The Kara-dag reserve on the coast of Crimea, between the village of Kurortnoye and the resort of Koktebel, is one of those places where, whatever your religion, you can feel the hand of the Creator at work. Indescribably beautiful, this unique Jurassic landscape is the result of an extinct volcano, which thousands of years ago spewed lava and debris into the sea. The elements have weathered the volcanic rocks into fantastic shapes and produced flora and wildlife unique to this part of Crimea.

In May, the mountains of Kara-dag are carpeted with wild flowers, and the valleys are a lush green and dotted with flowering trees and shrubs. Wild Crimean peones make splashes of pink among the trees and on a warm spring day the quiet is tangible. By July the heat has turned some of the grasses yellow and the contrasts with the wild junipers and summer flowers are all the more striking. And everywhere there are new perspectives on the Black Sea where the mountains plunge into the blue-green bays along the coast.

Amethyst, onyx, cornelian, agate, jasper and many other crystals and minerals can be found here, and gem-stones from the area are prized throughout the world. There is abundant wildlife, and the coastal location means that you can see seabirds such as cormorants as well as eagles, storks, jays, and a host of others. The mountains are home to a number of snakes (not poisonous), and also to a range of spiders. Of these, only the black widow is venomous. There are rare and in some cases endangered plant species in the zapovyednik such as Junge's Desert Candle and Poyarkova's Hawthorn, many of which are included in the Red Book of Ukraine. Within its 25 sq km it contains fir and pistachio-tree woods, broadleaved woods with downy oak, oriental hornbeam, and close to sea-level, meadows and steppe-lands rich in herbs. At higher altitudes you'll find oak, ash and rowan trees, cornel, privet, In the Kizil-Tash mountain forest there are Greek Junipers.

Juniper wood, with its gorgeous spicy scent has become identified with Crimea, and anyone who has been here is likely to have taken home a souvenir comb, teapot stand or something similar so that the scent can remind them of their holiday. There are all sorts of myths associated with it - some people believe it protects the owner against theft, others that it attracts love and aids spiritual development. It's popular in aromatherapy and candle-making, and there is evidence that it has natural antiseptic qualities. Unfortunately it's become so popular that the sale of juniper products is now restricted for conservation reasons.

Kara-Dag was declared a zapovyednik - national reserve - in 1979, and since then careful steps have been taken to protect it. There is a visitor centre with a small wildlife museum, and here you can buy a ticket (around 15 UAH) for a guided walk. Independent walking is not allowed because of fears of fires and erosion, and also because the iron content in some of the volcanic mountains is so high that it generates a magnetic field which can interfere with compasses, so a good knowledge of the mountain paths is essential. But the four-hour guided hike will take you right up into the most interesting parts of the reserve with a ranger who is extremely knowledgeable (but take an interpreter - they don't usually speak English).

There is a scientific center with almost a century history in the east Crimea. This history was starting in 1901 when Terentiy Ivanovich Vyazemsky, privat-docent of Moscow University, doctor neuropathologist bought the small neglected estate in Karadag - Kaburg located in Feodosia district and built there the scientific biological station.

In August 1979 the nature reserve was created as one of the most important biostation. Its territory is more than 20 square kilometres on land and nearly 10 square kilometres on sea. The goal of the reserve is to safe and study the primordial flora and fauna of that the most interesting and the only park in Europe that remained its primary face during the millions of years. Now it is not the reserve attached to the station but the station itself that became one of the branches of Karadag nature reserve of Ukrainian National Academy of Science, now it has its official status.

Karadag nature reserve is one of the youngest on the territory of the former Soviet Union. For its creation 18 years ago there were real causes: it was necessary to preserve the unique natural formation, the remainings of ancient volcanic massif, concealing a lot of the most interesting and different information for geologists, biologists, zoologists. At the end of 70-es nearly 10 thousand people were having their summer holiday there as non-official holiday-makers and two times as many tourists visited that picturesque place momentarily. The animal and vegetable world have suffered greatly from such visits, the stock of minerals and halfprecious stones were destructed predatorily, met in a great number on Karadag bays and slopes. The fear appeared that in 20-30 years Kara-Dag would turn into the desert, would stop being the natural sight of the world level.

18-year respite has affected very beneficially. Many kinds of flora and fauna have restored considerably. Nowdays the local flora contains more than 10 thousand kinds among which there are quite a lot of endemics, these plants are not met anywhere on the globe. 29 kinds of espesially rare plants are noted down into the Red Book. On the territory of the reserve nowdays there are 35 kinds of mammals, 130 kinds of birds, 15 kinds of reptiles, a lot of rare insects. 18 kinds of animals are noted down into the Red Book. Behind these figures there is a huge scientific, instructive guarding work of scientists and collaborators of the reserve.

Some years ago there was opened ecological path on which scientific collaborators lead excursions during the whole season. Each year the popularity of dolphinary with trained dolphins and sea fur-seals is growing, it is a real small circus on water. There were opened the aquarium, museum of exotic animals, picture gallery of the painters' presents, those painters who worked in Kara-Dag and left there the memory about themselves.

Whether it is not the blessed place discovered by the outstanding knight of science, Russian scientist, the person of natural gift Terentiy Vyazemsky, about whom Konstantin Paustovsky said: "There are so wonderful places in the world that each visit of them calls the feeling of happiness". You can get there by direct flight to Simferopol or through Kiev or Odessa.