Nature of the Shulgan-Tash reserve

The nature of the Shulgan-Tash reserve is a beautiful foothills of the Southern Urals Mountains. In some places, you can see the rocky cliffs of the mountains, however, the area can be more characterized as hilly than mountainous. The Belaya River flows through the Shulgan-Tash Reserve and makes here numerous bends.  

There are ecological trails for nature walks in the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve, but opportunities for mass tourism have not yet been created here. Most of the trails are used for honey hunting. Local beekeepers walk on them to collect honey, and to take care of their beehive. 

For mass tourism, only a small excursion route is available from the cordon of the Shulgan-Tash reserve to the Kapova Cave, where rock carvings of the Upper Paleolithic era were found in 1959. They were painted on the walls of the cave by ancient people about 15 thousand years ago. The distance from the cordon to the cave is 2 kilometers.  

You can enter the territory of the Shulgan-Tash reserve only with a guide along the route that you have chosen to visit. Entering the territory of the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve, tourists on the right see a small rock "Sleeping Mammoth Grotto". From some angles, this rock really looks like a mammoth. Small mountains rise above this grotto, where you can see all the beauty of the nature of the Shulgan-Tash reserve.  

On the right side of the path, 100 meters away, the Belaya River flows. Bashkirs call this river Agidel. On the bank of the river there is a deciduous forest, typical of the nature of the Burzyansky district, where the traditions of honey hunting have been preserved. Here is the habitat of Burzian bees. They do not settle in traditional frame hives, but in hives on trees or in kolodny apiaries. 

Gradually, the trail comes to the bank of the Belaya River. On the opposite bank, rocky mountains rise above the river.  Here you can see all the beauty of the protected nature of Bashkiria. Nearby is the Museum of Honey Hunting and Kolodnaya apiary. The Kapova Cave Museum is 500 meters from the Honey Museum. Another 500 meters away is the entrance to Kapova Cave, which is the main attraction of the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve. 

After visiting Kapova Cave, you can bypass the Sarykuskan rock from the side of the Belaya River and climb to the observation deck of the Tirmertau Mountain (Mill Mountain). The distance from the Kapova cave to the top of the Tirmertau mountain is 1 kilometer, the climb reaches 150 meters. From the viewing point you can see the beautiful nature of the Shulgan-Tash Nature Reserve. A very beautiful bend of the Belaya River is visible on Mount Timertau. This beautiful landscape is often called the iconic view of the nature reserve Shulgan-Tash.