Spring Sensation of Lake Baikal
The below suggested extension tour program offers unique opportunities for a traveler to visit Lake Baikal still enchanted in ice, within a short period of time explore the culture and ethnography of Lake Baikal native people – the Buryats, and learn specific techniques of fishing through the ice-holes of the world’s deepest freshwater lake. Though the winter is nearly gone, and spring is in the air allowing even to get real sunburn while on the lake’s ice, but the ice melting away from Lake Baikal only in the middle of May is still very strong allowing cars to drive on the Baikal ice until middle of April. Crystal clear water of Lake Baikal makes the ice beautifully transparent and even at one meter deep you can still see right through it...
The Itinerary Description
Day 5
LISTVYANKA –MRS/Sakhyurte settlement on Small Sea of Baikal (total 255 km drive) via Ust Orda
After breakfast we check out from the hotel and head north through the hills and taiga. The initial stopping point will be at the roadside Shamanistic monument marking the native boundary of the Buryiat area. The local tradition calls for an offering at such boundaries and a small portion of vodka is spilled and sprinkled to the ground and a drop touched to the chest for the health of each child. Our first visit en route will be Ust Orda Buryat settlement.
In Ust-Orda, activities include a visit to the Buryat Ethnography Museum followed by a Buryat folklore performance. Buryats are a  native Siberian people whose history and culture closely relate to that of their southern Mongolian neighbors. We also explore a Buryat shamanistic center—the traditional wooden yurt home of the shaman—and sample some of the Buryat national cuisine including salamt, arza, and tarasun moonshine. Here we are met by Bashiila, the President of the Oriel Shamanistic Fund and a local hereditary shaman. Known locally as “Uncle Vasya”, Bashiila demonstrates a traditional ritualistic ceremony devoted to the deities of Lake Baikal and honoring the health of the earth.
Bashiila will speak to us about the philosophy, religion and culture of the local Buryat people and their traditional conservation practices, describe the shaman practice and altar, and perform a short ritual in honor of travelers and local spirits. We continue then to the Metelitsa (meaning “Snowstorm”) restaurant for lunch. After lunch about 150 kilometers north of Irkutsk, our coach will turn east, towards Baikal, and head up into the highlands and mountains which surround the Lake. Shortly before the pavement ends, at the high point which marks the border between regions, there’s a special place where offerings are made and stripes (ribbons) are tied to the bushes in respect to Bourhan, the native god.
Before dinner we arrive at the Khuzhir settlement located on the mainland and right opposite the famous Horse Head Peninsula of the Olkhon Island. We check in at the “Wind of Journey” guest lodge in rooms with modern amenities. At dinner enjoy home-made cuisine cooked by Mrs. Stepanovna - Baikal distinguished cook who will be ready to provide us with explanations about Siberian way of cooking the fish and other tasty dishes.
“Wind of Journey” Guest Lodge (B,L,D)
Day 6
 MRS - TO OLKHON ISLAND
After breakfast it’s on to the Khuzhir settlement on Olkhon Island, the largest and only permanently inhabited island on the lake. En route we wind through the “Small Sea”, part of Lake Baikal sandwiched between the mainland shore and the island’s eastern shore. Time permitting, we may be able to visit the small island of Ogoy—site of the lake’s only Buddhist stupa. At more than 32 feet high, the stupa holds 2.5 tons of Buddhist mantras and 1,543 pounds of holy Buddhist books that were brought from Nepal. The Ogoy stupa recently became a site for Buddhist pilgrimages. We have a leisurely morning to enjoy our surroundings. Upon arrival in Khuzhir, we check in at the “Sunny” guest house, overlooking the famous and legendary Shaman Rock, and our home for the next 3 days (rooms with amenities). The guest lodge is owned and managed by a native Buryat family of Obogoev,who are nice and charming people, eager to tell the travelers about their way life, culture. The atmosphere of the Sunny Guest Lodge is very warm and hospitable.
 Olkhon Island. Mid-way on the northern shore of Baikal is an area considered to be the most sacred. It is here, about eight miles from the north shore that we find Olkhon, the biggest island on Baikal extending more than 70 km. (60 miles) in length and up to 20 km. (15 miles) in width. Its terrain is varied with sweeping prairies, steep rocks, dry valleys overgrown with berry bushes and small, shallow bays with sandy beaches and warm water. The island's steep sides cut into the aquamarine sea-lake and its capes are like characters out of ancient Siberian folk-tales guarding the island's peace. The most beautiful of these capes, Burkhan, bears the name of the Buryats' primary god. The bank closest to Burkhan has a cave which cuts through the rock. The entrance is on the eastern side and the exit on the western side. Native people considered the cave a sacred place, a dwelling of shamans. The cave is, however, now inscribed with Buddhist prayers, remnants of seventeenth century arrival of Tibetan Lamaist Buddhism. The new religion partly absorbed the native shamanistic traditions and partially replaced them. The first words of one prayer read, "Ou, Burchan, Tengiri!", invoking the Buryat-Lamaist's god and heaven. |
“Sunny” Guest Lodge (B,L,D)
Day 7
OLKHON ISLAND- Khoboy Cape
Our explorations of Olkhon take us first to a holy place of Lake Baikal—the Shamanka craig rock, or Burkhan Cape where the so-called Altar of Rock nestles - the holy-of-holies of shamanists and budhists alike. The Rock is reached by an easy walk through Khuzhir village. Then we set out for an excursion around the island, first driving to the northernmost point, the Cape of Khoboy (translation: “fang”). The Cape is located at the widest point of Lake Baikal and offers the best views of the Eastern and Western shores. For the local shamanist believers, the site is a sacred spot.
| “Once when we went to Khoboi, the northernmost point of Olkhon Island…I was offered to visit the Virgin Cave. I followed their advice and was awarded with a unique sight. The entrance was adorned with an ornament of ice crystals and icicles, inside there were “crystal chandeliers”, fantastically congealing in the blue twilight. Pristine silence reigned in the mysterious cave. It was a bit harder to get into smaller caves. Ice outgrowth entirely covering all the cliffs hid a number of grottoes. To get inside one should lie down on the ice and crawl under the hanging icicles and hemlocks. If succeeding in doing so, you will find yourself in the other world filled with ghostly blue light and crystal pearls. It is an enchanting sight, indeed! Sitting with our back to the rock (it was not always possible to be to our full height) we enjoyed light tinges on the ice crystals being perfectly aware that no film could convey it....” – Alexander Aristarkhov. |
 Photo stops are planned in the most picturesque places of the island offering great views of the cliff complexes in Sagaan-Khushin, Budun and Khoboi capes. During this full-day trip we will also try to locate and see the famed freshwater seals of Baikal, the nerpa, the only freshwater seals in the world. With luck, we can find them in their natural habitat. How the freshwater seal came to be in Lake Baikal is still a mystery; the lake is hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. How to catch Baikal’s famed fish: grayling, perch and the endemic omul. Our lunch will be served as “hot” picnic on the ice. After dinner, our local guides—passionate ice-fisherman—introduce some ice-fishing secrets on how to catch famous Baika omul-fish and black-grayling. We learn about the local methods of attracting fish by the use of shrimp bait called “burmash”, which fishermen drop in large amounts in order to entice the omul to feed under their ice-holes…
“Sunny” Guest Lodge (B,L,D)
Day 8
Incredible encounter with Seals & Ice fishing Amateur Tournament
This morning before breakfast if we wake up at around 05:00 a.m. in close vicinity to the Sunny guest lodge we are most likely to see a unique, though typical scene for this area - the Baikal fresh water seals getting out from ice holes and… TAKING TO THE AIR!!! And then flying eastwards for their annual Seals’ Brotherhood gathering!!! Can you believe it?!
Yes, you may have forgotten that today is April,01, – when the smart people of the world have much fun celebrating the All Fools Day which in Lake Baikal area proves to be most amazing amidst fantastic ice, snow and mountain landscapes. Many practical jokes will be played on unsuspecting people on this day, but we should understand though that this should be played in the spirit of fun and not in a spirit of meanness.
So, Enjoy the day, everyone, and don't be an April Fool!
But to be more serious, breakfast today is followed by the “Omul Cup” ice fishing “tournament”, during which we set up near our “kamchatka”, or traditional omul group fishing area, where tents and huts perch on the ice over long-established fishing spots. Watch—and participate if you choose—in the ice-hole drilling with promises of local rewards for the fastest driller. Our fishing ground will be not far from the shore and a bit less accessible to the less-dedicated fishermen. The entire fishing shall be a kind of “Cool Fisherman” competition (the more fish you have caught regardless of its size and weight the better). Before lunch the fishing shall be stopped and the result of the competition summed up, and winners will be rewarded… But there won’t be losers since a good catch is guarantied…
We return to the guesthouse to enjoy another traditional Siberian banya (steam sauna) before having our farewell to Baikal dinner featuring tasty home-made entrees cooked by our hospitable hostess and her family.
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“Ice Fishing on Lake Baikal”
Lake Baikal ice fishing is a distinctive art, and instruction and some practice are needed to hook and land a fish. Omul-fish cruise about halfway between bottom and ice in 25-meter deep waters, travel in small (or large) schools, and will bite a small hooked shrimp lure when it is bounced and bobbed appropriately from above. Each ice-fishing rig is a foot-long wooden stick with a V- shaped notch at each end and wound end to end with 25-30 meters of nylon line. Four or five lures are attached to the line near its end which is completed with a moderate sinker and a lower lure, for insurance. The line is lowered into the ice hole approximately 12 meters - that is, to the depth at which the omul are biting, and jigged up and down constantly while trying to adjust the depth to find the fish. Barbless hooks are used to keep the line from fouling on itself during the two-handed retrieving which results in the classic windmill motion of the successful Baikal ice fisherman. In the lucky instance when an omul tugs at a lure, the fisherman begins a sharp and rapid retrieval of line and fish from the depths. This is done by alternately dipping the free hand and the stick under the line near the hole with arms spread to effect a wide loop and rapidly wrapping the line around both hands. The string of small lures comes last and is wrapped over the line already retrieved, and finally the omul is pulled through the ice to the admiring comments of the team. The fish is flipped away from the hole, the sinker is returned to the water, and the line is unreeled into the hole by alternately dipping hand or stick towards the hole while maintaining tension between the arms so that the loops of line stay neatly on each hand. Freeing the dangling hooks from the skein of line as this is done takes a bit of practice - as does taking in the line properly. When done by an expert in the kamchatka this is a rapid, effective, and graceful procedure. From shore, those resting and eating can tell right away when the heavy biting is in progress as five, ten or more men begin waving arms violently in the air simultaneously and the addictive rush of omul adrenaline sets in, canceling the effects of hours of standing in the chilling wind on the frozen lake. – John Forster,1999
As for the Harius (grayling) fishing, it is done in more shallow water (6-8 meters) and involves dangling a burmash lure 15 cm above the bottom and hoping for results.
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“Sunny” Guest Lodge (B,L,D)
Day 9
OLKHON ISLAND TO IRKUTSK
This morning we say goodbye to the island and set out for back to Irkutsk with lunch en route in the Petrovo village where we’ll taste Buryat national cuisine – the famous “pozy” – or Buryat big dumplings stuffed with cut lam meat. Upon arrival in Irkutsk we check in at the Victoria Hotel, have some time at leisure before enjoying our toast-filled farewell dinner.
Victoria Hotel (B,L,D)
Day 10
Departure from Irkutsk.
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Extension Trip
Destinations in Siberia & Beyond
