Tourist Routes Exploring Ancient Hillforts

Urochyshche “Barmakivske” (Barmaky Isolated Terrain)

Barmaky Isolated Terrain was established in 1983 as an entomological reserve in order to preserve rare and endangered species of insects and other invertebrates. In 2005, this area obtained the status of a protected area with a total area of 22.4 hectares in order to preserve the forest-steppe natural vegetation complex.

Other Names: “Barmakivsky” Reserve, Barmaky Mountains, Barmaky Slopes, Barmakovel.

Status:

Forest nature conservation area of local importance.

Location:

Rivne Oblast, Shpaniv Territorial Community (Hromada), eastern outskirts of the city of Rivne.

Coordinates:

50.62611, 26.29944

Travel Distance to the City of Rivne by Road:

5.2 km

Description:

Barmaky Isolated Terrain is located in the forest-steppe zone on the Volhynian Upland (Plateau). It has an area with meadow steppes, which is rare for western forest-steppe, hence it is valuable for Ukraine.

 The isolated terrain has a strict protection regime. It is forbidden to carry out any construction work, hay-making, harvesting of medicinal herbs, circulation with motor vehicles of any kind, camping and fire lighting, etc.  Winter recreation activities in this area causes great damage to the Barmaky Isolated Terrain. In snowy winters, the reserve turns into so-called Barmakovel for fans of extreme recreation activities, although sledding, skiing, and snowboarding from these beautiful slides in the protected area is strictly prohibited by law.  There are ecological trails in the protected area, which allow to get acquainted with the beauty of nature and historical places.

 While hiking along the ecological trails of the Barmaky Isolated Terrain, the tourist can get acquainted with the archaeological monument (encampment of mammoth hunters, 15,000 years ago), with the vegetation of steppe meadows (there are such plants as poa angustifolia, thinopyrum intermedium, known commonly as intermediate wheatgrass astragalus cicer, the chickpea milkvetch etc.); with chalk formation, calcicole plants (helianthemum nummularium, known as common rock-rose, thymus calcareus, linum flavum, also called the golden flax or yellow flax), as well as rare adonis vernalis, known variously as pheasant’s eye; they can stop at to the top of the hill to admire the scenic panorama of the isolated terrain; ditches and ramparts that slow down the growth of steep banks; they can see relict Carpathian plant species, namely telekia speciosa or heartleaf oxeye, which is a rhizomatous, sunflower-like perennial; the visitors can also look at the seep slope, which shows the geological structure of the hill with thick layers of chalk and loam.

 On the whole, many plants listed in the Green Data Book of Ukraine (official list of the threatened plant communities that are protected by the law in Ukraine) grow in the Barmaky Isolated Terrain. Furthermore, rare species of insects live on this natural landmark (scolia hirta, papilio machaon, i.e. the Old World swallowtail, clouded Apollo, hamearis lucina, so-called the Duke of Burgundy, acherontia atropos, i.e. the African death’s-head hawkmoth – all of them are listed in the Red Data Book of Ukraine, an official national red list of the threatened animals, plants and fungi that are protected by the law in Ukraine).

Source: Hryshchenko, Yu. M. (2008). Pryrodno-zapovidnyi fond Rivnenskoi oblasti [Nature Reserve Fund of Rivne Oblast] Volynski Oberehy, Rivne (in Ukrainian).

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Routes that pass through this location