The Kvarken Archipelago is Finland’s only Natural World Heritage Site on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is an excellent place to experience and understand the land uplift phenomenon caused by the last Ice Age. From the Saltkaret observation tower there is an unrestricted view over the nature reserve’s unique landscape and wildlife. The 23-meter-high tower facilitates bird watching and offers views over the Kvarken Archipelago World Heritage Site near the city of Vaasa.

The narrow ridge formations resembling a washboard, De Geer moraine, dating back to the Ice Age are slowly emerging from the sea – today, the land uplifting is eight mm per year, and the World Heritage Site grows  by 100 hectares yearly. The lower platform of the tar-treated wood tower is accessible with a wheelchair. Other structures around the tower include a bridge, accessible dry toilets, a campfire site and tables for picnic. Around the Northern Quark, the narrowest part of the Gulf of Bothnia between Finland and Sweden, the surface of the earth is rising at an exceptional speed. This is caused by the Ice Age. The unique landscape of Kvarken archipelago is hard to grasp from ground level. The tower offers views over the rising shoreline and its peculiar moraine formations.