Baikal

Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, situated in the centre of Asia, 456 metres above the sea level. Its length is 636 km, the width varies from 30 to 60 km and the major depth is 1,637 metres. It is estimated to contain approximately one-fifth of all the Earth's fresh surface water. That`s why Baikal is called the planet`s well.

Baikal is known for the remarkable clarity of its waters and for the great diversity of plant and animal life in and around the lake. Many of species are endemic. There are about 20 species of flowering plants (thin reed, water buckwheat, cat`s tail, hornwort, sedge). You have a chance to meet bear, reindeer, marmot, elk, Siberian deer, sable, squirrel, fox and wolf. Baikal seal, or nerpa, as it is more often called, is the only seal that lives exclusively in fresh water. Among birds you can meet swans and falcons, white-tailed and long-tailed sea eagles, black crane and black stork. The major fish is omul from salmon family. Local people offer salted, smoked and grilled omul, cooked in your eyes.

A large part of the territory around the Baikal Lake is occupied with National Parks and Reserves: Pribaikalsky National Park and Baikalo-Lensky Reserve on the Western coast of the lake; Zabaikalsky National Park and Barguzinsky Nature Reserve on the East.

The Baikal region is mostly populated with the Russians and the Buryats. You have an opportunity to get acquainted with their national culture and history, to look at architectural memorials, to visit Russian Ortodox monasteries, Buddhist Datsans, Shamanist holy places, old-believer`s villages, to taste national cuisines and to see national folklore.

The climate of the region is continental. There are more than 250 sunny days a year. In January (the coldest month) the temperature ranges from -12°C to -45°C. July is the warmest month with average temperature about 25°C, but it can reach 40°C.

The lake Baikal basin is included into UNESCO World Heritage List. You can find more information about this protected area at http://www.wcmc.org.uk/protected_areas/data/wh/baikal.htm.

Highlights

• Chivirkuysky Bay is a picturesque bay in the Eastern part of the Baikal Lake with warm water. The territory belongs to Zabaikalsky National Park.
• Irkutsk one of the oldest Siberian cities with specific coloring, the capital of Eastern Siberia.
• Ivolginsky Datsan the center of Buddhism in Russia, where you have a chance not only to look at the Buddhist ceremony, but also to meet and to talk with the Buddhist Lames.
• Old-believers villages in environs of Ulan-Ude - an opportunity to sense traditional Russian hospitality, to appreciate the folk show and to taste dishes in preserved traditional style of Russian home-made cuisine.
• Olkhon Island is the geographical, historical and sacred center of Baikal, the heart of many legends and fairy tales. Beautiful landscapes captivate everybody.
• Round Baikal Railway is a unique memorial of engineering art, constructed in the beginning of the 20th century as a part of the Transsiberian Railway. The way 84 km long, made in the lake's rocky west shore, contains 39 tunnels, 14 galleries, more than 50 reinforced concrete and stone arch bridges. This line is considered to be the most volumetric, complicated and expensive to build among all the railways of Russia.
• Taltsy the outdoor Architectural and Ethnographic Museum with a unique collection of 17th - 19th century`s cultural monuments, concerned to three local peoples - the Russians, the Buriats and the Evenks.
• Ulan-Ude the capital of the Buriat Republic with such highlights as the Nature Museum, the Fine Arts Museum, the Tibetan Medicine Center, The Ethnography Museum, national folk shows and national cuisine.
• Ushkany Isles are famous as a protected area with breeding-grounds of seals.