About Protected Area

Vooremaa Landscape Protection Area was founded in 1964 to protect the naturally beautiful and scientifically interesting landscape rich in lakes, large drumlins and the local cultural heritage. It extends 16 km from the northwest to the southeast and 4–8 km from the northeast to the southwest. The area of the reserve is 9,831 ha.

The landscape of Vooremaa is characterised by drumlins that are 2–5 km long, 0.5–0.8 km wide and 20–40 metres high in the northwest-southeastern direction. These are our only large drumlins based on the total area and dimensions of Vooremaa. Only 10% of the drumlins is in the borders of the landscape reserve.

There are 18 drumlins in the reserve, the largest of them are the drumlins of Raigastvere, Nava, Praaklima and Saadjärve. The landscape reserves covers 8 lakes, the largest among them is Lake Saadjärv (724.5 ha). In Estonia Saadjärv is the fifth largest lake and it is also quite deep. The average depth of Lake Saadjärv is 8 metres, maximum 25 metres. Vendace living in the lake are the biggest in Estonia.

Vooremaa Landscape Protection Area belongs partly to the Natura 2000 network of the European Union as the bird area of Vooremaa and conservation area of the lakes of Vooremaa. The southern part of the area is also an internationally important bird area (IBA). The manager of the protected area is the Environmental Board.

a aeral view with a farmhouse, forest, fields and lake Pikkjärv in autumn

Aeral view to Lake Pikkjärv. Photo: Remo Savisaar