Comintour - The Heart of Baikal Lake

The Heart of Baikal Lake

(Irkutsk / Olkhon Island / Khoboy / Ust-Orda / Lisvyanka / Irkutsk)

GROUP TOUR
7 Days / 6 .Nights
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Olchon is the third-largest lake-bound island in the world. It is the largest of the 22 islands in the Lake Baikal eastern Siberia, with an area of 730 square kilometres 71 km long and 15 km wide, and is situated in the very center of the Lake near the deepest part of it (1637 m). Its diverse landscape is a combination of taiga, steppe, and rocks. The population of the island is less than 1,500 and consists mostly of Buryats, the island's aboriginal people related to Mongols. The special atmosphere reigning on the Olkhon Island untouched by civilization makes it a unique place. There is neither electricity (kerosene lamps used instead) nor telephone lines there, and cell phones don’t work either. Russian baths make it up for the absence of shower cabins. The original ancient name of the Island is “Oy-Khun” which means “a small forest”. The Lake Baikal is the blue heart of Siberia, and the Olkhon Island is the heart of the Lake Baikal, and the home of many peoples and tribes of the Central Asia. It is also a religious center of Shamanism, a place of the annual spiritual gatherings of shamans from the northern territories of Russia. Lots of legends and myths are associated with the Island that was believed to be a sacred place inhabited by formidable spirits. Natives believe that Burkhan, a modern religious cult figure of the Altai peoples, lives in the cave in this rock. The rock is one of nine Asian Most Sacred Places. The museum at Olkhon, exhibits the nature and ethnography of the island, including smoking pipes and a samovar collection.

The program of the tour:

Day.1	Arrival in Irkutsk; general sightseeing tour including a visit to the Decembrists Museum; transfer to the hotel, check-in

Day 2	Breakfast, transfer to the landing stage to board a ferry to Irkutsk; arrival at Olkhon, transfer to the camping, check-in, Russian baths; time at leisure, dinner.

Day 3	Breakfast, trip to the northern cape of the Island, the Khoboy, that means a “tusk” in Buryat language. The Cape reminds a woman’s profile, and the legend says that it is a wicked wife who was turned into a cliff because she envied her kind and lucky husband. Khoboy is 500 m high, and those who climb to the top of it are awarded with the fantastic panoramic view of the Big and the Small Seas of the Baikal Lake, Ushkanii Islands that is a favourite place of the seals that come to sunbathe on the rocks below, and Svyatoy Nos (Sacred Nose) on the Eastern shore of the Island. Someone once said that Khoboy seems to be the end of the Earth – as it is surrounded by water. Lunch (packed), return to the camping, dinner; evening party by a bonfire.

Day 4	Breakfast, optional tour – one-day trekking to the opposite shore of the Island (15 km), to the Cliff Shamanka or Shaman's Rock, the Baikal's most famous landmark. Packed lunch. Return to the camping, dinner.

Day 5	Breakfast, return to Irkutsk via Ust-Orda to visit the Museum of the Local Lore. Folklore performance with a shaman, lunch (national cuisine); arrival in Irkutsk, check-in at the hotel. Dinner.

Day 6	Breakfast, trip to Listvyanka, visit the Limnological Museum there; picnic in the woods, boating along the Lake Baikal (or a 5 hour boating along the Lake and a picnic on the shore); return to Irkutsk, dinner with Russian music.

Day 7	Breakfast, departure

The price of the tour is quoted by request.