Nature. The Volga River, twisting and turning, runs across the region that occupies more than 100,000 square km, and breaks it into the left-bank part (Zavolzhye) and the right-bank part. The right bank comes up to the Volga by a number of high ledges (sometimes reaching 400 metres above the sea level), thus forming many deep and narrow ravines overgrown with shrubs and trees. Some hills consist of chalk rock with snow-white sides, covered with deciduous and coniferous woods and looking very picturesque when viewed from the Volga.

The left bank is lower lying and is mostly covered with steppe. East and west elaborately interweave here, forming a unique and diverse landscape: woods grading into steppes, lakes, ponds and small rivers in abundance scattered over the region like quicksilver drops.

Rivers. At 3,680 km in length and 35 to 40 m in depth, the Volga is the longest and the deepest river in Europe. The Volga basin has sharply changed since the Volgograd reservoir was formed. The water level rose by 10 metres, and almost all the islands and lakes in the Volga basin were inundated. The river has greatly widened and now averages 3 to 7 km in width and in some places is up to 15 km across. And there are lots of deep bays in places where mouths of small rivers and ravines come up to the Volga channel.

Minor rivers that run across the region are just as wonderful. Believe it or not, but Bolshoi Irgiz, due to its sinuosity, covers the longest distance on the territory of the region: 450 km (cf. Volga is only 420 km)! There are some other astonishing facts that concern Bolshoi Irgiz. In winter it is covered with an ice layer of 96 cm and sometimes freezes through down to the bottom! During the spring tide its water level rises by 7 metres which is much more than the Volga's spring rise.

Woods. There are not many forests in Saratov region, and most of them are located in its right-bank part. Here we can find rather sizeable sections, natural and artificial, deciduous and coniferous. One can count more than a hundred sorts of trees and bushes growing there. Oaks are the most prevalent among them, and you can come across them in almost every forest of the Saratov region. Oaks are also regarded as the oldest trees, together with pines growing in the northern districts of the region in an almost pristine environment. If you go there you will find oaks aged 200 and even 300 years, and pines which are 150 to 160 years old. Birches, elms, ash-trees and others also grow here, but they are not as old.

It is hard to define which forest tract in the Saratov region is the largest, but we bet we can name the longest one. We are talking about the State Woodland Belt Chapaevsk-Vladimirovka, which was formed in 1948-1965 as a shelter from droughts and dry hot winds. It consists of four parallel lines and extends for 373 km along the steppe.