines beech and fir forests on the slopes, dwarf pine and bilberry scrub above the treeline, high meadows known as polonynas, and glacial cirques with small lakes.

The flora includes numerous Carpathian endemics and the fauna is that characteristic of the range, with brown bear, wolf, lynx, red deer and capercaillie. The park also preserves a Hutsul cultural heritage that is still very much alive, with timber architecture, traditional churches and grazing practices on the polonynas that have been kept up for centuries. It is also the usual starting point for the ascent of Hoverla, which carries a strong national symbolism.