Oandu old-growth forest nature trail (4.7 km)

Oandu old-growth forest nature trail runs through a fascinating and mystical primeval forest.

This 4.7 km trail from Oandu in Lahemaa is a walk through real old-growth forest, where fallen and rotting trunks feed rare fungi, lichens, mosses and insects and young trees rise in the gaps left by the old. It starts in dry pine forest, drops past the Koljaku-Oandu escarpment into damp, peaty woodland with springs, then crosses stands of spruce, aspen and alder of every age, with old pines on the higher slopes; every hill has a different forest and every hollow its own mire. Tracks of elk, boar, bear and lynx are common. The visitor centre's exhibition explains the forest's life cycle first.