Thanks to the amazingly picturesque and clean nature, ecological tourism is rapidly developing in Karelia today. Lakes and rivers are one of the attractive features of the region. There are more than 27,600 rivers, about 73,000 large and small reservoirs on 180,500 km² of the total area of the republic, including the largest freshwater lakes in Europe - Onega and Ladoga. Due to the hilly terrain with individual huge boulders, elevated and flat rock formations, many channels form rapids and waterfalls in Karelia. And if you clarify that 85% of the territory is occupied by coniferous and mixed forests, then you can imagine what beauties are lakes and full-flowing rivers of the region flow with their numerous cascades and seething streams.
A small list with photos of the most famous freshwater objects of the Karelian Republic offers a brief description of them.
Kumi Threshold
Fourteen-meter seething stream in height takes the first place among the lowland waterfalls of Karelia and the thirdin Europe. Perhaps it is the most stunning in the republic, but few travelers can appreciate its beauty. Close to the Finnish border, this part of the Vojnica River is set in a colorful forest setting, but in an incredible wilderness that is not at all easy to get to. At 27 km from the object, Vojnitsa is found - a village with 20 inhabitants, where there is no bus service. Buses run only to Kalevala, which is 80 km from Kumi. Therefore, you can only get to the waterfall by car. Kumi rapids are especially expressive during the May and June floods, when its roar spreads over the area for several kilometers.
Kivach Waterfall
In Karelia and beyond its borders, it is the most famous, but it does not stand out with its maximum height? nor extraordinary magnificence. However, this stream with a ten-meter drop is characterized by swiftness, which is what its name means in Finnish (kiivas). In terms of significance, the waterfall is considered the second after the Rhine. Once Kiach was a little inferior to its Swiss counterpart in power, but after the construction of the Cascade of Sun power plants in 1964 and partial drainage of water, the waterfall lost its former impressiveness. This attraction is located not far from Petrozavodsk (60 km) in the middle of one of the oldest Russian reserves, named, like the waterfall, "Kivach".
A ten-meter drop and diabase ledges along the 170 m of the Suna River form a waterfall, divided by a rock into two streams. The left secondary flow is divided into separate jets, and the right one,the main one, tends down four steps, the height of the last of which reaches eight meters. The Kivach waterfall, the arboretum and the Museum of Nature located near it are excursion objects of the reserve forming an overview complex.
Yukankoski
This is the Finnish name for the most beautiful group of waterfalls in Karelia. Local residents piled it with white bridges in the 70s of the last century because of the white stone bridges built by the Finns up the Kulismajoki River, and from which only ruins remain today. The river divided by the island forms two branches flowing at a distance of thirty meters from each other. The left stream flows in a stepped cascade with an 11-meter drop. The sheer waterfall of the right arm falls from 18 meters high and is recognized by many as one of the most picturesque spectacles in Karelia. White Bridges - the highest waterfall in the Northern Ladoga region.
Kivakkakoski and Myantyukoski
In the Paanajärvi National Park, which is located in the very north of the Karelian Republic, you can see many natural wonders. Two waterfalls can be called real treasures of this area. Kivakkakoski is formed from three branches of the Olanga River, which, when connected, collapse in a roaring cascade along a slope with a twelve-meter drop. Looking at this power, it is difficult to take your eyes off the rapid movement of water and the marble-like pattern formed by the seething water.
The Karelia Myantyukoski waterfall, which is located in the same park, can only be reached by boat across Lake Paanajärvi, which in bad weather becomesdangerous due to high waves. But it's worth seeing this beauty. Five rocky steps create picturesque cascades and break the narrow Myantyukoski River into numerous streams and streams, whitish from the stormy movement. This not the fastest and highest stream is recognized as one of the most romantic Kareli cascades.
Ruskeala
This is an artificial reservoir on the site of a flooded quarry, which is located near the village of Ruskeala. Marble in quarries began to be mined here under Catherine II and finished at the end of the last century. And since 1998, a huge quarry pit flooded with groundwater has been turned into a mountain park, which is a point of the national and international route.
The sheer walls of the quarry descend to the most transparent, visible up to 18 m water. The rocks are riddled with flooded grottoes and caves, which were once adits. Leaving the transport at a well-maintained parking lot, you can rent a boat, and an hour will be enough to view the beauty of the lake and take wonderful photos from the lower angle of the reservoir. Breathtaking views open from the observation platforms of the hiking trail encircling the perimeter of the lake along the top of the rocks. If you turn a little off the tourist route, you can find interesting objects, such as abandoned adits, flooded caves or a marble deposit. Since the rivers do not flow into the lake of the marble quarry of Karelia, there are no waterfalls here for this reason.
Tohmajoki Rapids
And yet, the surroundings of the mountain park are known for small but very colorful cascades and turbulent streams. Having visited this corner of Karelia, Ruskealu marble quarry and waterfalls should certainly be included in a single route. The banks and bed of the small river Tokhmajoki near the village of Ruskeala are exceptionally rocky with many rock ledges and single blocks. Here, in several places, with drops of three to four meters, water flows noisily between randomly placed obstacles.
One of the waterfalls and coastal places of Tohmajoki participated as scenery for the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”. In order for tourists to comfortably observe this beauty, observation platforms are landscaped here. And at a distance of about one kilometer, you can see a more spectacular sight - an almost sheer, seven-meter-high Ryumäkoski waterfall, with a collapsing Finnish power plant from the 30s of the last century.
Other rapids
It should be noted that many waterfalls in Karelia in the second part of their name contain the Finnish word koski, which means "river rapids". There are many such steps on the Karelian rivers. They may not be as significant and grandiose as those listed above, but no less picturesque. Dugakoski is one of them. This is a series of rapids and small waterfalls of a canyon formed by the narrow river Kollasjoki. Its width in some places reaches two meters, and the height of the walls of the gorge does not exceed 15 m. The height of the two largest waterfalls is 2, 5 and 3 meters. The place is remarkable for its picturesque landscape.
Koyrinoya - the name of the village and two waterfalls, which, in turn, are also called Upper and Lower. Both of them are not high, five and four meters, but they are extremely beautiful, they are easily accessible by highway and railway.
The amazing nature of Karelia attracts more and more adherents of "green tourism" every year. Kayaking on the rivers is a special kind of sport, for which the full-flowing, swift and in many places dangerous rivers of the republic are the best fit. Those who prefer to travel by land use the services of regional buses, follow the routes in their own cars, and sometimes hire local residents as a guide and driver.
