Baikalsky Biosphere Reserve
The reserve is divided in a strictly protected zone and a buffer zone which begins on the banks or behind the villages and reaches landward a few hundred meter. A lot of different long trails are upgrated and improved also to create a "Great Baikal Trail". They all can only be entered with a ranger cause they lead throw a conservation area. But that's just a small drop of bitterness cause a ranger, who´s always a scientist in commision to the park direction, can give a lot informations about flora, fauna and the terrific natur. On a longer trail you can camp or spend the night in a small lodge which you sometimes have to share with researchers.
The Selenga-Delta, a bird reservation, belongs to the reservation too. More than a million birds cross it yearly. A visit is just enabled with a leading ranger by motorboat.
The administration and information center is situated in Tankhoy, around 300m uphill behind the railway station. Visitors will find synoptic tables, a lot of pictures, a bibliothek and offices of different sciences there. A small museum will be opened in 2005. So far all infomations were presented in russian, but the park direction is involved to make the reservation more attractive for foreign tourists, so the rangers are forced to learn English. But the tourists come very slowly, so the region istn't really owerflowed yet.
We're waiting for more informations from the park direction to publish them here. Impatient people can mail to Margarita Sutula who's fluent in German and English.
