Matsalu National Park

Matsalu National Park was established in 1957. Many migratory birds nest on the coastal grasslands and reed beds surrounding the Matsalu Bay. Initially the park was called Matsalu Nature Reserve and it did not gain its current name until 2004.

Matsalu National Park is one of Europe’s richest areas for bird species with more than 270 different species. If you happen to go there during the spring or fall bird migration period, you will experience the unforgettable sight of large flocks.

Matsalu wetland is of international importance as some of the semi-natural landscapes that have become very rare in Europe are still found there. Different types of meadows can be found spanning its 9,700 hectares. The primary types of meadows found here are broad flood-meadows and coastal grasslands. There are also alvar grasslands, wooded meadows, plaudifying grasslands and dry boreonemoral grasslands. After the snow melts, several of these are flooded by the Kasari river – one of the longest and most voluminous rivers in Estonia – which runs through Matsalu National Park.

Matsalu National Park has been awarded with several recognitions:

• It is the only park in the Baltic States that has received the European Diploma of Protected Areas from the Council of Europe in recognition of its efforts to protect the area’s biological, geological and landscape diversity.
• The national park is a part of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Protected Areas. 
• In 2015 Matsalu and its surrounding area was the only region in Estonia to receive the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas, issued by the EUROPARC Federation.