Olkhon - "The Heart of Baikal". Secrets of the deepest lake on the planet

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Lake Baikal - the deepest on the planet - is visited by about 2.4 million tourists every year. From space, the relief of its bottom is visible to a depth of 500 meters.

The main attraction is the lake itself. It is worth visiting the nerpinary in Listvyanka, where Baikal seals live - a kind of symbol of these places, plunge into the hot springs of Goudzhekit and Dzelinda or take a medicinal bath at Cape Kotelnikovsky. The amazing Cape Khoboy of Olkhon Island from different angles resembles both the canine and the bow figure of the ship (female). About what can be seen on the largest island of Lake Baikal and how to get there - in the material of RIA Novosti.

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The only inhabited island of Baikal - Olkhon - resembles the shape of the lake itself. It is called "The Heart of Baikal", and the locals associate many legends and beliefs with the island. For example, Shamanka Rock is one of the nine shrines of Asia. Its second name is Cape Burkhan. This is how the Buryat Buddhists call the main deity of Lake Baikal. It is said that he dwells in the Shaman's cave. Previously, it was believed that you should not drive past it on wheels, and women should not go inside.

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According to one of the legends, Genghis Khan and his soldiers visited Olkhon. They reached Baikal and crossed to the island.

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Now you can get to Olkhon by private transport, bus and even a minibus. The island is connected to the mainland by a ferry. True, they say that in the high season the queue of vehicles is “something”. In winter, an ice road leads to Olkhon.

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Olkhon Island has its own lake - Khankhoi. It has a lot of fish and warm water.

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Around the lake there are ruins of ritual complexes, ancient graves, religious buildings.

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The ecological situation on the island is deteriorating. Including because of the tourists. For example, in June, in just five days, volunteers collected 451 bags of garbage, removed six trucks with waste and six more UAZ vehicles.

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The Peschanoye tract with a dilapidated pier has its own sad story. In 1913, they wanted to create a convict prison here, and in the 1930s they made a corrective labor colony. Here, according to the recollections of local residents, they could have been exiled, for example, for stealing omul or potatoes and even for being late for work. Special settlers also lived here.

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Now the rest of the pier and the Peschanoe tract itself with its dunes is a tourist attraction. Tourists who go to Cape Khoboy often stop here.

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Surprisingly beautiful landscapes open from any point of the island.

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The Maloye More Strait - between Olkhon Island and the Baikal coast - has its own islands. Baikal is called the Big Sea; accordingly, its part, separated from the main water area by Olkhon, became the Small Sea.

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Dashi Namdakov's sculpture "Keeper of Baikal", installed on Olkhon in December last year, caused a lot of controversy. In February, the Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor's Office ruled that environmental legislation had not been violated and the statue did not cause environmental harm.

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Baikal Day, which falls on the first Sunday in September, was celebrated for the 20th time this year. The holiday is considered ecological. On Baikal Day, social, scientific and cultural events are held. At the end of August, the Human Rights Council under the President of Russia (HRC) recommended that the government limit the use of natural resources within the central ecological zone of the Baikal natural territory. And in the first decade of this month, on the initiative of the Baikal Interregional Environmental Prosecutor's Office, the rules for tourism on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia were approved.