Kinburn Spit

Kinburn Spit

The unique feature of the area is caused by a significant number of endemic species of flora and fauna. With some 600 species of higher vascular plants, the spit is often called a green pharmacy. However, more 30 plants are already in various conservation lists.

The Kinburn peninsula alone has a unique field of wild orchids that is one of the largest habitats of wild orchids in Ukraine and, indeed, in Europe. The orchid field stretches over 60 hectares, located near the beaches around Pokrovka and related to plants in the salt meadows. Protected according to Ukraine’s Red Book, this field is a coastal plain, very densely populated by 6 types of orchids: between 30 and 100 orchids grow in every square meter.

The peninsula also hosts about 5,000 species of fauna, including such rare species of rodents as the sandy mole-rat, the thick-tailed, three-toed jerboa, the blotched snake and the meadow viper. In the sea, dolphins can often be seen jumping among the waves. The Kinburnska Kosa or Kinburn Spit is an avian kingdom.

Every year, several million birds migrate through the peninsula. Its marshy areas also play a key role in the conservation of waterfowl. Here, eiders, gadwall ducks, sandpipers, cranes, pied avocets, Eurasian oystercatchers, European rollers, and herons make their nests. In summer, you can see flocks of pink pelicans, and in winter, white-tailed eagles.

The Kinburn Spit includes over 300 ponds with fresh and salt water. Several lakes also have therapeutic mud and the area has sites with blue clay soil. Most of the littoral ponds and ponds near Yahorlyk Bay have access to the sea, which regulates their water exchange. Filled with seawater, they are shallow, being under 1.5 meters, and so they heat up well.

Along with its unique natural features, the Kinburn Spit is the most renowned place of Kozak military glory.

The Park territory is the site of a number of settlements from the Late Bronze Age and antiquity. During the Kozak era, most of the peninsula belonged to the Prohonoyiv Palanka or township of the Zaporizhzhian republic. Near the lake is the famed Kozak portage, by which those living in the lower reaches avoided the Turkish fortresses at Kinburn and Ochakiv. Next to the portage is the Kinburn salt lake, from which salt was transported all over Ukraine and many parts of Europe. The remains of the Kinburn fortress stand as a witness to the achievements of the Black Sea Kozaks.

This National Park offers visitors a variety of outdoor activities such as excursions by car along established tourist routes, horseback riding at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, therapeutic mud pools, beaches in summertime, bird-watching and travel photography.