Lake Engure Nature Park

The nature park of Latvia’s largest coastal lake will surprise you with rare plants, shaggy wild cattle and horses. It is worth visiting not only during the annual Bird Watching Days in spring and autumn, but also during the flowering of wild orchids in the hottest months of the year.

Watch birds
Lake Engure is one of the places where the Latvian Ornithological Society organises Bird Watching Days every April and October. This is no coincidence: rare and endangered bird species can be found here, for example the corncrake, the eagle owl, the little crake, the white-tailed eagle, the penduline tit, the white stork and others.

So that visitors to the nature park can better observe the beautiful landscape and its inhabitants, several bird observation towers have been built at Lake Engure.

See wild animals
The most noticeable inhabitants of the nature park are wild animals, which are already accustomed to visitors and regard them with interest.

In the meadows by the lake graze Latvian Brown, Highland, Charolais and Hereford cattle, as well as Polish konik horses, one of the Polish horse breeds. Koniks lived in Europe until the Middle Ages; the breed was later wiped out, but it was restored in the 20th century and has adapted again to life in the wild.

Walk the Orchid Trail
In Latvia, orchids do not grow only in flowerpots, as you can see by walking the 3.5 km long Orchid Trail, which starts near the Engure Ornithological Research Centre. It winds through grassy bogs and damp forests and reveals 22 of the 32 species of the orchid family found in Latvia.

The best time to visit the trail is from the end of June to the first half of July.