February: news from Baikal

Tourism on Baikal is gaining popularity every year, even despite the restrictions associated with the COVID pandemic (and in the case of Russian tourists, on the contrary, thanks to quarantine, since the external borders are mostly closed). People are attracted by the freshest air and majestic natural landscapes. This also applies to the winter-spring season.

We present to your attention a brief summary of events for the upcoming Baikal season

Sport life

In the Irkutsk region, traditional winter events on Lake Baikal are not planned to be canceled. Three festivals and two sporting events are planned there from February to March, according to the regional authorities.

For example, on February 22-24, the Olkhon Ice Fest festival will be held for the second time, which in 2020 won first place in the category «Best tourist event in the field of culture» at the Russian Event Awards, being the only representative of the Irkutsk region in the final of the event.

The central event of the festival will be the international competition of ice sculptors on the theme «Transformation of the World», which will begin five days before the opening. Masters from different cities of Russia and countries of the world come to the competition of ice sculptures.

Also, from February 23 to March 8, a festival will be held with the already promoted hashtag #Живи_на_Байкале. Visitors will be able to attend master classes and an ice town with entertainment infrastructure in the village of Listvyanka, Irkutsk region. And on February 28, the 17th Baikal Ice Marathon «For the Preservation of Clean Waters» will take place. It is one of the twenty most impressive and extreme races on the planet, and according to the magazine «Men’s Health» it is included in the top five world endurance races.

A hockey match on the ice of Baikal «Last Game on Lake Baikal» is scheduled for March 8 in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye with the participation of professional hockey players from all over the world. The famous Russian hockey player Vyacheslav Fetisov is its initiator.

The traditional «Zimniada» will also take place, now there are 13 events in the festival calendar. According to the organizers, about 60 thousand people became guests of the events in 2020.

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Thermal springs

The service of booking accommodation TVIL.RU conducted a survey on social networks and determined which thermal springs in Russia attract the most vacationers. Two places from Buryatia entered the TOP-10 best places.

According to the press service of the company, thermal springs, where you can improve your health and restore the body, have been in demand since the past centuries. Poets, writers, artists and the «elite» of society came to the hot springs to rest. In 2021, they are gaining popularity with travelers again.

More than a quarter of the social media users surveyed by the company named the Matsesta resort with thermal springs in Krasnodar region the best. Saki balneological resort is in second place. In Saki, not only mineral thermal waters are used for treatment, but also therapeutic mud. «Bronze» in the survey of the most attractive thermal springs in Russia went to Shameless baths in Pyatigorsk.

The ten most attractive thermal springs in Russia:

• Matsesta, Krasnodar region (27.03%).
• Saki, Crimea (24.32%).
• Shameless baths, Pyatigorsk (18.92%).
• Aushigersk springs, Kabardino-Balkaria (8.11%).
• Baikal baths, Baikal (5.41%).
• Kamennomostsky thermal spring, Adygea (5.41%).
• Dzhumaly springs, Altai (2.7%).
• Paratunsky thermal springs, Kamchatka (2.7%).
• Suvorov baths, Stavropol region (2.7%).
• Healing waters of Arshan, Buryatia (2.7%)

Huge hockey arena

The legendary Soviet hockey player, UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctic, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Physical Culture, Sports, Tourism and Youth Affairs Vyacheslav Fetisov proposed to hold a hockey match in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye of the Irkutsk region on March 8.

- This is not just a match, but a big event for everyone. Vyacheslav Fetisov organizes similar games all over the world in order to unite different people in the cause of protecting the planet. The project is called «The Last Game» and is officially supported by the UN. We must use such an excellent opportunity to declare ourselves to the whole world and draw attention to the problems of Baikal, - said the Governor of the region Igor Kobzev.

Not only a match on the ice of Baikal is planned to be held during Vyacheslav Fetisov's visit to the Irkutsk region, but also sports master classes for children and environmental events.

No, it's not exactly paradise...

In Buryatia, the boat driver was fined 2,000 rubles for violating the rules for protecting the habitat of the Baikal seal. The man came too close to the seal rookery on Dolgiy Island, Barguzinsky District.

The incident took place in the summer of 2020. The Baikal Environmental Prosecutor's Office conducted a check on the information from the Zabaikalsky National Park. As a result, it was established that the boat was moving at a distance of 50 meters from the rookery of the Baikal seal. The legislation prohibits approaching them less than three kilometers. As noted in the prosecutor's office, violation of the ban may result in injury or death of animals.

Tourists can be dropped off on the other side of the islands. They are warned to keep quiet and turn off their phones. And observations take place behind a concrete wall, in which there are special holes.

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Wolf footprints the size of a man's fist were found in the Tazheranskaya steppe. The find was made by employees of the Elantsinsky forestry «Zapovednoye Pribaikalye» during a foot patrol of the territory.

Wolf pack is rarely seen by humans, but there is at least six individuals in it, according to environmental inspectors. As reported on the pages of the «Zapovednoye Pribaikalye» in social networks, the exit of the forest wolf deep into the open steppe is a forced act on the part of the predator. Only a very compelling reason, such as severe hunger, can push him to such behavior. This assumption was recently confirmed: a gray pack of wolves attacked livestock, which was grazing uncontrollably.

• Photo by Katon tour

• More Baikal news (in Russian)