The conservation goal of the Soomaa National Park is the protection of the nature, cultural heritage, protected species, wildlife habitats and natural flora and fauna of the forests, bogs and floodplains of this part of Estonia.

The territory of the National Park is divided into:

The natural conditions here have played a major role in the formation of local cultural traditions: extensive mires, floods, the abundance of rivers, and river floodplains have influenced the peculiarity of the region. People adapted their lives to nature.

There used to be five villages in Soomaa, three of which remain today.

The settlement and cultural traditions of Soomaa National Park have been influenced by the natural conditions here. Due to the extensive river network, this area has been inhabited for countless generations. This is evidenced by the discovery of fishing spears made of bones and horns, arrowheads, stone axes, and a funeral cairn dating from the second millennium BCE in the southern part of the national park.

The terrain of the Soomaa National Park is relatively flat, but habitat to diverse lifeforms. Over 80% of the protected area is made up of wetlands.

• The surface of the national park covers 39,844 ha and is on the territory of two counties (Viljandimaa and Pärnumaa).
• The predecessors of the Soomaa National Park are the botanical protection area of the Halliste wooded grassland set up in 1957 and the protection areas of Kikerpera, Öördi, Kuresoo and Valgeraba bogs created in 1981. The Soomaa National Park was set up in 1993.
• The name Soomaa is older than that.

• Try not to leave traces behind when travelling in the nature and keep the peace here.
• When moving around in the nature, follow the freedom to roam practices.
• A permit from the land owner is required when moving around on marked/fenced private property.
• Camp and make a fire only on places prepared and marked for that. When leaving the campfire site, put out your fire.

Põhja-Kõrvemaa is an area in Harju County with large bogs and forests, numerous deep freshwater lakes. The area has been populated sparsely throughout time, the signs of human activity are marginal. There are three nature trails with information boards and a hiking trail that covers almost all of the reserve for learning about the natural values of the reserve. A good overview of the trails, camp fire sites and camping opportunities can be found on the website Loodusega koos managed by the State Forest Management Centre

The first traces of human settlement in Kõrvemaa date back to the Stone Age, but it has been sparsely populated throughout this whole time. The words “kõrb, kõrve” mean a large forest.

There were more than 40 farms on the territory of the current reserve before the Soviet power. Descriptions of the landscapes of Põhja-Kõrvemaa are reflected in the creations of the writer Anton Hansen Tammsaare, who lived with his brother in Oru farm that was in the village of Koitjärve. “Kõrboja peremees” (The Master of Kõrboja) is the best known of them all.

Landscapes

The formation of the grandiose landscape of Põhja-Kõrvemaa has been influenced mainly by the continental ice. There are two ice-marginal formations in the reserve: Aegviidu-Paukjärve that is approximately 16 km long and Kulli-Koitjärve that is about 8 km long. There are eskers with steep slopes about 100 metres in height, kames and plains. Bogs formed from former lakes are situated between and around the ridges and kames. Deep lakes are in the basins that mark the spots of buried icebergs.

Forests