“Frozen, but not frozen” - Kivach waterfall in winter

The mountain pours diamonds From the heights of four rocks, The abyss of pearls and silver Boils below, beats up with mounds; From the splashes the blue hill stands, Far away the roar in the forest thunders...

"Waterfall". Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin

“To visit Karelia and not visit Kivach is the same as coming to Tula and not drinking tea from a samovar with a bite of gingerbread. You can survive, but the feeling of an unfulfilled rite will remain. I could not allow such a turn of events and on the first Karelian morning I went to show Katya the reserve and the Kivach waterfall. It is a pleasure to show the real pride of Karelia, sung by many, and the place that I love so much. Having been there once, you forever remember these paths, stones, trees and signs. Everything seemed predictable to me, but, to be honest, the picture of that day struck me. The surrounding winter landscape was cut by a thin stream of water, which now and then made its way not through stones turned for hundreds of years, but through blocks of ice. Unusual for those who have been here, but no less beautiful for that.

I won’t bore you with long stories and will immediately move on to the photo report, ”writes Dmitry Trunov.

(Total 25 photos)

Source: JJournal / trunov-dmitry

1. We got from the village of Spasskaya Guba to the reserve by car. To drive for about an hour and without relatives (Zhenya, Stas and Irishka, a separate hello to you) I would not have coped. I do not know the bus service, and the tourist service is hardly available in winter.

2. The reserve is located in the Kondopoga region on the Suna River. The administration and the main tourist route are very close to the waterfall. As soon as you see this sign, you will understand that you have arrived.

3. For travel/passage to the territory, you will be charged 100 rubles per nose. They say they used to take it from a car, and now from a person. I don’t even know what it is connected with, but in a good mood I didn’t ask stupid questions.

4. The territory is soundly equipped. Around gazebos, benches, cafes and souvenir shops. There is a place to relax after or before the walk.

5. This is a meeting - unexpectedly Santa Claus came out to meet me, who told me that now it was time for matinees in the reserve and children from Petrozavodsk and Kondopoga were coming to the holiday. We congratulated each other on the New Year and said goodbye. By the way, I have not seen more Santa Clauses until this very day.

6. Near Kivach there is a Kivach reserve with an area of more than 10 thousand hectares, which is closely monitored. I don’t know how it is in the whole territory, but here at the waterfall everything is quite ennobled. All around new slopes with railings and all that.

7. And here it is - the Kivach waterfall. The name of the waterfall comes from the Finnish "kiivas", which means "powerful, impetuous".

8. To be honest, I thought that everything had a more beautiful appearance, but due to the onset of frost, a powerful waterfall was covered with ice and does not seem as dangerous as it really is.

9. From the first time I chose not the most successful point for filming and immediately realized this. Fortunately, a convenient path with a bridge has been laid from one point to another. Previously, people crawled over stones, risking breaking one or two limbs at once.

10. If we talk about flora and fauna, then 216 species of birds are registered on the territory of the reserve. There are about 569 species of vascular plants. There are 47 species of mammals in the fauna of the reserve. There are 3 types of reptiles and 5 types of amphibians. On the territory of the reserve, 18 species of fish are permanently inhabited. The fauna is dominated by typical taiga species, but along the outskirts you can also meet “guests” from more southern lands: common voles, quails, gray partridges, corncrakes, common kestrel, oriole, moored frogs and others.

11. Here is a good view, and this is the reason for the official information. The height of the waterfall is about 11 meters (moreover, the water falls from several ledges). The Kivach waterfall is the fourth largest flat waterfall in Europe (after the Rhine, the Big Janiskengas waterfall and the Kumi waterfall on the Voinitsa River).

12. A separate descent was made on the river for timber rafting (many logs were broken into chips), in addition, part of the water was diverted for the Sunsky cascade of hydroelectric power stations, the largest of which are the Kondopozhskaya hydroelectric power station and the Paleozerskaya hydroelectric power station. This reduced the power of the waterfall (up to 66 m³/s).

13. In the legend about the formation of the waterfall, we are talking about two sister rivers, Suna and Shuya. They did not want to part with each other and flowed close. But at one point, Suna gave her sister her comfortable bed and lay down to rest. After waking up, she was surprised to see that Shuya had flown away very far, and set off in pursuit, demolishing everything in her path. In the place where the Suna broke through the rocks, the Kivach waterfall arose.

14. Great place to just stand and watch.

15. Of course, in spring and autumn there is a completely different picture and nothing is heard from the noise of falling water, but in winter it is calm and, perhaps, best of all. When you can still see the almost frozen waterfall - only in winter.

16. On the other hand, the river calmly continues its course. I would love to sit here with a fishing rod, watching thousands of tourists take pictures in front of the waterfall.

17. Remember, I spoke about stones? So, the most cunning and unable to read spit on the danger and crawl down, where the waterfall is best seen. However, everyone does this, and it is high time for the administration to make normal descents to this place.

18. And here is the main beauty - trunova_kate.

19. Where without the Karelian birch in the reserve - nowhere.

20. A beautiful tree has already been on Instagram, and now it is in front of you.

21. In some places there are wooden figures made by the hands of local workers. I immediately remembered the Museum of Russian Superstitions on the Curonian Spit.

22. There is a museum in a small house near the waterfall.

23. Okay, I confess, I once wrote about this place, but it was a long time ago and not true.

24. I really liked the owls, a cool idea and implementation by the hands of children.

25. This story ends, because I have nothing more to tell. Come and see for yourself.