I tried paddleboarding for the first time in a unique marsh maze near Ottawa

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Reeds reached higher than my head; the water was the colour of strong tea. A dragonfly had claimed the nose of my board, while somewhere behind a wall of cattails a family squabbled over which direction to turn. Half an hour from Parliament Hill , on a paddleboard for the first time in my life, I was lost in a labyrinth and content to stay so.

The maze is part of Parc Nature Éco-Odyssée, a wetland crossed by six kilometres of canals.

Visitors can explore the water by kayak , canoe, pedal boat or paddleboard, following a laminated map clipped to the front of their vessel. The place is unlike anything else within a day’s drive of the capital, half puzzle and half wildlife safari conducted at the speed of a drifting leaf.

Founder Michel Leclair borrowed the maze concept from beavers, who dig networks of underwater canals to haul food and lumber through the wetland year-round.

He studied beaver behaviour for more than 40 years, managing the problems their dams can cause as a conservation officer in Gatineau Park and later through his wildlife management business. A dam in the wrong place can flood a road or field, which most jurisdictions address by trapping the maligned creatures . Leclair devised a way to control water levels while leaving a beaver unharmed. His method drains excess water through a submerged pipe, keeping the sound of the flow faint to avoid triggering the animal’s instinct to seal a leak. Flooding subsides while the beaver keeps the habitat created by the dam.

I had pictured a marsh Leclair found and carved into Éco-Odyssée, but when he acquired the Wakefield property it was a farm field. He flooded 70 acres, digging canals with a backhoe loader and channelling running water toward chosen spots to get beavers to dam the flow where he wanted.