Voronezh State Natural Biosphere Reserve, among local residents, also known as "Grafsky", owes its appearance to ... beavers. The thing is that by the beginning of the last century this game beast in Russia was almost completely destroyed. And after the expedition discovered several beaver "huts" on the Usmanka River in 1922, scientists asked the authorities to organize a protective territory for rodents, which was done five years later.

Now the territory of the reserve is more than 30 thousand hectares, and in Besides the "culprits" of the emergence of the nature protection zone, 334 species of vertebrates reside. The largest of them are wild boars, moose, roe deer and European deer.

There are rivers and lakes in the reserve, as well as unique northern marshes in the central part of Russia. By the way, near the swamps there are also growing northern berries - blueberries and cranberries, which are also quite rare for local forests.

Nature Museum and Beaver Nursery

Tourists can not walk alone in the protected forests, but they can look into the "window" of wildlife with the help of a local museum. In it you can see the main inhabitants of the territory, though, in the form of stuffed animals, very similar to live animals, to listen to the voices of birds. But in the beaver cattery beavers are very lively and active, they can not only be seen but also patted.

The address of the museum and beaver cattery: the village of Krasnolesny, the State Reserve, the Central Manor. The Nature Museum is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm, and you can visit beavers from 9 am to 5 pm (on weekends from 11 am to 4 pm).

How to get here

From Moscow: take the M4 motorway, then turn 12 km to Voronezh by the sign "Rostov" and continue along the bridge to the left. Go to the pointer to Tambov and turn to the bridge, then - to the pointer to Orlovo and turn right and then left. After 25 km you will see a pointer to the reserve.

From Voronezh: on the M4 highway before turning onto Rostov or on the Tambov highway before turning on Orlovo, and then - along the above mentioned route.

Public transport from Voronezh: electric trains "Voronezh -Grafskaya, Voronezh-Usman, Voronezh-Ramon and bus No. 310 to Grafskaya station

Voronezh Biosphere Reserve in winter

Lisitsa, Voronezh Biosphere Reserve

Newborn Bobryat, Voronezh Biosphere Reserve ik

Orel-dwarf, Voronezh Biosphere Reserve

Osokovoe, Voronezh Biosphere Reserve