Trees in creepers in the Samursky forest

The territory of the Samur forest is 10 thousand hectares. This forest area was formed in the delta of the Samur River, which flows into the Caspian Sea. It is the only forest in Russia where tropical lianas and other relict trees grow. This is a unique natural phenomenon for this latitude.  

The border of the northern tropic is located in the region of Egypt, 2,300 km south of the Samur Forest, and the real rainforests are much further south in Africa or Southeast Asia. In total, 15 types of lianas grow in the Samur forest, but four species are the most common:  

• Pastukhov`s ivy is a fairly thick vine with a hairy surface. It is listed in the Red Book. 
• Sassaparilla is a vine with sharp thorns. It grows mainly under trees. 
• Wild grapes and grape-leaved Clematis are thin vines that wrap around trees like cobwebs, right up to the very top. 

Despite the fact that Pastukhov`s Ivy is very common in the Samur forest, you need to know what it looks like. Otherwise you won`t find it. Sasaparil has large thorns, and it looks more like a shrub that creates impenetrable undergrowth in a tropical forest.  
Thin vines of wild grapes and grape-leaved Clematis hang on most trees in the Samur forest. They look most beautiful on the trees that grow on the road to the 800-year-old sycamore tree. 

This sycamore tree is the main attraction of the Samur forest, which tourists come to see. After you pass by the large reservoir of the Primorsky fish factory (you need to go around it from the left side), the road passes by very dense thickets of trees in lianas.