Kenozero National Park in Russia’s Arkhangelsk Region is home to the Great Watershed of Two Oceans. Here, through a system of rivers, water from one lake flows into the Arctic Ocean, while water from another makes its way to the Atlantic.
According to legend, the two lakes were separated by a Water Spirit, as two suitors sought the hand of his daughter, one spirit from the north and the other from the south. They were always bickering with each other, so the Water Spirit refused to marry his daughter to either of them. He divided the lakes to prevent their rivalry from summoning a storm. In reality, however, the lakes were formed naturally over twelve thousand years ago, as the Scandinavian glacier was receding.
Today, Kenozero Park is a strikingly beautiful and vibrant ecosystem, with its untouched landscape, pristine waters — once even harvested for river pearls — and dense forests crisscrossed by ant trails. The people of Kenozero live in harmony with nature and pass down the traditions of the Russian North from generation to generation.
