Right on the shore!

Please tell us about great hostels and hotels on the shore of the lake Baikal. The closer to the water the better. We are trying to make a list of the best ones. Thanks. We have already found two hostels: Alp Base (in Staraya Angasolka), and Lesnaya 7 (in Bolshie Koty).

Siberia's Lake Baikal

Very informative video. Gives a great overview of Baikal area.

Ice skating on the lake

Uzury area of Olkhon Island, Baikal Lake

Amazing photos of the north village Uzury on Olkhon Island!

Must see.

Uzury area of Olkhon Island, Baikal Lake

Also these pages with A LOT OF amazing photos of Olkhon Island, and cape Khoboy:

http://dmitry-yurlagin.livejournal.com/157764.html#cutid1

http://dmitry-yurlagin.livejournal.com/157475.html#cutid1

http://dmitry-yurlagin.livejournal.com/159667.html#cutid1

Why Winter?

I always say that winter in Siberia is the best time to visit. Especially lake Baikal are.
Many people ask me: "Why Winter?" Here I would like to give some answers :)

First of all, its New Year time. Cities are largely decorated with lights, ice sculptures. Every office and shop has discounts and gifts!

People are more active and energetic. In summer, its vacation time in Russia. Many people are gone traveling, cities seem to be very relaxed; but in the winter people are at their most powerful state. Happily stressed and openminded.
Parties at home are very warm and full of tasty things. People stay more indoors, become closer, what makes them best friends ever.

Of course it is very cold sometimes, its hard to handle for some people (good clothes is very important). But the beauty of the cities and nature is overwhealming. It is much cleaner, and everything is white. Rivers and lake are frozen in the second part of January and thats where fun begins. Ice skating, winter hiking, skiing, snowboarding and many other sports and activities.

Also for "real" divers its THE time to come to lake Baikal for diving. Its crazy-stunnig-amazing thing to do. It can be compared to diving in Antarctica.

Please comment about this, tell us why do you think winter is better for traveling in Siberia.

Professional Photography of Lake Baikal

Visit our new project and find out where you can find the best photos of lake Baikal and surrounding areas. Also featuring photos of Nepal and North India.

Order suvenirs and other products.

Baikal Club International Photography

Irkutsk Museum of Regional Studies

The Irkutsk's museum of regional studies is one of the oldest museums in Russia. It was founded in 1782. Mr. Erick Lacksman, an honoured member of the Russian Academy of Sciences was assigned to organize the museum. At first the museum was housed in a single room in the town's public library. Later on since 1805 the Irkutsk's provincial Grammar school became in charge of the museum.

In 1854 the museum was handed to the East Siberian Department of the Emperor's Russian Geographic Society. This event was a major landmark in the life of the museum. After 1854 the museum's collections were enriched with the artifacts gathered by Mr. R. Maak's expedition in 1853 (the region of the river Vilyui), by Mr. A. P. Shyapov's expedition in 1856 (the region of Turuhan), by Mr. I. A. Lopatin's expedition and by Mr. P. A. Kropotkin's expedition. They were as well enriched with the artifacts gathered by Ms. I. D. Chersky, A. P. Chekonovsky, V. I. Dybovsky, B. Godlevsky (polish rebels exiled in Siberia).

In 1879 during the Great Fire of Irkutsk all the collections, all the books in the library and the building of the museum perished. By raising money to erect a new stone building of the museum the citizens of Irkutsk best proved their love to the motherland, demonstrated their desire to learn more about it and to give this knowledge to the future generations. In October 6, 1883 the new building of the museum was opened with solemnity. This building erected in the Moorish style was designed by the architect Baron Rosen. The building itself became a monument to the famous explorers of Asia because their surnames were engraved on its frieze. In the new museum actively worked such outstanding scientists as Ms. N. M. Yadrintsev, G. N. Potanin, D. A. Klements, V. A. Agapitov, M. P. Ovchinnikov and others. In 1898 the museum successfully took part in the World Exhibition in Paris. By the end of the XIX-th century the museum housed more than 20 000 artifacts.

After the Great October Revolution (1917) the museum received extra accommodations, the needed finances and initiated the systematic researches of this vast province. In the museum in the early years of the Soviet Power were engaged in research such famous scientists as Ms. A. P. Okladnickov, M. M. Gerasimov, G. F. Debets, F. A. Kudryavtsev, Mrs. V. I. Mihailovsky, Ms. P.P. Horoshih, M. K. Odintsov, V. I. Podgordunsky and B. I. Lebedinsky.

In 1920 in the museum there appeared the Department of Natural History.

In 1936 the museum was divided into two parts: the Museum of Regional Studies and the Art Gallery.

By December, 1970 the Prince Trubetskoy's premises in Irkutsk were completely restored. And a new Decemberists Museum was opened there. Then fifteen years passed and in December, 1985 after eleven years of restoration the Prince Volkonsky's premises in Irkutsk were opened for visitors.

From 1982 to 1994 the Irkutsk's Museum of Regional Studies was part and parcel of the Irkutsk's State United Museum. The Irkutsk's State United Museum was a methodical centre for the whole province.

In 1982 in the building of the former Church of Our Saviour (this monument of the XVIII-th century had been restored for a long time) the Exhibition Department was opened.

With the purpose of the museumification of cities and regions of the Irkutsk province the Irkutsk's Museum of Regional Studies in January, 1992 organized a special Methodist Department.

The Artifact Depository of our museum is the largest one in the East of Russia. The museum pieces stored there have to do with the material and spiritual culture of the peoples of Central Asia. The majority of the museum pieces were gathered in the exploring expeditions held by the outstanding scientists, members of the East Siberian Department of the Emperor's Russian Geographic Society.

The ethnographic collections on the peoples of Siberia, Far East, Kamchatka, Korea, China and Mongolia include about 30 000 museum pieces. The unique archeological collections include 100 000 museum pieces and among them there are nephrite artifacts belonging to the Neolithic Age. The Photograph Department of the museum's Depository houses 40 000 photos. Besides all this the museum's Depository houses the collection of the Orthodox cult objects as well as the largest collection of the Orthodox silverware manufactured by the Irkutsk silversmiths. The collections in the Department of Natural History (including 10 000 museum pieces) characterize the Fauna, the Flora and the Natural Resources of the Irkutsk province.

The museum has a library which is one of the richest libraries on Siberian studies in Russia. In this library there are about 90 000 books, newspapers, magazines, journals, materials concerning the expeditions and researches carried out by the scientists of the East Siberian Department of the Emperor's Russian Geographic Society.

In the library there is also a collection of the old Chinese books (XVIII - XIX-th centuries), numbering 440 volumes.

Source: official website of museum.

Baikal

Baikal Nature

One of the best art videos found online about nature and local people in Baikal Region. Very interesting and well done.

Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal

Click "Watch Full Program" if you want to see full 1 hour presentation of the book, where Peter Thomson tells a lot of interesting stuff about traveling to the lake.

Nerpa, Baikal Seal

Baikal is among 100 coolest places on Earth

Three Go Sideways

News from three persons travelling on a car everywhere...
Interesting article on clrossing Mongolian-Russian border and reaching lake Baikal.

Waking up to the sound of waves crashing on the beach was really nice, and we had a great morning doing nothing chilling on the beach. If we got thirsty at all during the day all you had to do was dip your cup in the lake and have a drink. It is strange to be able to drink straight from a body of water that looks like an ocean. Somewhat reluctantly we paked up and left early afternoon to make camp to the east of Ulan-Ude. Since then we have spent two days driving and have made 700 miles east. This is our first serious driving session for a long time and it feels quite good. The only slight problem is the continued loss of turbo pressure, but it comes and goes and so we can easily live with it.

Find out more...

Artsiberia

From Artsiberia:

"The idea and the goal of the project is to promote Siberian art and to encourage knowledge about the cultural heritage of the Eastern Siberia through art exhibits and exchanges, and the publications of books and articles, cards and posters.

All requests related to cooperation, exhibits, lecture series, publications and art and citizen exchanges are welcomed."

You can find many images of siberian art, also religious buddist and orthodox art. Very interesting and 'real' subjects.

Baikal Butterflies

Here is a very interesting web site about Baikal Butterflies. Would be very interesting for people who study this subject or biology.

Here is the link: http://babochki.narod.ru/pi.html

It is both in eglish and russian :-| actually at the same time. :)

Totally must see. There are many photos of butterflies!

Ohio State Catches Baikal Fever

Ohio State University is now starting an environmental study abroad program dealing with environmental issues in Siberia, as well as language and culture. The program is based in Tomsk, but will include trips to other important sites, including Baikal - the most important of them all. The program looks like a good introduction to environmental issues, as well as Russian language and culture. The deadline for applications this year has passed, but hopefully the program will be a success and continue in the future, introducing more people to the beauty of Baikal.

Here's the program's website which contains all the basic information, hopefully they'll update it with pictures of their travels this summer:

http://cfaes.osu.edu/current-students/get-involved/folder.2007-11-06.3186332430/russia/

Something invisible and magic.

Finally I have opportunity to post great photos by Emma Pratt taken august 2007.











More here.

Eco-Tourism in Wales and Russia

NB: This is not a well-researched academic article, just some observations from my travels.

After the closure of coal mines in the UK, Wales was forced to revamp its economy, and find other sources of income. One of the methods of so doing has been to develop the country's tourism industry, including a large eco-tourism sector. With the natural beauty of the lush green mountains and hills, and the picturesque ruins and flocks of sheep that dot the countryside, and its relatively easily-accessible location (approximately a 3 hour drive from London) Wales is ideally situated for a tourist industry. Some creative Welsh groups have even taken Wales' industrial past and used it to attract tourists. For example, at Pyll Mawr (Big Pit), visitors can visit a coal mine and see it's inner workings. The Museum of Welsh Life in St. Fagan shows architecture from many periods of Welsh history, from a Celtic Village to a Coal-Miner's home in the 1980s. My impression was that the locals were glad to have tourists, and didn't mind sharing their stories and histories with visitors, as long as you didn't call them English.

Image 1: The Wye River near Tintern Abbey.

Russian eco-tourism, however, has a different feel to it. It hasn't developed as an industry from a previous industry, but has developed on its own. The populace seems less responsive to eco-tourism, mainly because it seems that it will do more harm than good to the environment.

Image 2: A Russian Conservation sign at Shaman's Rock on Olkhon Island.

I see three main differences between the Welsh and Russian eco-tourism industries that have allowed the Welsh industry to be largely integrated, while the Russian industry remains on the fringe. The first of these is the previous condition in the area. With Wales' industrial past, much of the country's national beauty was in danger, so eco-tourism was a boon which saved and preserved many of these sites. A poster I saw in Wales said "Protect the Best, Restore the Rest" (or something along those lines). In Russia, though, because of the vast size of the country, many areas had been minimally effected by industry, and were not screaming to be saved and protected. To many people it seems that eco-tourism will harm the environment, rather than save it as it did in Wales. The second difference between Wales and Siberian Russia which effects the effectiveness of eco-tourism is the comparative degree of infrastructure in the countries. Again because of Wales' industrial past, it has well-developed roads and bridges which can support the tourist traffic. In the Baikal area, however, the main source of transportation is boating, which can be a difficulty for tourists. The third difference between the two countries is government regulation and support. Wales, as part of the United Kingdom, has a strong and effective centralized government which can reasonably effectively enact and enforce environmental protection regulations. Russia on the other hand, although it has a strong central government, is less effective at enforcing environmental protection regulations. Because of this difficulty, eco-tourism can become a can of worms in Russia, where tourists could destroy the national beauty because laws are not enforced.

Green Mountains

View looking south from the mountain north of Bol'shiye Koty.

Nice view