Soomaa means 'land of bogs', and the national park in south-west Estonia protects a vast area of raised bog, floodplain meadow and forest between five rivers. Its defining feature is a phenomenon locals call the fifth season.
The fifth season
Each spring, when the snow melts and the rivers rise faster than the flat land can drain, the water spreads out across the forest and meadows. Roads disappear, farmyards fill, and the landscape becomes a shallow lake among the trees. It usually happens in March or April and lasts anything from a few days to several weeks; in big years the water rises more than five metres.
People here have lived with it for centuries rather than fighting it. Houses were built on high ground, and boats were kept ready.
The haabjas
The traditional craft is the haabjas, a dugout canoe hollowed from a single aspen trunk and then widened by soaking and heating. It is one of the oldest boat types in Europe still being made, and the knowledge of building it is on the UNESCO list of intangible heritage in need of urgent safeguarding.
During the flood, guides run canoe trips through the flooded forest — paddling between tree trunks over what is normally a path. It is the single most distinctive thing you can do in Estonia and it is entirely dependent on the water and the weather, so it cannot be booked far ahead with certainty.
The rest of the year
Outside the flood, Soomaa is a place of quiet trails. Riisa and Kuresoo bogs have boardwalks and towers. The rivers are gentle enough for canoeing all summer. Beavers are abundant and their dams and felled trees are everywhere; guided beaver-watching trips at dusk have a good success rate.
Winter brings a different version again: frozen bog, snowshoe trails, and the possibility of walking across surfaces that are impassable at any other time.
Practical
Soomaa is about forty minutes from Pärnu and two hours from Tallinn. Accommodation is in small guesthouses and farm stays, several of which have smoke saunas. There is no entrance fee, and the visitor centre at Kõrtsi-Tõramaa has trail maps and current water levels.
Bring rubber boots — even outside the flood, this is wet ground — and insect repellent in summer, which is not optional here.