Valgesoo bog

Bogs play a crucial role in the world’s water cycle

This yellow window is situated in Valgesoo Nature Reserve. It is a dignified place, and the bog fairies ask you to speak in a quiet voice and not to leave any rubbish behind.

Bogs play a crucial role in the world’s water cycle: peat accumulated in bogs filters polluted rain water, cleans polluted ground water and regulates the world’s carbon cycle – it captures carbon dioxide and releases oxygen, and it emits more oxygen than it consumes. Bogs are clean water reservoirs, particularly bog lakes and bog pools. Bogs are exceptionally stable and self-regulatory, which also makes them of particular scientific interest. Valgesoo Nature Reserve was established in 1981.

The most pristine and untouched beauty of Estonian nature is hidden in bog landscapes, which are scarce in the rest of Europe. There are 9,836 Estonian bogs, most of which are under nature protection laws – vast bog landscapes with no soul in sight, dark-eyed bog lakes, pungent-smelling, peaky, and in autumn, the multi-coloured fauna delight the nature lover’s soul. Bogs and swamps constitute 22.3 per cent of the country’s territory.

Did you start by climbing the 24-metre observation tower? If not, you can still do it before you leave. Now that your journey has taken you here, why not continue with a little trek in the divinely beautiful Taevaskoja?