Characteristics of the shores of Baikal. Lake Baikal. Winter sports

Posted Sun, 12/10/2014 - 08:27 by Cap

What boy from the days of a vagabond childhood does not dream of visiting this Glorious Sea! From school geography lessons, we all knew that fate did not offend our Motherland, giving Lake Baikal!!!

And so, the old dream of the Nomads came true - after the walking and water part.) - We spent 4 days on the shores of the legendary Baikal, approximately between the villages of Slyudyanka and Listvyanka.

I will repeat myself a little and tell you about our journey along the shores of the blessed Baikal!

We spent the night in the camp of the Ministry of Emergency Situations on the shore of Lake Baikal in Slyudyanka.

From Slyudyanka, we went along the Circum-Baikal Railway - the Trans-Siberian Railway used to pass along the Circum-Baikal Railway, but then the branch from Irkutsk was straightened, and brought straight to Slyudyanka. And the Circum-Baikal Railway is now a tourist single-track! We recommend everyone to ride it!

Sergey Karpeev
The miracle of Russia and the glorious sea!
There is no limit to your shores!
The wind rejoices in the boundless expanse,
Rumors are ascending the islands.

The waves caress the careless stones,
Dormant for centuries forgotten volcano.
In a haze ethereal forest ridges
It stretches with a chain of Khamar-Daban.

Rocks, backwaters, taiga distances,
The hills rest on a cedar slope.
The ancient Buryat sanctuary beckons
Marvelous, mysterious island of Olkhon.

Whether storms, wind, bucket, bad weather -
What does the shaman portend to us with a tambourine:
In a frenzied dance, magic under the power
The spirit that everyone calls Burkhan.

Pink-delicate sunset blush
Clouds drown in your mirrors.
Melting, blue, evening mist
Hidden on the other side of the shore.

Water, like crystal, is deep and transparent.
The fisherman throws his net.
Yar-lightning, burning fiery,
Pulls a crimson boundary in the sky.

The night begins full of stars:
The ladle sparkled with its seven stars.
With heart and sight exalted
Shout: Our Baikal is beautiful and great!

Train around Baikal

The train runs on it 4 times a week, and also back. Wonderful views of Lake Baikal and the surrounding mountains open from the windows of the carriages!

It is advisable to arrive at the station an hour before the train, but we did not do this. There were no train tickets anymore - I had to go to the cars, where you can negotiate with the conductors in order to ride the train while standing.

The train itself consists of several comfortable carriages, where everything is finished for foreign tourists, and there are also TVs showing films about Baikal, well, and minibars with drinks!

For ordinary tourists, there are other wagons, ordinary Soviet ones, but we were very happy with them, since the price in steep wagons was more than 700 rubles. per person, and in a simple car we agreed on the same price, but for the whole Team!

Moreover, we managed to successfully navigate the train - so almost everyone got seats! The car was packed almost to capacity! In the crowd, no one began to figure out who had what places, and we rolled along Baikal!

However, I did not have to sit for long, after Kultyk the train stopped near the Roerich Museum. There was also a museum of Pure Water! Viewing cost literally 10 rubles! We looked at the pictures with interest and listened to the lecture!

The train was going quite slowly, the road was old, but very interesting, in addition to the views of the lake, the train passed through a whole system of tunnels that pierced mountain ranges, and then again took us to the steep and picturesque shore of the sacred Lake!

A couple of times the train made stops so that passengers could get out of the cars and take a picture on its shore!

At the same time, Baikal souvenirs were sold, as a rule, from local gems.

Lake Baikal

On the way, we met a woman and got into a conversation with her - she was going to visit one stop. She advised us to go with her, because there is a very beautiful place! In my opinion, it was the 146th km., There were several houses there. There was a ravine in this place - a stream flowed from the mountains, there were houses, sheds and gardens. Mostly pensioners lived. Lake Baikal

The place was really worth it! From here a picturesque view of Baikal opened, 500 meters from the stop there was a good tourist parking with a fire pit and a table, and also a great view of the Lake. The descent to the water was quite steep, you had to either go down a steep slope along a wire (which someone pulled) or bypass through the lower parking lot.

But the main thing is real natural silence, even though there was a railway nearby, but the trains ran here once a day, and only the splash of waves and the cries of seagulls are heard!

Lake Baikal- sunset

LAKE BAIKAL - THE MIRACLE OF RUSSIA

Baikal. A lake of amazing beauty, a unique creation of nature, crystal clear water... Probably every person has heard more or less about the deepest lake on our planet. What else do you know about Baikal?
Baikal is located almost in the very center of Eurasia, among the high ridges of the Baikal mountain region. The lake is 636 km long and 80 km wide. In terms of area, Baikal is 31,470 km2, which is comparable to the area of ​​Belgium (almost 10 million people live in this European country with large cities and industrial centers). The maximum depth of the lake - 1637 km - rightfully allows calling Baikal the deepest in the world ( average depth- 730 m). The African Lake Tanganyika, one of the deepest lakes on the planet, “lags behind” Baikal by 200 m. Of the thirty islands, Olkhon is the largest.

Baikal is filled with three hundred and thirty six permanent rivers and streams. One flows out of the lake. To estimate the volume of Baikal, imagine that under ideal conditions (assuming that not a single drop from the surface will fall or evaporate), the Angara, which takes out 60.9 km3 of water annually, will need 387 years of continuous operation to drain the lake!

In addition, Baikal is the oldest lake on our planet; according to various estimates, its age is 20-30 million years.
Clean, transparent Baikal water, saturated with oxygen, has long been considered healing. Due to the activity of living microorganisms living in it, the water is slightly mineralized (almost distilled), which explains its crystal transparency. In spring, water transparency reaches 40 meters!
Baikal is a repository of 20% of the world and 90% of Russia's fresh water reserves. For comparison, this is more than the water reserves in the five Great American Lakes combined! The Baikal ecosystem provides about 60 km3 of clean water per year.

An amazing and diverse animal and vegetable world Lake Baikal, which makes it unique in this respect among other freshwater lakes. Who has not heard of the famous Baikal omul? In addition to it, whitefish, lenok, taimen are found in the lake - representatives of the salmon family. Sturgeon, grayling, pike, carp, catfish, cod, perch - this is not the whole list of fish families living in Baikal. It is impossible not to mention the Baikal seal, which is the only representative of mammals in the lake. In autumn, numerous haulouts of these Baikal seals can be seen on rocky shores. Nerpa is not the only inhabitant of the coasts, a lot of gulls, mergansers, goldeneyes, turpans, shelducks, white-tailed eagles, ospreys and other birds nest along the coasts and on the islands. In addition to all of the above, on Baikal one can observe a massive exit to the shores of brown bears.
The flora and fauna of Lake Baikal is endemic. 848 animal species (15%) and 133 plant species (15%) are not found in any water body of the Earth.
The uniqueness and beauty of Baikal every year attracts an increasing number of tourists, including foreign ones. This is also facilitated by the developing infrastructure. Therefore, the main task is to preserve the integrity of the lake ecosystem. Lake Baikal

BAIKAL - THE MIRACLE OF RUSSIA
A narrow blue sickle, thrown into the mountains of Eastern Siberia, looks on the geographical map of one of the amazing wonders not only of Russia, but of the entire globe - Lake Baikal.
Many songs and legends were composed about him by the people. The Yakuts called the lake Baikal, which means "rich lake". It splashes in a huge stone basin surrounded by mountain ranges overgrown with taiga. The lake stretches from northeast to southwest for 636 km, which is approximately equal to the distance between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The largest width of Baikal is 79 km. In terms of its area (31.5 thousand sq. km), it is approximately the same as the western European countries Belgium or the Netherlands, and is the eighth largest lake in the world.
Baikal is a truly unique lake. Its coast and surrounding mountains with unique fauna, flora and microclimate, as well as the lake itself with rich reserves of clean fresh water, are an invaluable gift of nature.
Of course, you know that Baikal is the deepest lake on our planet. Its depth reaches 1620 m and exceeds the depth of some seas of the globe. However, as reported in 1991, hydrologists made a correction, finding a deeper mark at 1657 m.
It contains 20% of the fresh water reserves on the globe (23 thousand cubic km). To desalinate the same amount of moisture from sea water would have cost 25 times more than the cost of gold mined up to that time on Earth.
Imagine: all the water of the Baltic Sea can fit in the Baikal bowl, although its area is approximately 10 times larger than the area of ​​the lake.
Water from 92 seas such as the Sea of ​​Azov or water from all five American Great Lakes, the total area of ​​which is 8 times larger than the area of ​​Baikal, can be poured into the Baikal basin.
According to the latest information, 1123 rivers carry their waters here, the largest of which are Barguzin, Upper Angara, and flows out.
The level of the lake rises above the mouth of the Angara by 378 m, which creates a large fall energy. A cascade of powerful power plants has been built here. There are 27 islands on the lake, all of them are small. Only Olkhon, which is located almost in the middle of the lake, has an area of ​​729 sq. km.

Olkhon Island Lake Baikal

Such a high-water reservoir cannot but influence the climate of the surrounding area. In summer, Baikal tempers the heat, and in winter - severe Siberian frosts. Therefore, the climate here is milder than in neighboring areas. For example, Peschanaya Bay is the only area in Eastern Siberia where mean annual temperature air is about 0 gr.С (more precisely +0.4 gr.С). Baikal freezes only in January. However, even in the heat, the water is not more than +12 gr.S.
Since the difference between air temperatures and atmospheric pressure above the surface of the lake and in the surrounding mountains is very large, storms often play out on Baikal. There are more sunny days a year here, for example, than in some resort areas Black Sea region.
There is no lake on the globe, the water in which is more transparent than Baikal. The white disc, lowered here to determine the transparency of the water, is visible from a depth of about 40 m.
In addition, the lake water is very pleasant to the taste. "Those who have ever taken a sip of Baikal water," Siberians say, "will definitely come back for another sip."

Baikal is the oldest lake on Earth. Its basin began to form 25-30 million years ago. The age of modern outlines is over a million years. The origin and structure of the bottom of the lake, as well as the processes that take place there, have recently been studied by scientists with the help of the Pisis deep-sea apparatus. Unique photographs of the bottom of Lake Baikal were taken at a depth of 1410 m. The enhanced seismicity of the basin and the associated change coastline lakes.
It has been established that annually the shores of the lake move apart by an average of approximately 2 cm, and its area increases by 3 hectares.
Earthquakes, and they sometimes happen here up to 2000 a year, are mostly small. There are also quite tangible ones, such as, for example, in 1862, when part of the coast fell through and a bay was formed, called the Failure. And during the earthquake of 1958, the bottom of the lake near Olkhon Island sank by 20 m.
The active life of the bowels is also evidenced by the presence on the shores of the lake and in the mountains adjacent to it, numerous hot springs with temperatures from +30 degrees. up to + 90 gr.С. And at the same time, the age of the rocks highlands around Baikal is approximately 2 billion years.

And Lake Baikal

One of the amazing features of the lake is its truly unique wildlife. It has more than 1500 species, and 75% of them live only on Baikal. There are more fish here alone than in some seas - 49 species, and almost all the indigenous "Baikals", for example, the famous omul. "There is no Baikal without omul" - such is the local saying. Very interesting is the viviparous golomyanka fish. She is so fat that she is washed ashore by a storm, almost completely melts under the sun's rays. Its fat contains many medicinal organic compounds and vitamins, which is why it is also called "medical fish".
Of the other species of the Baikal fauna, there are 80 crustaceans alone, among which the crustacean epishura is very valuable for the ecology of the lake. Small in size (the mass of a thousand crustaceans is only 1 mg), this baby, getting food, tirelessly works for the benefit of the lake. It filters water through a special organ, purifying it from various bacteria and algae. During the year, these microscopic "orderlies" manage to filter about 1500 cubic meters several times. km of water to a depth of 5-10 m, which is 10 times more than it enters the lake from all rivers, and the annual flow of the lake through the Angara is only 60 cubic meters. km. It is thanks to the tireless activity of the crustacean epishura that the unusual purity of Baikal waters is maintained.
Many berries, mushrooms, flowers and herbs grow in the coastal taiga forests. The decoration of the animal world is the famous Barguzin sable.
Unfortunately, due to the development of industry in Siberia, including in the areas adjacent to Baikal, the construction of a number of large enterprises in the woodworking, wood-chemical and other industries, as well as non-ferrous metallurgy, often with gross violations of the ecological situation, a deadly threat loomed over the unique lake. To save Lake Baikal from pollution is an urgent task of our time.

GEOGRAPHY OF LAKE BAIKAL
Baikal (bur. Baigal dalai, Baigal nuur) - lake tectonic origin in the southern part of Eastern Siberia, the deepest lake on the planet, the largest natural reservoir of fresh water.
The lake and coastal areas are distinguished by a unique variety of flora and fauna, most of the animal species are endemic. Locals and many in Russia traditionally call Baikal the sea.
Baikal is located in the center of the Asian continent on the border of the Irkutsk region and the Republic of Buryatia in the Russian Federation. The lake stretches from northeast to southwest for 620 km in the form of a giant crescent. The width of Lake Baikal ranges from 24 to 79 km. The bottom of Lake Baikal is 1167 meters below the level of the World Ocean, and the mirror of its waters is 455.5 meters higher.
The water surface area of ​​Lake Baikal is 31,722 km² (excluding islands), which is approximately equal to the area of ​​countries such as Belgium or the Netherlands. In terms of the area of ​​the water surface, Baikal ranks sixth among the largest lakes in the world.
The length of the coastline is 2100 km.
The lake is located in a kind of basin, surrounded on all sides by mountain ranges and hills. At the same time, the western coast is rocky and steep, the relief of the eastern coast is more gentle (in some places the mountains recede from the coast for tens of kilometers).
Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth. Modern meaning the maximum depth of the lake - 1642 m - was established in 1983 by L. G. Kolotilo and A. I. Sulimov during hydrographic work by the expedition of the GUNiO MO USSR at a point with coordinates 53 ° 14′59 ″ n. sh. 108°05′11″ E d. (G) (O).


The tributaries and runoff of Baikal
According to studies of the 19th century, 336 rivers and streams flowed into Baikal, this number took into account only constant tributaries. There are no more recent data on this issue, however, sometimes figures of 544 or 1123 are given (which are given as a result of counting ravines, and not permanent watercourses). It is also believed that due to anthropogenic impact and climate change on Lake Baikal from the 19th century to modern times about 150 streams could have disappeared.
The largest of Baikal's tributaries are the Upper Angara, Barguzin, Turka, Snezhnaya, and Sarma. It flows out of the lake. There are 336 permanent streams in total. Lake Baikal

ICE OF LAKE BAIKAL
During the freeze-up period (January 9-May 4 on average), Baikal freezes entirely, except for a small area 15-20 km long, located at the source of the Angara. The shipping period for passenger and cargo ships is usually open from June to September; research vessels begin navigation after the ice breaks up the lake and complete it with the freezing of Lake Baikal, that is, from May to January.
By the end of winter, the thickness of the ice on Baikal reaches 1 m, and in the bays - 1.5–2 m. In severe frosts, cracks, locally called "stanovo cracks", break the ice into separate fields. The length of such fissures is 10–30 km, and the width is 2–3 m. The ruptures occur annually in approximately the same regions of the lake. They are accompanied by a loud crack, reminiscent of thunder or cannon shots. It seems to a person standing on the ice that the ice cover is bursting just under his feet and he will now fall into the abyss [source not specified 539 days]. Thanks to cracks in the ice, fish in the lake do not die from lack of oxygen. Baikal ice is also very transparent, and the sun's rays penetrate through it, so planktonic algae, which release oxygen, flourish in the water. Along the shores of Lake Baikal, one can observe ice grottoes and splashes in winter.
Baikal ice presents scientists with many mysteries. So, in the 1940s, specialists from the Baikal Limnological Station discovered unusual forms of ice cover, typical only for Lake Baikal. For example, “hills” are cone-shaped ice hills up to 6 m high, hollow inside. In appearance, they resemble ice tents, “open” in the opposite direction from the coast. Hills can be located separately, and sometimes form miniature "mountain ranges". Also on Baikal there are several more types of ice: “sokuy”, “kolobovnik”, “autumn”.
In addition, in the spring of 2009, Internet satellite imagery different parts of Baikal where dark rings were found. According to scientists, these rings arise due to the rise of deep waters and an increase in the temperature of the surface layer of water in the central part of the ring structure. As a result of this process, an anticyclonic (clockwise) current is formed. In the zone where the current reaches maximum speeds, the vertical water exchange intensifies, which leads to accelerated destruction of the ice cover.

Oltrek Island, Small Sea, Baikal

Islands and peninsulas
There are 27 islands on Baikal (Ushkany Islands, Olkhon Island, Yarki Island and others). The largest of them is Olkhon (71 km long and 12 km wide, located almost in the center of the lake near its western coast, the area is 729 km², according to other sources - 700 km²). The largest peninsula is Svyatoy Nos.

seismic activity
The Baikal region (the so-called Baikal rift zone) belongs to areas with high seismicity: earthquakes regularly occur here, the strength of most of which is one or two points on the MSK-64 intensity scale. However, there are also strong ones; So, in 1862, during a ten-point Kudarinsky earthquake in the northern part of the Selenga delta, a land area of ​​​​200 km² with 6 uluses, in which 1300 people lived, went under water, and Proval Bay was formed. Strong earthquakes were also recorded in 1903 (Baikal), 1950 (Mondinskoe), 1957 (Muiskoe), 1959 (Middle Baikal). The epicenter of the Middle Baikal earthquake was at the bottom of Lake Baikal near the village of Sukhaya ( southeast coast). His strength reached 9 points. In Ulan-Ude and Irkutsk, the strength of the main shock reached 5-6 points, cracks and minor damage were observed in buildings and structures. The last strong earthquakes on Baikal occurred in August 2008 (9 points) and in February 2010 (6.1 points).

map of Lake Baikal

Origin of the lake
The origin of Baikal still causes scientific controversy. Scientists traditionally determine the age of the lake at 25-35 million years. This fact also makes Baikal unique. natural object, since most lakes, especially those of glacial origin, live on average 10-15 thousand years, and then they are filled with silty sediments and become swampy.
However, there is also a version about the youth of Lake Baikal, put forward by Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. V. Tatarinov in 2009, which received indirect confirmation during the second stage of the expedition "Worlds" to Baikal. In particular, the activity of mud volcanoes at the bottom of Lake Baikal allows scientists to assume that the modern coastline of the lake is only 8 thousand years old, and the deep-water part is 150 thousand years old.

What is certain is that the lake is located in a rift basin and is similar in structure, for example, to the Dead Sea basin. Some researchers explain the formation of Baikal by its location in the zone of a transform fault, others suggest the presence of a mantle plume under Baikal, and others explain the formation of the basin by passive rifting as a result of the collision of the Eurasian plate and Hindustan. Be that as it may, the transformation of Baikal continues to this day - earthquakes constantly occur in the vicinity of the lake. There are suggestions that the subsidence of the basin is associated with the formation of vacuum chambers due to the outpouring of basalts on the surface (Quaternary period).

Grottoes of Borg-Dagan, Olkhon Island

Flora and fauna
About 2,600 species and subspecies of aquatic animals live in Baikal, more than half of which are endemic, that is, they live only in this reservoir. These include about 1000 endemic species, 96 genera, 11 endemic families and subfamilies. 27 species of Baikal fish are found nowhere else. Such an abundance of living organisms is explained by the high oxygen content in the entire thickness of the Baikal water. 100% endemism is observed among nematodes of the Mermitidae family (28 species), Polychaeta worms (4 species), Lubomirskiidae sponges (14), Gregarinea gregarines, Isopoda isopods (5), Plecoptera stoneflies. Almost all species and subspecies of amphipods (349 out of 350, 99%) and scorpion fish (31 out of 32, 96%) are endemic to the lake. 90% of turbellarian worms (130 out of 150) and barnacles (132 out of 150) are endemic. Many fish are endemic to Baikal: 36 out of 61 species and subspecies (59%), 2 families (13.3%) and 12 genera (37.5%).
One of the endemics, the crustacean epishura, makes up to 80% of the zooplankton biomass of the lake and is the most important link in the food chain of the reservoir. It performs the function of a filter: it passes water through itself, purifying it.
Baikal oligochaetes, 84.5% of which are endemic, make up to 70-90% of the zoobenthos biomass and play an important role in the processes of self-purification of the lake and as a food base for benthophagous fish and predatory invertebrates. They are involved in soil aeration and mineralization of organic matter.
The most interesting in Baikal is the viviparous golomyanka fish, whose body contains up to 30% fat. It surprises biologists with daily feeding migrations from the depths to shallow waters. Of the fish in Baikal, there are Baikal omul, grayling, whitefish, Baikal sturgeon (Acipenser baeri baicalensis), burbot, taimen, pike and others. Baikal is unique among lakes in that freshwater sponges grow here at great depths.


The origin of the toponym "Baikal
The origin of the name of the lake is not exactly established. Below are the most common versions of the origin of the toponym "Baikal":
From the name of the nationality and the country of bayyrku (bayegu, bayirku, bayurku)
From the Buryat bai - "stand" and gal "fire" (according to legend, Baikal was formed on the site of a fire-breathing mountain)
From Buryat "mighty standing water"
From the Buryat baikhaa "natural, natural, natural, existing"
From Buryat "rich fire"]
From the Yakut baai "rich" and kyul "lake"]
From the Yakut baikhal, baigal "sea", "big, deep water"]
From the Arabic Bahr-al-Baq "a sea that gives birth to many tears", "a sea of ​​\u200b\u200bterror"
From the Buryat "Baygaal-dalai", "extensive, big body of water like the sea", where dalai also means "boundless, universal, supreme, supreme".
From the Yukagir vaiguol "fin: forest washed ashore by water"
The first Russian explorers of Siberia used the Evenki name "Lamu" (sea). From the second half of the 17th century, Russians switched to the name adopted by the Buryats - Bur. Baigal. At the same time, they adapted it to their language, replacing the “g” characteristic of the Buryats with the more familiar “k” for the Russian language, as a result of which the modern name was finally formed.

Neutrino telescope
A unique deep-sea neutrino telescope NT200, built in 1993-1998, was created and operates on the lake, with the help of which high-energy neutrinos are detected. Since 2010, the construction of the NT1000 neutrino telescope with an effective volume of 1 km3 has been underway, the construction of which is expected to be completed no earlier than 2017.

"Worlds" on Baikal
In the summer of 2008, the Foundation for Assistance to the Preservation of Lake Baikal carried out a research expedition "Worlds on Baikal". 52 deep-sea manned submersibles "Mir" were immersed to the bottom of Lake Baikal.
Scientists delivered samples of water, soil and microorganisms taken from the bottom of Lake Baikal to the P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The expedition continued in 2009 and 2010.

Lake Baikal, Cape Khoboy

Tourists on Baikal
There are many ways to get to Baikal. As a rule, those who wish to visit it first go to one of the nearest large cities: Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude or Severobaikalsk, in order to plan their route in more detail from there. Driving along the Trans-Siberian Railway between Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude, you can admire the views of the lake for hours, stretching right outside the train window.
70 km from Irkutsk, on the shore of Lake Baikal near the source of the Angara, the village of Listvyanka is located - one of the most popular tourist destinations on Lake Baikal. You can get here from the regional center by bus or boat in just over an hour. Rest in Listvyanka is valued because of the huge number of excursions and outdoor activities, it is here that most cruises on the sea-lake originate. The most popular routes run from the village to Bolshiye Koty, to the Svyatoi Nos peninsula, Olkhon Island and other places.
Also on the shores of Lake Baikal are the cities of Slyudyanka and Baikalsk. Located in Slyudyanka Train Station, entirely built of marble. There is a ski slope in Baikalsk, summer time lift works; in sunny weather you can see opposite side lakes with spurs of the Baikal Range.
On the eastern shore, Barguzinsky Bay is especially popular, next to which the construction of the tourist and recreational zone "Baikal Harbor" continues. In the village of Maksimikha, you can take a tour with a visit to the Holy Nose peninsula. Horse riding and hiking available. To the south are the settlements of Novy Enkhaluk, Zarechye, Sukhaya. Here, private individuals organized the reception of guests, including in yurts, comfortable rest houses appeared. Between Enkhaluk and Sukha there is a hydrogen sulfide thermal spring Zagza.
, which is rich in picturesque bays, mysterious islands, healing springs. A good view of the bay opens from the tops of Svyatoy Nos, which can be reached from the village of Ust-Barguzin.

Thirty kilometers south of the mouth of the Selenga River is Posolsky Sor Bay, where two tourist camps have settled - Kultushnaya and Baikal surf. Many camp sites provide tourist services there.
Almost in the very north of the lake there is a Khakusy resort, which can only be reached by boat from the village of Nizhneangarsk or the city of Severobaikalsk or in winter on ice.
The Great Baikal Trail passes through various sections around the lake - a system of ecological trails and one of the most beautiful ways for tourists to see the unique nature and enjoy the breathtaking views and panoramas of Lake Baikal.

Attractions
On Baikal and around it there are many monuments of nature, culture, as well as historical and archaeological sites. Listed below are just a few of them.
Northern Baikal
Rock Shaman-stone

Barguzinsky Bay
Ushkany Islands
Sandy Bay
Cape Skala Shamanka on Olkhon Island
Cape Ludar
Cape Ryty
Chersky Peak - 2090 m above sea level
Circum-Baikal Railway
Frolikha (tract)

Baikal port

Interesting Facts
If all the water contained in Baikal (23,615.390 km³) is divided into all Russian citizens (141,927,297 people), then each will have about 166.4 thousand cubic meters of water, which is approximately 2,773 railway tanks of 60 tons each.
Estimated famous researcher lakes L. G. Kolotilo "Price of Baikal", the utilitarian cost of water in the lake is 236 trillion dollars. His article aroused a certain interest, including from Greenpeace Russia, and its main provisions were announced on November 27, 2012 (without reference to the author) in an interview with V. V. Zhirinovsky on the Vesti 24 TV channel.

Myths and legends about Baikal
There is a legend that the father of Baikal had 336 rivers-sons and they all flowed into his father in order to replenish his waters, but now his daughter fell in love with the Yenisei River and began to carry her father's waters to her beloved. In response, Father Baikal threw a huge piece of rock at his daughter and cursed her. This rock, called the Shaman-stone, is located at the source of the Angara and is considered its beginning.
In another variation of the legend, it is said that Baikal had an only daughter, Angara. She fell in love with the Yenisei and decided to run away to him. Baikal, having learned about this, tried to block her path by throwing a Shaman-stone to the source, but Angara ran further, then Baikal sent his nephew Irkut after her in pursuit, but he took pity on Angara and turned off the path. The Angara met the Yenisei and flowed further along with it.

Big Kyltygey (Shaggy) Island

Circum-Baikal hiking trail
Tourist information
Plot 1: pos. Kultuk - Art. Marituy - Baikal port, 84 km, 22 hours net time, average speed - 4 km/h.
There is no such place on Baikal anymore - there are no slopes on it, and from the very beginning, the 156th kilometer to the port and Baikal station at the 73rd kilometer, the traveler theoretically does not rise a single meter. It was about this section that the Irkutsk citizen P. Taymenev said in his travel notes "A Few Words about the Siberian Railway", published in the journal "Nature" and people in St. Petersburg in 1890: "In our deep, unshakable conviction, the Siberian Railway is an indestructible monument culture of the 19th century, this is a manifestation of Russian national greatness, this is the fulfillment of the moral duty of contemporaries in the face of future generations, this is one of the best pages of modern Russian history, this is an entry on the threshold of the twentieth century.
Surprisingly, the tourist boom on this section of the Circum-Baikal Railway began only after its "discoveries" by a number of newspaper publications in the Irkutsk regional newspapers in the seventies. This is partly due to the development of rock climbing on the shores of Lake Baikal. Previously, this was the most exotic section of the Trans-Siberian only for passengers of trains, especially those traveling to the east, for whom at the Baikal station the sacred lake suddenly and immediately plowed open, in all its gigantic beauty and power. Still, it is still unlikely to be seen anywhere not only here, but also abroad: on the one hand, rearing aquamarine waves of the surf literally lick the wagon wheels, on the opposite side, no matter how hard you try, you will not see the top of the vocal cliff from the window. And the train now and then dived into the darkness of endless tunnels, at short stops at numerous half-stations there was a brisk trade in no less exotic omul "with a smell".

The builder, who came here in 1899 along the Angara valley, met with extraordinary technical difficulties. The Olkha Plateau breaks off into a lake like a wall throughout the entire area, the shore has largely retained its tectonic relief. Composed of very strong crystalline rocks - granites, gneisses, crystalline schists - it has undergone relatively little change over millions of years, is slightly indented in configuration and has practically no deep and convenient bays for receiving and laying ships. Nevertheless, severe climatic conditions, which contribute to intensive processes of physical weathering, high seismic activity favor the development of rock falls and screes.
That is why the line had to be laid on shelves carved into the rocky slopes, sometimes with stone cladding of upland slopes to a great height. Often this required such a significant amount of work that it was more profitable to lay the route on embankments using high retaining walls, sometimes on bridges across bays and valleys, and most often these structures had to be erected in combination. Often the construction of a tunnel was the only way out (the route was created from two ends). They were built under two tracks at once, using natural stone cladding, and today the circular vaults of tunnel portals with keystones, on which the dates of construction are forever inscribed, amaze with the thoroughness of the finish and beauty, merged in harmony with the surrounding wildlife. A lot of trouble was caused by the passage of rockfalls - the roadbed was then protected by reinforced concrete or stone luggage galleries. The destructive work of the waves was also taken into account - breakwaters, wave-breaking walls repeat the outlines of the coast for almost the entire length.

Ust-Anga Bay, Lake Baikal

Sometimes not only in one place - in one section! - I had to build up to ten structures. There is just such a place in front of the Marituy station: the watercourse had to be drawn over the structures and taken to Baikal, but it was not easy to do this on a cliff. And today, when you approach this puzzle, brilliantly embodied in stone and concrete from an engineering point of view, from the side of the port of Baikal, you trace the path of the stream with involuntary admiration: high above, where not only to place building structures, materials and mechanisms - it seems there is nowhere to stand - he was sent to a concrete rapid, then he fell into a stone water-cutting well, from where, behind the tunnel portal, he was enclosed in a flume rapid, then placed in a canal, and since there were high retaining and then wave-breaking walls on the way, he had to be led over them in cantilever reinforced concrete spillway.
Weekend hikes are a great future for the Circum-Baikal Road. In the meantime, good transport links make it accessible mainly to residents of the cities of Shelekhov, Irkutsk, Angarsk, Usolye-Sibirsky, as well as Cheremkhov and Sayansk. If you use Friday evening for the entrance, then in two days you can make both short trips starting from the stations and stopping points of the pass area (Rassokha, Orlyonok, Taiga, Podkamennaya, Pereezd, Andrianovskaya, Angasolka, etc.), and crossings with the crossing of Olkhinsky plateau and coastline. In winter, ski trips are reduced to a very popular one-day "family" route from Moving along the valley of the Bolshaya Krutaya Guba River to the stopping point Temnaya Pad or to the city of Slyudyanka with the crossing of Lake Baikal in its southern part. The tradition of the people of Irkutsk firmly includes one-day throws-transitions (cross-country and skiing on ice) from the source of the Angara to Slyudyanka (to the Staraya Angasolka half-station) at a distance of 70-80 km.

So, no matter what type of tourism we choose, the task before us in the weekend hike is the same - the need to cover the site in two days. It is desirable to start in the port of Baikal. It is connected with Irkutsk by numerous means of communication (motor ships, hydrofoils, buses to Listvenichny), and it is convenient to leave Kultuk for Irkutsk by train in the evening (stopping point "Zemlyanichny"). It remains to be added that water travel provides an excellent opportunity to unusual angle look at the panorama of coastal structures. Particularly impressive are the magnificent arched bridges across the rivers Shumilikha, Bolshaya Polovinnaya, Marituy, Bolshaya Krutaya Guba, Angasolka, reminiscent of Roman aqueducts with their outlines. As for the organization of bivouacs, here, almost at any time, you can organize "both a table and a house" - there are many convenient sites within the subgrade. You can count on true Siberian hospitality local population at numerous posts and villages, which, by the way, had to be used more than once. On a hiking trip, this will eliminate the need to carry a tent and bedding with you for two nights. Apparently, the mass interests should also be taken into account by the administration and build huts and shelters.

It is worth a little delay in the port of Baikal, the final point of the route, marked with a kilometer column "73" (for the Circum-Baikal Road, the previous mileage starting from Irkutsk has been preserved). It was from here that the construction attack on the rock "fortifications" of Baikal unfolded in 1898, here the famous ferry crossing across Baikal began, which had no equal in the whole world and which was designed to ensure uninterrupted train communication throughout the Trans-Siberian Railway to Vladivostok during the construction of the route to Kultuk. For this purpose, two icebreakers were ordered and assembled in Listvenichny in England; for the transportation of assets - "Baikal" and passengers - "Angara".
In terms of size, the icebreaker-ferry "Baikal" was considered the second in the world: its length is 100 m and a width of 16 m, the crew consisted of 200 people. On three railway tracks there were 27 two-axle wagons with cargo and a steam locomotive. Three main steam engines and 20 auxiliary served two stern and a special bow propellers, he covered the distance from Baikal station to Mysovaya station in 4.5 hours in 4.5 hours and was able to break ice of a meter thickness. In the five years of operation of the ferry crossing, only once, in the severe frosts of January 1904, the icebreaker could not cope with its duties. I had to build an ice railway. The wagons were moved along it by horses, which were mobilized together with the owners from the villages of Transbaikalia and the Irkutsk province. "Baikal" died in a civil war at a combat post, "Angara" has survived to this day: by the decision of the Irkutsk regional committee of the Komsomol, it was proposed to create a museum of military and revolutionary glory on it.

Cape Small Kolokolny, Baikal

Monuments of nature
White notch - wonderful geological monument nature, the object of excursions of the 27th International Geological Congress, is located at 105 km. It is simply impossible to pass by it without noticing it: especially on a sunny day, its slopes blind with powerful radiance, the marble bottom is not immediately lost in the blue of the depths. For the convenience of study and inspection, all exploration cuts and wells are numbered with red paint, but in recent years, mineralogy lovers have become more and more familiar with it due to the presence of numerous crystals of precious spinel, a solid mineral, reaching a length of several centimeters. It is located on 104 km of the Circum-Baikal section of the East-Sib. railway The outcrop of marbles with a rare combination of rocks and minerals in the coastal part of the lake, the venue for the excursions of the International Geological Year (IGY), monuments of all-Russian significance.
Bird Market - this is how it was decided to name this zoological monument of nature, the only nesting place of the herring gull on a steep 300-meter cliff in the southern half of the lake, located at 133 km. For local residents, the arrival of gulls on it in May is a sure sign that Baikal will soon disperse (that is, the ice will melt on it). From a boat or kayak it is clearly visible from May to August how the entire cliff, from the water's edge to the wooded top, is dotted with white columns of birds, their hubbub deafens at a great distance. And naturally, during the period of nesting and growing up of chicks, the colony should not be disturbed by visits. Located in the area of ​​st. Sharyzhalgay of the Circum-Baikal section (133 km) East-Sib. and. e. A place of constant mass nesting of the herring gull, the only place in southern Baikal where nests are located on the coastal walls.

In recent years, due to the limitation of shooting, flocks of seals often appear along the coast. And although this is a sure sign that everything is fine with the composition of the water, and the factor of concern is small, one should not delude himself with this (the mass death of animals in 1987 leads to disappointing thoughts).
On February 25, 1985, among 26 natural objects, by the decision of the Irkutsk Regional Executive Committee, the source of the Angara River, the only watercourse that drains all the water entering Baikal, was approved as a natural monument.
The source of the Angara is a natural monument of republican significance. The width of the river here reaches a kilometer, and it is here, at the exit from the lake, that there is a kind of ledge in the form of a rocky threshold, above which the average water depth is only 3.5 m and the water speed is 12 - 15 km / h. The relatively warm bottom waters of Lake Baikal, entering the threshold, do not allow the surface of the source to freeze in winter. At the same time, the source is a kind of wind pipe that serves as a place of invasion of the lake by cold north-western air currents, while in the opposite direction, the cooled air of the Baikal basin flows through it. This climatic feature of the source noticeably restrains the development of phenological phenomena here. However, it is included in the section "Zoological monuments of nature", and this was made possible by the only mass permanent wintering of lamella-billed birds in all of North Asia, numbering annually 8-12 thousand waterfowl. On a huge polynya, stretching for 3 - 5 km and existing due to the high speed and constant positive temperature of the water, mergansers and ducks predominate, dippers constantly hibernate. Severe winters can significantly reduce the size of the polynya (the winter of 1983), but only once in 200 years has its short-term complete freezing been canceled. The rarest in number in the north-east of Asia, the wintering of lamellar-beaked, climatic features that are different from the environment at all times of the year. All-Russian significance.
According to scientists, the wintering of waterfowl is as historically ancient as the presence of a polynya at the source, and the peculiar behavior of the birds wintering here suggests that a special species winters here. environmental group, which has long adapted to extreme living conditions (it has been established, for example, that ducks spend the night in hummocky ice). That is why the scientific interest in this wintering is exceptional.

Output of marbles in the port of Baikal. Located in the port of Baikal, on the cliff of the Olkhinsky plateau. Outcrops of marbles in the most ancient Precambrian complexes of the world aged 3.4-3.7 billion years. The object of excursions of international and all-Union geological forums.

Krutogub outcrop. Located in the mouth of the river. Big Steep Guba on the Olkhinsky Plateau. Petrographic and mineralogical object.

Shaman stone - a tiny rocky island at the head of the Angara, a geomorphological monument of nature, the top of a rocky rapid, poetic Buryat legend is firmly connected with the hero Baikal and his beautiful daughter Angara. Located at the source of the river. Hangars. The only protrusion of the Angara threshold protruding above the water is known from a colorful Buryat legend. It is also connected with the unrealized project of the fast filling of the Bratsk reservoir, which could have fatal consequences for the fauna of the lake. It was developed by MOSGIDEP and provided for the device at the source of the Angara, in its channel, a channel up to 9 km long, up to 100 m wide at the top and 11 m useful depth, for which a massive explosion was calculated for ejection using 30 thousand tons of TNT. An explosion that was supposed to lift 7 million cubic meters into the air. m of soil, it was proposed to be implemented in 1960 in order to reduce the time for filling the Bratsk reservoir from four years to a minimum, to obtain additional energy in the amount of 32 billion kWh. The implementation of the calculated project could lower the level of Lake Baikal to 11 m, but even lowering it by 3-5 m would cause a widespread reshaping of the coast, a change in the normal living conditions of fish, ports, timber transshipment bases, and the railway would suffer. In view of the fact that it was difficult to foresee all the possible consequences of this project, which was bold in engineering terms, but apparently adventurous in design, it was rejected.

And here is what I got for the first section - from Kultuk to the source of the Angara, carefully summing up the data scattered over the pages of diary entries: streams - 41, rivers and streams - 13, river - 1 (Big Half), total - 55.
Conclusions: the site of the village. Kultuk - the port of Baikal is not so much a ready-made segment of the Baikal trail, easily accessible due to developed transport communications, but a real tourist "way", a highway with extremely grateful natural features and rare technical history. A lot of work still needs to be done to make the Circum-Baikalskaya the road of millions, but so much has already been done by man that it is mainly up to the reserve, the owner, who would turn this fertile corner into a paradise for tourists. And urgently it would be necessary to deal with providing tourists with firewood, because due to the lack of dead wood and a small amount of driftwood on the shore, in places of an intensive influx of tourists and vacationers, threatening conditions are created for the forest, especially in the area that is most overloaded from the mouth of the Bolshaya Krutaya Guba to Kultuk. It came to the point that from the village of Angasolka to Kultuk, all the picket and kilometer posts disappeared.

Cape Svyatoy Nos, Zmeevaya Bay

LEGENDS AND LEGENDS OF LAKE BAIKAL
The emergence of Khamar-Daban
How the Sayans arose, I have already told you. Such mountains as the Sayans were not created by a small force, from that force, probably, the whole earth trembled. Yes, a small force would never have created them. Then, probably, it was like this: that force broke out from the Earth, and it accumulated, maybe for millions of years, threw everything out at once, and the Sayans are ready. When the Sayans cooled down, there were still a lot of forces left in the Earth, they dispersed in different directions and began to lift the earth above them with jerks along the entire road. But this was no longer the force that worked on the Sayans. This is how, in small shocks, the underground force came from the Sayans closer to sunrise and raised the earth on its way. The one where the push was stronger, there the mountains rose higher, where it was smaller, there the saddle remained.
In a word, the mountains from the Sayans to the east began to look like a humpbacked nose, for which the Buryats called them "Khamar-Daban". Many years later, when Khamar-Daban arose, a lot of earth was blown on it from the plain. The mountains were not high, so they were covered with earth. All the cracks that came out of the shocks when the earth rose uphill were covered with earth from the valleys.
The sun did not burn the earth very much on Khamar-Daban, and soon it was covered with forest. Then animals and birds divorced in the forest, people migrated there, closer to the mountains, they began to live and live and make good.

Bezymyannaya Bay, Baikal

About how Baikal happened
Old people used to tell about how Baikal happened. There is not much land on earth. Everyone knows that if you dig a hole a few sazhens, or even less, different sand, clay, stone and other different rocks will immediately come out. The deeper you dig a hole, the less land, All more stone goes, but different soil, which is not visible on the ground. And further, in the very depths of the earth, only stones go, and even further water. A different stone lies in the ground. There is also one on which you drop water - it begins to boil and fall apart. There is a lot of such stone in the depths of the earth, much more than on the surface. This is what happened a thousand years ago: water and stone met deep in the earth. As they converged, they boiled. Where should the couple go? He climbed in different directions and moved the earth from its place, and it went in a wave and, more than that, shook the whole earth. So the earth seethed in the depths, seethed, and then water and steam escaped upward, and the water covered the low places. She could not go further, there were mountains all around, and so Baikal turned out. It never subsides, because water always props it up from under the ground, and that water, they say, lives with the Arctic Ocean in its relatives. Previously, old people often simply told: they would break a boat on Baikal, and they found boards in the Arctic, or what would sink in the Arctic - floated up on Baikal.

How Olkhon Island was formed
Not everything is true that is said in legends. There used to be talk that, they say, everything was created by God, as the scripture says. Who believed that, and who did not believe. Most of all, people did not believe those fairy tales. The priests were angry at this, cursed with an anathema, but what's the point: a curse is not smoke, it won't eat your eyes. Let's take our Olkhon, it's called an island. Where did he come from? God would not have had enough strength to lower him from the sky. It means that he did not fall from the sky, but from nature itself.
When Baikal appeared, all the places here were flooded with water and there was not a single island. A million years have passed, the water has settled, fish have begun to spawn in Baikal, the forests have rustled around - in a word, real life started here. After that, strong winds began to blow on Baikal, so strong that the whole Baikal boiled from them, as if in a cauldron. The waves reached the very bottom, from where all the stone and sand were driven to the shore. But the waves did not catch up with the stones to the very shore, they caught on the underwater rock. The waves worked for many years, everyone drove and drove stone and sand to the sakla. And so, at that rock, a whole mountain was washed up, large, wide and long. Other waves washed away that mountain and gradually made it level. From this, the island of Olkhon came from. Old people say that Olkhon is higher for years, and sometimes lower for years. This is from what is on the rock. When the rocks are washed away, the island sinks a little, and when a lot of water is supported under the rocks, it rises a little. At first they thought that some kind of unclean force was working here, and then they themselves were convinced that it all depended on the wind. So believe the priests that the island was created by God. Why didn't he create it in the middle of Lake Baikal, where there is no rock? That's why the priests are silent, and the holy scripture does not say about it. That everything was created by God in a week is said by those who do not want to think, or that dope is beneficial to them.


Failure at Baikal
There was a failure at Baikal under my father. He often reminded me of him, and from him our whole village knew how and what went there. Not only is it scary to talk about failure, but it’s also very painful to remember. Many in those days of failure of people remained crippled for life: some had their legs, their arms broken, some had lost their minds, and some, out of grief, when they were left naked and did not get out of bitter need, the poor fellow left for the next world.
Where was the poor man to go at that time? There is nothing to live, lie down and die. When all this happened, faith in God was lost. Looks like he is weak before the force of nature. Those who used to say that everything is done by God's will have ceased to believe in it. It became clear to us, ordinary peasants, that not by the power of God's mountains, rivers, lakes, seas and oceans were created, but by the will of nature, which conceals tremendous power in itself, and as long as a person is weak, she will do with him whatever she wants.
Salvation is in the will of God when you yourself do not know what to do, and when you do not know what is going on around you. After the Baikal failure, all the old people began to say that Baikal itself happened in the same way as this failure. This means that the grandfathers also correctly conveyed that from the fiery and water columns between the mountains, the water flooded the padi, and in that place the sea-Baikal became. The people now firmly believe this truth.

Peschanaya Bay, Cape Maly Kolokolny

Why did Barguzin flow in the other direction
My grandfather was the first to settle in the village of Tolstikhino, when there were only three houses in Barguzin itself. My grandfather lived here for about eighty years, my father lived for about a hundred years, but I have been living here for ninety-four years. In a word, our entire clan has been living here for a long time. We all knew how to speak Buryat and Tungus. It passed from grandfather to father, and from him to me. From the Buryats and Tunguses they heard how our Barguzin River used to flow, from their childhood I took over and I will tell you what I remember.
Previously, it was a very long time ago, the Barguzin River did not flow to Baikal, but from Baikal to the Arctic Ocean, and then it turned back and began to run to where it came from. It was not done by God, it was the will of the earth. It happened like this: Baikal stood, stood, there were high mountains around it, nowhere on Earth are there higher than them, and between these mountains water kept accumulating and accumulating. In the mountains, ice and snow melted, it rained, all this flowed into Baikal. A lot of water rose in it, it covered half of the mountains, and there was nowhere else for it to go, and the mountain rivers all poured and poured their water into the sea. And then one day one mountain could not stand it, burst. Water broke through and flowed through it to Baikal. She washed away the whole taiga, made a flat place from mountain to mountain and reached the very Arctic Ocean. Then in Baikal there was a lot of water, the river flowed wide and deep, and when it became smaller, it began to gather into a narrow channel. Water flowed, flowed along the river and flooded the entire coast near the ocean, there were great colds, and ice mountains began to grow from that water. At first, water broke through them, because there was a lot of it in Baikal, and having got rid of it, the water lost its strength. After many years, the icy mountains prevented the water from Baikal from going straight to the ocean. The frozen ice began to approach Baikal closer and closer. The river became shorter every year and washed out its top. In the end, she so washed out her valley, through which she flowed in the first years, that the valley rose above Baikal. Water stopped running from Baikal to it, and at that time other rivers from the mountains and bald mountains began to run into the old channel. There was nowhere for that water to go, the river turned back and went to Baikal. When the water went to the ocean, a lot of silt was applied to the valley, the entire forest at the bottom of the river rotted. The river became narrow, the banks became wide. Now, where the Barguzin River goes, the whole place is called a valley, and there is no richer region than this valley. When the Tungus and Barguts came to the valley, the river was already running to Baikal, instead of the former wide river, a narrow one flowed, along which the hunters descended to the sea. The valley managed to overgrow with taiga, animals and birds bred, and it became more beautiful than before the appearance of the river. because then the Buryats and Russians came to these places, and my grandfather settled here.
They also lived here in a bar, for example, Karlych (M.K. Küchelbecker) was very fond of such stories, he took them from me on paper. I just don't know if they went into books. He wrote a lot here and under Muravyov went around all the villages. It is a pity that I lived an illiterate life, otherwise I even read his books before my death. In God, he did not believe very much and did not hope for the king, he was more with our peasants here, and thanks to him for that - he treated him for ailments. It was fitting for him to tell such stories about antiquity, and he did not tell us that we were sinners before God.

Primorsky ridge

From the history of development Barguzinskaya valley
What our Russian peasant couldn't bear, what he just didn't experience. My grandfather came here, my father lived here. I remember them, I myself have been living here for more than a hundred years. If we calculate how much we, the Elshins, have traveled here, how many mountains we have crossed, then, probably, it would be possible during this time Earth walk around, and from the forest that our ancestors uprooted, it would be possible to build a second Moscow.
When my grandfather came here, there was a continuous taiga, there were only small circles of land under the arable fields, and now, look, there are such fields all around that you can’t cover with an eye. Because the land is dear to us here, because it smells of the sweat of our ancestors, watered with their blood and tears.

Barguzinsky Bay, Baikal

Where did the name "Baikal" come from?
Russians have long heard that somewhere in the middle of Siberia there is a huge lake. But no one knew what it was called. When the Russian merchants, and then the Cossacks crossed the Urals and began to approach the large rivers Ob and Yenisei, they learned that people live around the lake, which boils day and night. Those Russians found out that that lake is rich in fish, and various animals walk along the shores, and such expensive ones that are nowhere else in the world. The Cossacks and merchants began to rush to that sea-lake, they walked, did not sleep, did not feed the horses, did not know when the day ends and when the night begins. Everyone wanted to be the first to get to the lake and see what it is like and why it boils without rest.

Those merchants and Cossacks walked to the sea for a long time, several years, many of them died along the way, but the living nevertheless reached and saw the Shaman stone in front of them. He blocked their way, closed the light. You can’t turn away from it either to the right or to the left, there are such mountains around that you throw your head back - the hat flies off, but you can’t see the top. Cossacks with merchants twirled around the Shaman-stone and thought that they couldn’t get to the sea, but they themselves heard how it rustled, heaved up and beat against the rocks.
The merchants grieved, the Cossacks grieved, you see, their whole long road was lost not for a pinch of snuff. They drove back, pitched the tent and began to think hard about how they could cross the Shaman-stone or go around the mountains. They cannot go around the mountains - the sea will swallow them. So the Cossacks stopped with the merchants and began to live near the sea-lake, but they would not get ashore in any way.
They had to live here for a long time, maybe their bones would have rotted there, but then, fortunately for them, an unknown person approached them and called himself a Buryat. The Russians began to ask him to lead them ashore, circle the sea and show them the way to land where they had not yet been. The Buryat did not say anything to them, he folded his palms into a tube, then raised them to his face and went into the forest. The Russians did not detain him, they released him with God. Again, the merchants and Cossacks were saddened, how to proceed, not to escape, apparently, their death. So they lived for a long time, you never know, no one counted days or months. The merchants and the Cossacks grew emaciated and haggard; worse than before, grief seized them. They wanted to gather their last strength and go back, but then the Buryat came again and brought his son, he said:
- I can’t get around Baigal with you - I’ve become old, I can’t go around the Shaman Stone - the years have long gone, take your son, his eyes are bright, and his legs are deer.
The old man left for the taiga, and the son led the Russians on a new road, brought them to the seashore and said:
- Baigal.
The Russians asked him what it was, he answered them:
- In our opinion, it means a fiery place, here there used to be a continuous fire, then the earth collapsed and became the sea. Since then we have been calling our sea Baigal.
The Russians liked this name, and they also began to call this sea Baikal.

Ushkany Islands

Who can know when that was? Well, no one seems to remember. Many years have passed since then, during this time mountains have grown on the plains, deep lakes have spilled on the lowlands, a forest has grown on stones. At that time, Baikal stood calmly, so quietly that the water did not move like a mirror, the smooth surface shone from coast to coast. Sometimes only early in the morning, at dawn, the fish splashed. But Baikal is not angry about that, he loves different living creatures and, like a father, gives her food.

How long did Baikal live in silence and bliss, only he knows about that. And suddenly, unexpectedly, a terrible storm fell on Baikal. Baikal has never seen such a storm before. The water of Baikal was covered with terrible bubbles; Old Baikal got angry at the storm and said:
“Don’t anger me, you can’t defeat the old man, you can’t disperse my bright water around, you can’t drain my home.
And the storm did not want to listen to the old man. Know walks for himself and walks along the crests of the waves, which have already risen from the height of the rocks.
“You can’t cope with my strength, old man,” says the storm, “I raise the seas and oceans, bring down the taiga, wriggle the everlasting forest, destroy rocks, and I’ll splash you like a puddle, drain you like a drop.
After such impudent words, Baikal became furious. Evil gives strength. Baikal straightened his mighty shoulders, he remembered his sons and daughters, gained strength in his heroic chest and let's fight the storm. Rock after rock he began to erect around himself, mountains began to rise behind the rocks. The storm sees that jokes are bad with the old man and it’s not so easy to defeat him, she called on the winds of Kultuk and Barguzin to help herself. The strength of the storm immediately increased. Then Baikal went to the trick and began to block the path of the storm away from the coast. From the bottom, rocks began to rise, so many of them rose above the water that they began to obscure the sun. The storm hits the rocks with all its force and rolls back, it is already weak coming to the shore.
This is how the rocks appeared in Baikal in spite of the storms, to the delight of the shores they protect. Well, since the rocks appeared, then they were covered with sand and silt. From year to year, the rocks overgrown and grew so much that they turned into islands. This is one island and was nicknamed Ushkanim. Why was it named like that? I will tell you about this now. This island was more successful than others, and a forest soon appeared on it: a pine forest, a birch forest, a listvyanka, an aspen forest, and there is no name for the shrub. So many berries will be born here that it will be enough to cook berry jelly for all the Baikal water. The island is also rich in wild rosemary and flowers. In autumn on the island, the aroma takes your breath away.

The island has its own climate, its own weather, and there is nowhere else like it around Baikal. When autumn is around, everything withers and freezes everywhere, everything blooms on the island, wherever the eye can see, everywhere is green: the berries ripen, the wild rosemary blooms a second time, blossoms. Ushkans saw about such an island - it means, in Siberian, hares - and they threw a herd onto the island. What are the shorts for, and when necessary, they swim and get on the island. There were so many ushkans that there was nowhere to step.
But after all, a person does not sleep, he is also cunning. He found out that nature is rich on the island, and made his way to it. People were amazed at how many Ushkans live here. So they called the island Ushkanim. Then the Ushkans also divorced on small islands, which stand next to the large ones. Now these small islands are also called Ushkany.
Many years ago, our grandfathers and great-grandfathers wanted to settle in these Ushkany Islands, but they did not fit in: winter and summer fit here at the wrong time, as around Baikal. The peasants wanted to set up a household, but there was not enough urine, and there was no need for that.
From time immemorial, people have been protecting the Ushkany Islands, and the hunters themselves preserve the living creatures there. The old people told how a long time ago several thieves came to the island to harass Ushkans. The hunters among themselves agreed to hire an old man to keep all living things on the island. The old man lived on the island for more than a hundred years, thieved all the thieves, punished his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren: "Just as a fox does not hunt near its hole, so you take care of all living things around you. Without nature, a person is naked, and you cannot live naked for a long time."

Suvo
The old people who said how the name of the village Suvo came from, which is not far from Barguzin. One elderly Tungus explained the name in his own way. The Tungus in the upper reaches of the Barguzin do not live forever. Long before them, various peoples roamed here, but no one remembers them. Those distant peoples left the Barguzin Valley in that old time, when the Chuds first began to come here, and then the Tungus began to migrate, the Orochons and Barguts. After them, the Russians began to appear. But that was quite recently, about three hundred years ago.
The Tungus gave the name to rivers, mountains and places most of all here, because there were more of them here than other peoples. There are many stories about the name of the village of Suwo, but the most true of them is this. Once upon a time, many Tungus lived near Lake Kotokel. They lived around the lake, fished, beat animals, and so lived for years. The Tungus were very prolific in those years, because the cold was strong, and they love the cold. When the warming began, then they began to die out, clan after clan completely descended from the earth. Heat, after all, multiplies any infection, and there was nothing to be saved from it before.
At a time when many Tungus were born, it became crowded to live around Kotokel, they began to gradually and slowly rise up the Barguzin. The Barguzin road is wide, the Barguzin has a lot of tributaries, and the Tungus dispersed along these tributaries. They are hardy people, they will soon know the place, the Tungus will never get lost in the taiga, they will get out of any wilderness right where they need to go. They have such a sense, they know where what grows, they smell where animals are found, where one should go hunting, and where there is nothing to break legs in vain. Everyone here knows about their deeds, for which the Tungus is respected here.

Here is one such Tungus clan who walked for many days along the left bank of the Barguzin and saw a path that stretches along a tributary uphill. That taiga path led the Tungus to the mountains. The Tungus do not like steppes and swamps, what they do there, they did not deal with livestock at that time. At the very ascent up the mountain, the Tungus stopped, set up yurts and went to check where the path goes further. Soon the Tungus returned and told their princeling that the taiga path breaks off here not far from the mountain, and then goes the dense taiga, where, apparently, no human foot has set foot. The prince thought and said:
— Suwo.
It means the end of the road in Tunguska. All the Tungus who stood near the prince repeated at once: "Suvo, suvo, suvo." Since then, who knows how many years have passed, but the name Suvo stuck to this place. Even before the arrival of the Russians, all the Tungus said that the Suvo River and the place of Suvo were found and first settled by Prince Shoningo, who was famous among all people for his strength and courage. In memory of the Tungus, in the very place where the prince once stood with his Tungus, a Russian village grew up.
The village was founded over two hundred years ago. Here is how it was. Two Cossacks Misserkeev and Kozulin escaped from the Verkhneudinsky prison. The Cossack chieftain did not like them, they refused to serve him, to work for the tsar's treasury. So they took it and left. How long did the Cossacks walk through the taiga, but they ended up on the Barguzin River, and then they met with the Belovodsk Tungus. The Tungus advised the Russian Cossacks to settle in the Suvo area near the river itself. The river then flowed stormy, there were so many fish in it, even take it with your hands. Suvo Misserkeyev and Kozulin liked the area, they entered into relatives with the Tungus and began to build here, raise children. The peasants lived their lives, they did not bow to anyone here, they considered themselves masters.
The good news went for a walk around the wide world, that Cossacks settled far beyond Barguzin and live happily ever after. A rumor about them reached the Zaudinsk Cossacks, and they pulled one after another to Suvo. The village began to grow day by day and grew so quickly that there were few banks of the river, the peasants went to build on the slopes of the hills. Suva grain fields turned green, herds of horses and herds of cows appeared. The people lived where the taiga had just rustled and the wolves howled. This is the history of the Russian village of Suvo!

About the pedigree of the Barguzin Buryats
Our Barguzin Buryats live in great friendship with us. We speak Buryat, they speak Russian with us. Our ancestors knew well where the Buryats came from. It was given. All Barguzins talk about that antiquity in this way. Here, listen.
From time immemorial, our great-grandfathers and grandfathers also said that these places were inhabited long before the arrival of Russians, when birch trees did not grow here, by Buryats. All our Buryats come from Lena, and now their relatives live there. Buryat Bukhe Savonov, who lives right behind the Ina, tells to this day: the sixteenth generation of Buryats was born from those ancestors who were the first to come to Barguzin. The Savonov family now has hundreds of generations. All the Buryats who live near Karolik, in Yasy, descended from the Bargut clan. Their ancestors first lived on the Angara, then they moved to the Lena, and from the Lena they got to the Upper Angara, then they came to Vitim, they migrated from Vitim to Barguzin. So it used to be, the old people did not tell in vain.
I remember how my other good neighbor, Badma Dylgyrov, used to say about his relatives, so he kept almost everyone on his mind until the tenth generation of his old people. Now there are few such storytellers left. Those who are more instructive, but have received a diploma, those about the Buryat offspring, probably read in books. And we, the old people, all hope for the memory of our old man.

The owner of Olkhon
There is a terrible cave on the island of Olkhon. It's called Shaman. And it is terrible because the ruler of the Mongols once lived there - Gegen Burkhan, brother of Erlen Khan, the ruler of the underworld. Both brothers constantly terrified the inhabitants of the island with their cruelty. Even the shamans were afraid of the formidable rulers, especially Gegen-Burkhan himself. The islanders knew that if this heartless and merciless ruler got out into the world, then expect trouble: the blood of many innocents would be shed. Many common people suffered from it.
And he lived at the same time and on the same island, on Mount Izhimei, the wise hermit Khan-guta-babai. He did not recognize the power of Gegen-Burkhan, and he did not want to know himself, he never descended into his possessions. Many have seen how he kindled a fire on the top of the mountain at night and roasted a ram for dinner, but there was no way there - the mountain was considered impregnable. The formidable owner of Olkhon tried to subjugate the wise hermit, but retreated: no matter how much he sent soldiers there, the mountain would not let anyone in. Anyone who dared to climb this mountain fell dead from there, because huge stones fell with a roar on the heads of uninvited guests. So everyone left Khan-guta-babai alone.
It so happened that among one islander, Gegen-Burkhan executed her husband, a young herdsman, because, as it seemed to the lord, he disrespectfully looked at him.
The young woman hit the ground with grief, burst into burning tears, and then, inflamed with fierce hatred for Gegen-Burkhan, she began to think about how to save her native tribe from the cruel ruler. And she decided to go to the mountains and tell Khan-guta-babai about the severe suffering of the inhabitants of the island. Let him intercede for them and punish Gegen-Burkhan.
The young widow set off. And surprisingly, where the most dexterous warriors fell, she rose easily and freely. So she safely reached the top of Mount Izhimey, and not a single stone fell on her head. After listening to the brave, freedom-loving islander, Khan-guta-babai said to her:
- Okay, I'll help you and your tribe. And you go back now and warn all the islanders about this.
The delighted girl descended from Mount Izhimey and did what the wise hermit had ordered her to do.
And Khan-guta-babai himself, on one of the moonlit nights, descended to the land of Olkhon on a light white-foam cloud. He fell to the ground with his ear and heard the groans of the innocent victims ruined by Gegen-Burkhan.
- It is true that the land of Olkhon is all saturated with the blood of the unfortunate, - Khan-guta-babai was indignant and made a promise, - Gegen-Burkhan will not be on the island. But you must help me with this. Let a handful of Olkhon soil turn red when I need it!"
And in the morning I went to the Shaman cave. The enraged ruler went out to meet the hermit sage and asked him hostilely:
- Why complained to me?
Khan-guta-babai calmly replied:
- I want you to leave the island.
Gegen-Burkhan boiled even more:
- Do not be this! I'm the boss here! And I will deal with you.
- I'm not afraid of you, - said Khan-guta-babai. He looked around and added - There is power on you too!
Gegen-Burkhan also looked around and gasped: not far away, frowning islanders stood in a dense wall.
“So you want to settle the matter with a battle?” cried Gegen-Burkhan.
“I didn’t say that,” Khan-guta-babai said again calmly. “Why shed blood? Let's fight better, so it will be peaceful!
- Let's!
Gegen-Burkhan fought with Khan-guta-babai for a long time, but none of them could achieve an advantage - both turned out to be real heroes, equal in strength. With that, they parted ways. We agreed to decide the case the next day by lot. It was agreed that everyone would take a cup, fill it with earth, and at night, before going to bed, each one would put his cup at his feet. And whoever's land turns red overnight - to leave the island and wander to another place, and whoever's land does not change color - to remain in possession of the island.
The next evening, according to the agreement, they sat side by side on the felt laid in the Shaman's cave, placed a wooden cup at their feet, filled them with earth, and immediately went to bed.
And then the night came, and with it came the insidious underground shadows of Erlen Khan, on whose help his cruel brother strongly hoped. The shadows noticed that the earth was colored in the cup at Gegen-Burkhan. They immediately carried this cup to the feet of Khan-guta-babai, and his cup to the feet of Gegen-burkhan. But the blood of the ruined turned out to be stronger than the shadows of Erlen Khan, and when a bright ray of the morning sun burst into the cave, the earth was in the cup of Khan-guta-babai went out, and the earth in the cup of Gegen-Burkhan turned red. And at that moment they both woke up.
Gegen-Burkhan looked at his cup and sighed heavily:
“Well, then, you own the island,” he said to Khan-guta-babai, “and I will have to wander to another place.
And then he ordered his Mongols to load property onto camels and dismantle yurts. And in the evening, Gegen-Burkhan ordered everyone to go to bed. And at night, the Mongols, with their camels and all their belongings, caught up by the powerful shadows of Erlen Khan, were quickly transferred beyond Lake Baikal. In the morning they woke up already on the other side.
But many poor Mongols remained to live on the island. It was from them that the Olkhon Buryats, who inhabit this island today, originated.

trunk rock
In the distant past, on the shores of the Glorious Sea - Baikal - it was very warm. Large unprecedented trees grew here and huge animals were found: giant rhinos, saber-toothed tigers, cave bears and shaggy giants - mammoths. The lingering trumpet sounds of mammoths shook the mountains. Mammoths were considered the largest and most powerful among all the animals on earth, but by nature they were modest, peaceful.
And only one of the Baikal mammoths was distinguished by a strong temper, exorbitant bragging and arrogance. He always walked alone, important and proud, and woe was to those who met on his way. Smaller animals he grabbed with his long trunk and threw into the bushes, and those who were larger, he hooked with thick tusks and threw them to the ground. For fun, the boastful mammoth uprooted giant trees, upended huge boulders and blocked the rivers running to Baikal.
More than once the leader of the mammoths tried to reason with the braggart:
"Come to your senses, obstinate, do not offend weak animals, do not destroy trees in vain, do not muddy the river, otherwise you will not get well." The arrogant listened to the speeches of the old mammoth, and he continued to do it in his own way. And once he completely unbelted. “Why are you teaching me everything!” he roared at the leader, “what are you frightening me for! Yes, I’m the strongest here, yes, if you want, not only the rivers, I’ll throw stones at the whole Baikal, like a puddle!”
The leader was horrified, the rest of the mammoths waved their trunks at the bouncer. Baikal also stirred, dousing the shore with a wave and hiding an unkind smile in his gray mustache.
But the dispersed mammoth did not see anything. He fled, plunged his tusks into the rock, lifted it up to throw it far into the sea, and suddenly the rock became heavy, heavy. The tusks broke from the exorbitant weight and, together with the rock, fell into the water. Here the mammoth roared out of grief, extended its long trunk to the water to get its tusks, and froze like that, petrified forever.
Since then, a huge rock has been standing on the shore of Lake Baikal, hanging over the water like a trunk. And now people call it that - Trunk Rock.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
http://ozerobaikal.info
Baikal // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
http://www.photosight.ru/
Galaziy G.I. Baikal in questions and answers. — 1989.
Grafov S. V., Kolotilo L. G., Potashko A. E. Pilot of Lake Baikal. Admiralty No. 1007. - St. Petersburg: GUNiO, 1993.
Grushko Ya. M. Baikal: Guide / Prof. Ya. M. Grushko. - Irkutsk: East Siberian Book Publishing House, 1967. - 252 p. — 1,500 copies. (in trans.)
Gusev O. K., Ustinov S. K. In northern Baikal and the Baikal region / Photo illustrations by O. Gusev, V. Lomakin, M. Mineev, L. Tyulina. - M .: Physical culture and sport, 1966. - 104 p. - (In native spaces). - 17,000 copies.
Gusev O. K. Sacred Baikal. Protected lands of Baikal. — M.: Agropromizdat, 1986. — 184 p.
Kozhov M. M. Biology of Lake Baikal / Ed. ed. G. I. Galaziy. - M.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1962. - 316 p.
Kolotilo L. G. Baikal // Marine Encyclopedic Dictionary. - St. Petersburg: Shipbuilding, 1991. - T. 1. - S. 108.
Pilot and physical-geographical sketch of Lake Baikal / Ed. F. K. Drizhenko. - St. Petersburg: Edition of the Main Hydrographic Department, 1908. - 443 p.
Rossolimo L. L. Baikal. — M.: Nauka, 1966. — 170 p. — (Popular science series). — 20,000 copies. (reg.)
Taliev D.N. Baikal: Biologo-geographical essay. — M.; Irkutsk: Ogiz, 1933. - 64 p.
Tivanenko A. V. Around Baikal. - Ulan-Ude: Buryat book publishing house, 1979.

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What is Lake Baikal? Where is? Surely many travelers asked this question, trying to refresh their school knowledge. Baikal is considered the largest. It is the largest fresh water reservoir on the planet. By age, depth and reserves drinking water he just has no competition.
So Baikal! There are legends about it as about a formidable and angry lake. The well-known reservoir is awarded with different epithets: “the blue eye of Siberia”, “the sacred gift of nature”, “the world source of drinking water”.

Baikal. Where is the lake?

The lake is located in the south of Eastern Siberia. This is on the border and Buryatia on the Asian continent. Now remember where Lake Baikal is? Photo famous lake will help everyone imagine the Siberian beauty of the reservoir. Scientists have recorded the area of ​​the water surface of Lake Baikal - 31,722 square kilometers. This figure can be equated to the area of ​​Belgium or the Netherlands. The width of the mysterious reservoir reaches 79 kilometers. The length of Baikal is 620 kilometers. From a bird's eye view, the lake looks like a giant crescent. Baikal is the deepest lake. According to research data, maximum depth is 1642 meters.

No one can exactly answer the question of where the name Baikal itself came from. This topic has been the subject of many scientific papers and literary publications. But not a single scientist was able to provide peremptory evidence in relation to at least one theoretical conjecture.

Where Baikal is located, beliefs and legends live. In the past, the peoples living near Lake Baikal called the lake in their own way: “big reservoir” or “rich water”. If we take into account the age of the reservoir, then, according to research data, Baikal was formed more than 20 million years ago.

Usually ice age lakes live for about 15 thousand years, and then gradually disappear from the face of the earth. However, Baikal does not show any signs of aging. According to research recent years, geophysicists have suggested that Baikal may well be a nascent ocean.

Miscellaneous

The Baikal pit is recognized as the cleanest storage of drinking water on the planet. The lake is incredibly clean and rich in oxygen. Connoisseurs believe that this water is close to distilled water in its properties. Earlier Baikal water was used for treatment. There is a huge variety of living forms in Lake Baikal. This is a fish: the famous omul, whitefish, perch and salmon family. Which of the animal world can still be found in the area where the lake is located. Baikal?

Baikal seals and noisy gulls live on the coast. Sometimes there are brown bears that came out of the forests. Scientists count about 847 species of representatives of the animal world and approximately 133 species of various plants in the nature of Baikal.

Thanks to this diversity large quantity tourists flock to this amazing place to breathe in a breath of fresh Baikal oxygen. Every year there is an intensive development of infrastructure on Lake Baikal. This encourages everyone who has been here to visit the proposed recreation area many times.

Where to stay on Baikal? Various hotels, sanatoriums, tour operators are provided to the attention of vacationers. All conditions are created for the traveler to improve his physical and spiritual health. For many years, the thermal and mud springs of Goryachinsky, Zmeevoy, Khakusy have been famous for their healing properties.

All named natural springs- a great help to a person in the treatment of blood circulation, nervous system and skin diseases. The most popular spring is the Snake Bay. Despite the lack of amenities, the number of people coming here is constantly growing.

Baikal is able to tear a person away from the usual civilization, amaze with landscapes and fill with life-giving energy! Of course, having come to Baikal once, it is impossible to study the entire local culture. To begin with, use the services of guides or plan excursions in advance.

Think about what you will travel on: a bicycle, a car or an ATV? And if you are an excellent rider, then a horse is an excellent companion for such journeys. If the question arises about what time of the year is the cheapest time to relax on Lake Baikal, then you should go in September. It was during this period that prices for sanatoriums and services of tour operators were significantly reduced.

Baikal. Where is the place that can cause excitement among the male part of the population? This is a fishing area! Such entertainment delights all fans of an exciting activity. On the territory of Lake Baikal there is a great opportunity to let everyone show their fishing skills. The most popular places for this are the Chivyrkuisky Bay, the Small Sea, the Proval Bay and Lake Baikal itself.

There is indeed an abundance of fish in these water areas, but catching them is not an easy task. Some tourists even have to resort to the services of instructors. But that's okay!

It is worth practicing - and you will be with a catch! Most likely, friends, looking at a photo on this topic, will ask: "Where are you?" After a little silence, you will probably give a proud answer: "How where? Lake Baikal!"

Winter fishing has its advantages. It is no less exciting than in the warm season: fewer people, therefore - peace and a sense of freedom.

Rest on famous lake Baikal is quite diverse. If you dream of swimming, summer fishing and other entertainment in the hot season, then it is better to go on vacation in July-August. At the beginning of summer, it is still cold on Lake Baikal, and the water is not warm enough. And in the northern part of the reservoir there are even floating ice floes. The end of August can overshadow the pastime of travelers with gusty winds. Water during this period is mixed, and its temperature drops. But for those travelers looking for solitude in nature, autumn is a great time of the year. The local coastal vegetation is painted in bright colors, forcing the tourist to capture this beauty in the photo.

Where to relax on Baikal?

If you know what you expect from this trip, it will be easier to decide on a vacation spot. For those who prefer the thick of the masses, the roar of various music and the roar of jet skis, the western coast of Olkhon Island, Peschanaya Bay, the coast of the Small Sea, the coast from the village of Baikalskoye to the city of Severobaikalsk, the Circum-Baikal Railway are suitable.

A cruise along the Circum-Baikal Railway is a win-win option for an interesting vacation. Usually the tour lasts 2 days by train. On this trip, the guide will tell travelers about famous places Lake Baikal. There are short stops at interesting places. Therefore, you can contemplate nature in these parts to your heart's content.

The places where Baikal is located offer everyone the comfort of tourist bases and sanatoriums of Southern Baikal (Utulik, Elektra, Angara and others). This should save the vacationer from questions about where to live on Baikal. Small Sea is a bit secluded, and accommodation here is possible in a yurt at affordable rates. Olkhon Island is located in an inaccessible place. It can only be reached on foot or by boat. This is a great recreation area for those who are tired of the hustle and bustle of the city.

You can diversify your pastime on the deepest reservoir by taking part in a cruise on a boat or yacht. This way you can visit the wild shores of Lake Baikal. Group excursion routes are known. They are notable for the fact that vacationers can visit the most unusual corners of the Baikal region.

If a tourist has a desire to use the rest in order to restore physical health, then he can resort to the services of hot springs in the north of the lake. Active travelers will enjoy hiking and horse riding, as well as exciting rafting on mountain rivers. lovers winter holiday can organize walks on the Baikal ice skating rink, ride snowmobiles or dog sleds. For fans of skiing from December to May, the tourist base "Mount Sobolinaya" is actively operating.

Rest on Baikal as a savage

On Baikal? And How? Recreation as a savage is the most freedom-loving. For those who love adventure, Lake Baikal is a real find! Peschanaya Bay is considered the most suitable place for such a pastime. Only here a real tourist feels an absolute separation from civilization - there is no connection, no roads.

Only private yachts and the motor ship "Barguzin" go here, departing from the pier of Irkutsk. Small houses or tents are provided for vacationers. This island has pristine nature. It is so alluring that it literally bewitches tourists, forcing them to return here again and again.

At the service of savage travelers is a tourist center that can offer interesting excursions. Where to relax on Baikal as a savage? Magnificent Island Olkhon is ready to receive a wanderer! It can charm every person with the harmony of its forests and steppes. Olkhon is an unforgettable fishing trip and a lot of positive emotions.

mysterious rock

This island is interesting as a place for shamans. There are opinions that there is a tomb of Genghis Khan. Some locals and in our time worship spirits. Old-timers can tell travelers a lot about the mysterious Shaman Rock.

It is the highlight of Lake Baikal. Researchers of this area claim that in ancient times the Buryats brought a huge number of sacrifices to the rock. There are many legends on this subject. One of them says that on Cape Shaman-Rocks lives Ezhin - the owner of the island. Until now, local residents treat this place with due respect.

Among the tourists there are few daredevils who are ready to approach the Shaman Mountain. According to legend, this place is endowed with a special energy power. The photographs leave as a memory for travelers the drawings of shaman tambourines carved on the rock by ancient people. Unfortunately, these images are partly destroyed due to the intervention of the human hand in an attempt to quarry the marble.

Sights of Irkutsk

In those places where Lake Baikal is located, the city of Irkutsk is the most unexplored and underestimated tourist destination in the world. Many Russians have vague ideas about this place of rest. It's a pity!

Foreign tourists visit Irkutsk sights with unconcealed interest. After all, this is a storehouse of natural and man-made works. Connoisseurs of architecture visit the Exaltation of the Cross Church with pleasure.

After all, its structure is unique: the fences of the temple and the crosses are made according to the old model of blacksmithing. Another famous attraction of Irkutsk is the Taltsy architectural and ethnographic museum. It is located under open sky and keeps real masterpieces of architecture!

Tourists who come here can witness Orthodox holidays: in winter - Christmas and Maslenitsa, in summer - Trinity. IN winter time For years, residents of Irkutsk have been building snowy towns, riding down ice slides on cow skins! Agree that this forgotten vacation can bring real pleasure to every traveler.

After such festivities, you can heartily enjoy hot dishes of native Russian cuisine: hot pancakes, meat goulash, Siberian dumplings! Along with this, everyone can taste Japanese and Chinese dishes in cafes, bars and restaurants at reasonable prices.

extreme vacation

So, you have come to Baikal! Where is the place that will give a drive to the traveler? What else will conquer this famous territory of a vacationer? Baikal is able to provide the traveler with an extreme type of recreation that can cause him a special surge of emotions and adrenaline. This is especially facilitated by dynamic rafting along the mountain rivers of the territory of Baikal. Such water trips are notable for the fact that after such a trip there is no longer any tourist who is indifferent to this type of recreation.

Worth seeing at least once wildlife Siberian taiga, rafting down a stormy river with a group of comrades. Memories of the euphoria of such a trip will accompany many years. So, let's remember that mountain rivers originate in the upper reaches of the mountain. River layers of water from there rush down - to the plateaus and plains. Due to sudden changes in altitude, the speed of the flow of mountain rivers is from 25 to 30 kilometers per hour. The number of obstacles encountered on the path of the current (rocks, waterfalls) determine the complexity category of water rafting.

The first category includes calm water, the sixth - obstacles with waterfalls and rapids reaching up to 15 meters. Tourists can conquer such mountain rivers on rafts. This is the most popular ship for such an extreme type of recreation. It is an inflatable boat. Its bottom contains holes for draining water that has got inside the boat.

The raft differs from ordinary inflatable boats in that its design is reinforced with a durable shell, special attachments for travelers' legs and two-layer balloons. The raft is used when passing water obstacles of 1-5 categories of difficulty.

To get more acute emotions when passing the river rapids, tourists use a catamaran. These are two inflatable balloons made of very durable material, which are interconnected by an aluminum partition. The catamaran on the water is well stable and gives a stronger feeling than a raft.

To control a catamaran, more precise actions are needed. It usually accommodates 2-4 people. On such a device, it is possible to pass water obstacles from 1 to 6 categories of complexity.

If you wonder where to visit Baikal, then you should make a trip to the top of Mount Munku - Sardyk. Such a trip can be unforgettable, as this place is considered the highest point in Eastern Siberia. Tourists who have reached the snow-white peak will have stunning views of the lakes frozen under the ice. At this moment, it will seem simply incredible! The best time to enjoy such beauty is April and May.

Tourists who have been to Baikal more than once note that, most likely, this trip will change a beginner. The mystery of this Siberian place is able to touch the thin spiritual strings of a person, awakening in him a sense of novelty and harmony.

Since 2008, every second Sunday in October, Baikal Day has been celebrated - the deepest and largest freshwater lake on the planet, a unique natural attraction and a real treasure of Russia.

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Location, history

In what part of the world is it located. The lake is located in the center of Asia, on the territory of the Russian Federation, on the border of the Irkutsk region and Buryatia. Its length is 636 km.

It is estimated that the lake is approximately 25 million years old. The formation of rift basins (there are three of them in total) took place during the period of seismic activity of ancient mud volcanoes. It was because of this that the earth's crust broke. Also, the origin of Lake Baikal is associated with the location of one part of the mainland on another in ancient times (according to this version, it is the same age as the Himalayas).

Thus, the reservoir is one of the most ancient on the planet. Interestingly, it is mentioned in ancient Chinese chronicles. The Chinese called it "Bai Hai", which means "North Sea".

Attention! Seismic activity in the area continues to this day. More than a hundred earthquakes occur every year, but most of them are very weak, recorded only with the help of special equipment. There is also a large magnetic anomaly.

Interestingly, the formation of basins is still ongoing. Every year, water wins about 2 cm from the land. Some scientists believe that the reservoir can turn into, but this is just guesswork.

Name history

There are many versions of the origin of the toponym "Baikal", but the most important of them is the Turkic one. In Turkic it sounds like "Bai-Kul", which means "rich lake" in translation. A very accurate title.

The Buryats who inhabited this region called the lake "Baigal-Nuur". Perhaps, with the arrival of the Russians, the letter "g" was gradually replaced by "k".

Attention! In Russia, there are several more reservoirs with the exact same name. They are located in the Yakutsk and Tyumen regions. But, of course, other bodies of water are much smaller than the main one.

Sometimes Baikal is called a sea, compared with the Caspian and Aral, which are the preserved parts of the ancient oceans. This name is quite correct, because storms often occur here, and the waves reach a height of 4-5 meters.

Peculiarities

We list the special features of Lake Baikal. Storms and wave formation also occurs here due to winds.. They are very strong and different in their characteristics. Scientists even gave them names:

  • Kultuk;
  • Mountain;
  • Shelonnik.

In many ways, the lake is more like a sea.

Lake Baikal

Size and shape

Its shape resembles a crescent moon. Its area is 32 thousand square kilometers (length - more than 630 meters, width - 80 meters). Interestingly, some European countries could well be completely located on its territory, for example, Albania, Malta, Denmark or Holland. There are many islands on it (-22 in total), but only one is inhabited - Olkhon. The length of the coastline is equal to the distance from Moscow to Istanbul.

Depth

The maximum depth of Lake Baikal is 1642 meters (the average depth is 730 meters; however, according to a number of scientists, there are depressions at the bottom, the depth of which is more than 7 km), that is, it is almost 5 Eiffel Towers. But only in 2002, after lengthy research and numerous measurements, this fact was confirmed.

The lake owns 19% of all world fresh water reserves

Amount of water

Baikal owns 19% of all world fresh water reserves. In total - 23 thousand cubic kilometers. This amount of water was formed because more than 300 rivers flow into the reservoir.

What else is the lake famous for? Of course, quality. Her purity is amazing. IN The water is incredibly transparent, through its thickness you can see what is happening at a depth of 40 meters. In terms of purity, it is equated to distilled, since it contains very few minerals. But there are a lot of things that make it useful. In 2000, according to the results of scientific research, it was found that water has a glow.

Attention! In about one winter month, the water freezes completely and is covered with a whole network of cracks. Some of them are up to 30 meters deep. It is unsafe to walk on the surface of Lake Baikal in winter.

The water does not warm up even in summer (the average temperature is only 8-10 degrees, although in some shallow bays the temperature can reach up to 20 degrees), despite the fact that sunny days there is a lot here (it is because of this that Baikal is also called the "Lake of the Sun"). Swimming here is limited even for professionals, because so far not a single person has been able to swim across the reservoir. Interestingly, the current here is not very strong, only 10 cm per second. There is a thermal spring nearby. The water temperature in it is over 70 degrees.

The water in the lake is very clear

Flora and fauna

Ecoworld of the Baikal region is unique. Grows along the coast a large number of cedars and larches, which are centenarians. Several trees are over 700 years old.

In terms of the number of endemic animals, this area is comparable only to Australia. More than a thousand endemic species live here (most likely, this is due to the fact that mountain ranges and hills are located around). Only in the waters there are more than 50 species of fish (the most famous are the golomyanka viviparous, which almost entirely consists of fat, and the Baikal omul, a fish from the salmon family), and on the banks there are rookeries of seals or seals.

Moreover, scientists still have not figured out exactly how they appeared here (perhaps these are the descendants of the animals of the ancient northern - Arctida).

Every year the region celebrates Seal Day. The event is designed to draw public attention to the problem of poaching in the region.

The water is filtered by shrimp, crustaceans and sponges, which in 100 years reach a size of 1 meter. Thanks to their activities, as well as a special circulation, the water is completely mixed in 5 months, which is why it remains so clean.

Nearby is a large national reserve Barguzinsky, on the territory of which there are many research stations. The qualitative composition of the reserve is 1750 species of plants and animals. All of them are under state protection.

Resources

For a long time, scientists have found out that there are rich oil deposits at the bottom of the lake. Almost every year about 5 tons of oil are produced here.

Interesting facts will be useful for children:

  1. The territories of the Baikal region were inhabited by people as early as the 2nd millennium BC. Presumably, these were the ancestors of the Evenks. How many ethnic groups lived here in general is still unknown.
  2. Baikal was discovered by Russian explorers at the end of the 17th century. For the first time he was seen by the Russian Cossack Kurbat Ivanov. At that time, its shores were inhabited by the Buryats, who, in turn, replaced the Berguts who lived here in more distant times.
  3. Scientists have found that at the bottom are the most high mountains on (their maximum height is 7500 meters), scientists also found the remains of dinosaurs here.
  4. There is a cave on the shore where mysterious shamanic rites were held in ancient times. It is located in the Shamanka rock. Interestingly, in old times criminals were executed here: they simply put them on the very edge of the cape and waited for a big wave. If a wave washed away a person, then he was guilty. It was believed that the waters of Baikal do not touch the innocent.
  5. Cape Ryty - is considered a cursed place. Only very experienced shamans can enter it.
  6. A lot of people drowned here. Interestingly, July is considered the most disastrous time for travelers and explorers.
  7. Nearby there are more than 20 caves - it's just a paradise for speleologists.
  8. There is a version according to which, somewhere near or, perhaps, at the bottom is the grave of the famous Genghis Khan.
  9. There are also suggestions that somewhere nearby the treasures of the Chinese caravan were hidden, which tried to find shelter here from the Tatar-Mongol, and the treasures of Admiral Kolchak, who hid a large amount of silver here, which was taken to Irkutsk for the fair.
  10. Locals believe that UFOs can often be seen here.
  11. In Russia, a children's carbonated drink called "Baikal" is produced. It has a special taste, which is achieved with a mixture of herbal extracts and essential oils. Interestingly, all the herbs from the composition grow on the banks of the reservoir.
  12. In 1976, Crimean astronomers discovered an asteroid, which was named after the reservoir.
  13. On the lake, as in the deserts, mirages can often be observed.
  14. Interestingly, only one river flows out of the lake - the Angara. One beautiful legend is connected with this fact, according to which Angara is a disobedient daughter who ran away from her father to her lover, the Yenisei.

There are rich oil fields at the bottom of the lake

Attention! If 336 rivers flowing into the lake ceased to feed it, and the Angara continued to flow out, then one would have to wait 400 years to see the bottom.

It takes about a month for the lake to melt completely. The melting of ice begins approximately in March-April. Rest here is the dream of many tourists. Celebrities have also been here, for example, James Cameron, who directed Avatar, spent his 51st birthday here. The current President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin participated in a dive inside the Mir submersible, which was used, among other things, during the underwater filming of the movie Titanic.

Locals believe that one cannot get sick from swimming in the cold waters of the reservoir. The last strong earthquake occurred here in 2008. His strength was equal to 9 points on the Richter scale. In 2010, the area was also hit by a 6.1 magnitude earthquake.

12 secrets and wonders of Baikal

History of Baikal! How did Baikal appear?

Conclusion

One can talk about Baikal for a long time. He is incredibly handsome. Its nature and mysteries attract explorers and travelers from all over the world.

On the world map, the Baikal "comma" is right in the center of Eurasia. Either it “smiles” at the curiosity of a person, or it means a mystery, understatement. So it is - a special aura of these places opens immediately, and never lets go. Asia and the East intertwined here, European civilization wedged in, but there are still more unexplored places than habitable ones.

Geographical location and history of the origin of the lake

When asked where Lake Baikal is located, the most common answer is - in Siberia. The lake of tectonic origin lies in a rift cavity - like, for example, the Dead Sea. On the map of Russia, a fresh body of water separates Irkutsk region and Buryatia. The length from the north to the south-west is almost 640 km, relatively narrow in width - from 25 to 80 km.

The satellite images show the water column - this is the maximum depth of 1637 meters: on the map of the hemispheres of the planet there are only 6 lakes deeper than one and a half kilometers, and Baikal excels.

Curious! There are many versions of the origin of the name of the lake, the advantages are in expressions that are consonant with the current pronunciation:
Beihai (Chinese) - the northern sea;
Baikol (Turk.) - a rich lake;
Baigal-dalai (Mong.) - a rich flame.

Road to the lake

Airports and railway stations are located in Irkutsk and Ulan-Ude. The regularity of flights and express trains is high, the prices are for any budget due to the active development of the tourism cluster. Depending on the city in which the journey begins - from 70 to 140 km to the coast, Shuttle Buses run around the clock.

Features and mysteries of Baikal

Basin

Geologists cannot determine the exact age of the reservoir. Amazing location: Baikal lies as if in a stone vessel, and this makes it difficult to diagnose - there is no bottom soil for archaeologists and biologists. So 30 million years or "only" 150 thousand? No answer.

dark rings

For many years, the lake surface has been spontaneously covered with huge rings several kilometers in diameter. Observers notice this every spring on a satellite map. Researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences put forward a hypothesis that bottom water with gases rises in this way. But ufologists insist on the extraterrestrial origin of this geometry.

deep space

An unexpected location was chosen for a new super-powerful telescope at the end of the 20th century: Baikal, a bottom cushion. It turned out that it is easier for astrophysicists to pick up signals from space through water. The mystery gave rise to the belief in the existence of a deep port for aliens - after the winter, traces of "active" flights emerge with the famous "rings".

Baikal Stonehenge

The bizarre man-made structures are located in the remote area of ​​the Baikal-Lena Reserve. On Cape Rytom, someone in ancient times built a stone fence 333 meters long. Inside are pyramids of flat slabs. Eyewitnesses admit: there are no graves there, but the energy is incredible. However, it is almost impossible for neophytes to get here.

Underwater riddles

Secrets and treasures are searched for in the great depths of Lake Baikal, coordinates are scrupulously calculated: Baikal is historically associated with the Supreme Ruler Kolchak and the missing tons of gold reserves. Suddenly hidden at the bottom?.. The great director J. Cameron equipped a whole expedition to the bottom of Lake Baikal. What discoveries he made remained a secret.

living water

Environmentalists praise the life-giving composition of the lake cocktail. Despite the active industrial intervention, the purity of the lake is unique: mineralized, saturated with oxygen. Even under a meter of ice, bottom stones are clearly visible. Recipes are known - cope crustaceans and sponges. Using these properties in cities is a challenge.

Flora and fauna of Lake Baikal

Flora of Baikal

No other region has such a unique combination of natural and climatic zones. Around the perimeter Siberian Sea a marvelous variety of vegetation - from arctic to subtropical species. Hundreds of the rarest shrubs grow here, conifers, rhododendrons and edelweiss bloom. Favorites are:

relic forest- living "fossils" have been preserved on Olkhon since the Paleolithic.

Oaks and hornbeams- the groves on the southeastern coast are like an oasis in the center of Siberia.

Blue spruce- an unusual decorative shade is created by the wax “cover” of the needles, which area of ​​\u200b\u200borigin of the species is unknown.

Fauna of Baikal

The water area and shores of Lake Baikal are famous for their biodiversity. Scientists are surprised - what a rich region: more than 1500 species - the oldest deep-seated ciliates, hosts of insects, fish, birds. Abundant for food coastal zones were chosen by predators and herbivores: bears, wolverines, deer. Have fresh sea and its legendary inhabitants:

- a fur-bearing animal lives in cedar forests along the entire east coast along the Barguzinsky ridge. Omnivorous, because of the value of the fur was on the verge of extinction, until physical map the area did not become the first reserve in Russia - already with a 100-year history.

- Baikal seal, protected by the state. Many versions, like marine mammal fell deep into the continent in a fresh lake. Some are sure that from the Arctic along the Yenisei and Angara, others believe in more exotic versions. Good-natured barbels weighing up to 170 kg stoically endure hordes of tourists.

- fish from the whitefish family, considered a signature delicacy, weighs from 0.5 kg to 5 kg. Commercial production is underway.

Curious! Epishura Baikal crustaceans - copepod cleaners have been working for millions of years: they successfully coped with bio-pollution. But the chemical effluents of the new time threaten this population and the ecosystem of the lake.

Attractions of Baikal

Lake Baikal on the world map is an object of attraction in itself. Pagan myths are still alive here - and every cape, bay, rock is covered with them. The legends of the Golden Horde are honored, the Old Believer villages of the first Russian settlers and ancient Buddhist datsans stand as a source of wisdom. Hundreds of natural and historical monuments. The first thing to look at is:

Circum-Baikal Railway- built as part of the Trans-Siberian; now 89 km along the coast, through tunnels and stone galleries with amazing views.

Shaman-rock on Cape Khuzhir - ridge sacred mountain crashes into the water: rituals have been performed here for thousands of years, and as a sign of continuity, there are 13 ritual serge, visible from afar.

Cave Dream- how many km in length, they didn’t exactly count - but it is the deepest, with golden stalactites, it impresses with a fabulous view and a special musicality of sounds.

Olkhon- an island in the middle of the water surface, with a spruce forest of prehistoric times and deafening beauty of panoramas.

Taltsy– ethno-village-museum of the life of the indigenous population of the Baikal region: authentic and impressive.

Baikal is one of the most famous lakes in the world. There are legends about him. It delights and surprises travelers and tourists. In size, it is a huge sea. The area of ​​the water surface is over 31 thousand km², and the length of the coastline is 2100 km. Therefore, it is one of the seven largest lakes in the world. It is not only the size of the water surface that is striking. Very beautiful and landscapes. The lake in the shape of an elongated crescent is surrounded by rocks, wooded mountains, cliffs. There are bays of extraordinary beauty with sandy beaches. Numerous islands on the lake are impressive, especially the largest Olkhon.

What is Lake Baikal famous for? This is a wonderful lake. It does not age, it is distinguished by its horizontal, as well as impressive vertical dimensions. The composition of the water, the richness and uniqueness of the flora and fauna are surprising. You won't see this anywhere else. About 2600 species and subspecies of animals and about 600 plant species live in the lake. Of these, more than half of the animals are endemic, that is, they cannot live in other waters and will die. This also applies to most aquatic plants. Baikal is included in the World Natural Heritage List.


forever young lake

The lake is 25-35 million years old. So many ordinary lakes do not exist. They can withstand no more than 15 thousand years, and then they fill with silt and die. Baikal never gets old. There is even a hypothesis that the lake is a nascent ocean. It expands by 2 cm per year. Therefore, Baikal is unique as a lake.

The lake is located in a large depression with a relief bottom. It passes through the earth's crust and is immersed in the mantle. Baikal is the deepest lake in the world. Its depth is 1642 m. According to this parameter, it is ahead of two other lakes of outstanding size, including the Caspian Sea. In this basin there are huge volumes of fresh water. This accounts for almost 20% of the world's fresh water resources.

miraculous water

Dozens of rivers and streams flow into Baikal, and only one flows out - the Angara. The main feature of Baikal water is its purity and transparency. The amazing beauty of stones, the natural world can be seen through the huge water column. This is due to the fact that it contains few suspended solids. A pure source of water is not a river. The water is purified by some living organisms in the lake itself. Water is like distilled. It has a lot of oxygen.

On a note! The lake is cold. Even in summer, the water is cool and warms up to about +9 °C, in the lower layers - +4 °C. However, in some bays it is quite comfortable to swim, as the water temperature can reach 23 °C.

In spring, the clean water surface of the lake is especially good. It seems blue, and the transparency is the largest - up to 40 m. This is due to the fact that the inhabitants of the lake in cold water have not yet multiplied enough. By summer, the water will warm up a little, and a lot of living organisms will develop. The water will turn green, and visibility in the water column will decrease by 3-4 times.



Baikal in winter

From January to May, the lake freezes completely. The thickness of the ice is about 1 m. From the frost, it cracks with a roar. The cracks extend for several kilometers. The width of the gap reaches 2-3 m. The aquatic inhabitants of the lake need cracks. Oxygen enters through the gaps. Without it, they will die. Baikal ice has a peculiarity - it is transparent. Therefore, it transmits the sun's rays. This is important for the development of some aquatic plants. They give off oxygen and saturate the water with it.

Only on Baikal ice forms characteristic hills. They are called saps. These are cones, they are as high as a 2-story house. They are hollow inside. They are located on the surface of the lake alone or in a ridge.

Flora and fauna of Baikal

Diatoms and other small plants live in the waters of the lake. They make up plankton. Along the coast there is bottom vegetation. Directly at the shore, at the junction with water, green algae ulotrix grow in belts. A very beautiful view opens up to the coastal water strip. Bright green algae grow on rocks underwater:

  • Didymosthenia;
  • Tetraspore;
  • Draparnaldia;
  • Hetamorph.

With deepening, the vegetation becomes poorer, but diatoms are found.

Life is teeming in all layers of the Baikal lake. This is due to the distribution of oxygen throughout the vertical of the lake. Among the families, many representatives are endemic:

  • Nematodes.
  • Worms.
  • Sponges.
  • Gregarins.
  • Isopod crustaceans.
  • Scorpion fish.
  • Turbellaria.
  • Shellfish.
  • Golomyanka.
  • and many others.

Among the important endemics is epishura. This small copepod with a size of 1.5 mm forms the bulk of zooplankton - up to 90%. It is a living filter of the lake, as it feeds on planktonic algae. Passes water through itself and so cleans it. In addition, other inhabitants of the reservoir feed on them. The kid is able to filter a glass of water per day, and purify 15 m³ of water per year.

Another most important endemic of the lake is the golomyanka. This is a small fish of local origin. It looks completely transparent, a third of the body consists of fat. Visible vessels, spine. The most amazing thing about her is that she is viviparous. Usually fish of temperate latitudes spawn, and viviparous fish are found in tropical waters. It is also surprising that every day the fish goes down and rises again to the surface in search of food.

Other fish live in the lake. Among them, the most famous are:

  • omul.
  • grayling.
  • sturgeon.
  • burbot.
  • taimen.
  • pike.

Omul is one of the symbols of Baikal and forms the basis of the fishery. Here forms 3 races. The most numerous of them spawn in the Selenga River. It feeds on epishura and its vertical and horizontal migrations in the lake are connected with this.

The seal is a unique representative of the mammals of the lake and another symbol of it. This seal reaches a size of 1.7 m and a weight of 150 kg. He almost all the time lives in the lake, even in winter. Ice is not afraid of the beast. In order to breathe air, the seal in the ice cover scrapes special holes - vents. In autumn, masses of seals lie on the banks. Eats golomyanka. It dives down to 200 m for fish. Seals are curious and playful, they like to watch the movement of ships, but at the slightest danger they dive into the water.

spring transformation

In May, the ice melts and the appearance of caddisfly pupae and mayfly larvae is observed. They inhabit the bottom of bays and shallow coastal waters. Before our eyes, they turn into adult insects - black butterflies and occupy all the air space. A very impressive sight.

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