Buky Canyon

Buky Canyon

Buky Canyon is a rock canyon on the Gorny Tikich River near the village of Buky (Mankovsky district of Cherkassy region), one of the most beautiful places in Ukraine. The canyon itself is small, about 5 kilometers long, also this place is unique in that there are ruins of the first hydroelectric power plant in Ukraine.

General information

Locals call the canyon a mysterious gift of nature. The village of Buki itself appeared in the first half of the XVI century, and it got such a funny name from the beech trees that once grew in this area. The forests belonged to Polish magnates Kalinovsky. Now it is an urban-type settlement with a little more than 2 thousand people. During the Soviet Union Buki became famous for the fact that it was here in 1929, in fulfillment of the famous Leninist electrification plan GOELRO was built and put into operation one of the first in Ukraine small hydroelectric power plant with a capacity of 562 kW. But in 1965 Buki lost the status of a district center, and soon the station was closed. For half a century, the former HPP turned into ruins and now only by the type of construction differs from the ruined mill of the late XIX century, located nearby.”

“The name Bukskaya Canyon, with the accent on the last syllable, is relatively new,” Dmitry Rash, a native of those places, tells us. – Before it was called Antonovskie Rocks after the name of the farm Antonovka, where the fault began. Now Antonovka itself exists only as a neighborhood (kutok) of the village of Buki. What is interesting is that in all the neighboring villages there is a swear word: “You should go to Antonivska rock!”. It equates to a soft analog of the suggestion to go far away. In general, the canyon is small: 2.5 kilometers long and 80 meters wide. The total area is 80 hectares. There are already statuses. In May 1975 the canyon became “the state complex natural monument of local importance”. And nowadays it is included in the hundred of the most beautiful places of Ukraine and is on the second place in the rating “7 wonders of Cherkassy region”. The height of granite ledges of the canyon is from 20 to 40 meters. Swimming here is very dangerous! The current quickly knocks you off your feet and pulls you to the waterfall.

From the water you can access a huge number of small grottos under the rocks. Because of the solid rock under the entire village, drinking water here is worth its weight in gold. Under the Union tried to still conduct a centralized water supply from an artesian well, but something did not work out. And people often get water from wells pierced in the rock (from 2 to 20 meters deep).

On the left side of the canyon without problems can be passed from the beginning to the end. From the mill itself to the bend of the canyon you can move by jumping from rock to rock.

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The rocks are not very high, but steep. And even in late fall are covered with bunches of bright yellow flowers. This is the rock borage Aurinia saxatilis – a plant typical for growing in rocky rocks. The age of Proterozoic granites is estimated at 2 billion years, they form a deep (up to 20 m) and narrow (in some places 20 – 40 m) canyon, one of the ledges of which is named after the famous Ukrainian geologist-petrographer (Rock Rodionov).

Mountain climbers often come here. They say that it is possible to train in rock climbing even on the rock in the form of a human profile at the very end of the canyon, which seems quite unsuitable for mountaineering.

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Before entering Bukski Canyon, the waters of the Gorno Tikich rapidly roll off a block of granite, thus creating a noisy two-meter waterfall-roll Vyr. A large water mill was built near it in the nineteenth century, of which only fragments have survived. The river is always making noise and frogs are croaking here. Locals say that Buki is the most beautiful in spring – there are a lot of flowers, even wild tulips and wild garlic. And goats graze on the meadows, and whole families of them.

The flora of Buk Canyon is very typical for this climate of wet meadows. These are white willow (Salix alba), sharp-leaved maple (Acer platanoides) and American maple (Acer negundo), as well as black poplar and sedge (Populus nigra). Herbaceous plants include common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), multiflowered buttercup (Ranunculus polyanthemos), rock borage (Aurinia saxatilis), and many grasses. Of the aquatic plants, there is yellow-flowered goblet (Nuphar) and white-flowered water lily (Nymphaea).

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How to get there

Buky Canyon is located in Cherkassy region, in the village of Buky; the distance from Uman – 50 km, from Kiev – 180 km. You can get there from Kiev by the highway Kiev-Buki or by buses Kiev-Mankivka (Kiev-Talne), which run quite regularly. At the bottom of the canyon you will be met by a “picturesque” monument with a tank and a bus station. It is better to find out the schedule at the cashier, as the information on the posters is often outdated.