VOLGOGRAD, November 16. /TASS/. Seven nature parks in the Volgograd region offer their visitors 61 tourist routes, Chairman of the Committee for Natural Resources and Ecology Vitaly Sazonov told TASS.
“Tourist activities involve fishing and hunting in the Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain, taking advantage of the curative mud and salts of Lake Elton, the biggest salt lake in Europe, in Eltonsky park, exploring manmade caves in Shcherbakovsky park that may attract not only speleologists but also common tourists,” Sazonov said.
He noted that full information on each route and nature park was available on the official site dedicated to tourism in the Volgograd region as well as on the Committee website.
“At present, nature parks attract private funds to develop tourist routes. The Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain park has been cooperating with a big private company to set up an ecological route where summer houses, small bridges and information stalls have been installed,” Sazonov noted.
There are seven nature parks in the Volgograd region. A unique river valley with old oak groves form the Volgo-Akhtubinskaya floodplain park. The Nizhnekhopyorsky park is located along the Khopyor river, the biggest left tributary of the Don river and the cleanest river in Europe. The Transfiguration Monastery is situated on the territory of the Ust-Medveditsky park. The Donskoy park is located along the Don river. The Shcherbakovsky park is sometimes called Switzerland on the Volga due to its white chalk mountains. The Tsimlyanskiye Sands park adjoins to the Tsimlyansk Reservoir where many rare birds live, including those on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The Eltonsky park’s main treasure is Lake Elton which rivals the Dead Sea in the terms of its mineral water composition.