Lake Baikal

The location

Baikal is located almost in the centre of Asia, at latitude of Moscow and London. Its length is 636 km, the greatest width between the Onguren and the Ust-Barguzin villages is 79,5 km, the smallest width against the delta of Selenga river is 25 km, the length of coastal line is nearly 2000 km. The area of reservoir of Baikal is about 570 km.

The depth and the area

Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth. Baikal is at the 8th place in the world by the area of water surface and is approximately equal to the area of Belgium - 31500 sq.km. The deepest place of the lake in the southern hollow is 1430 m, in the middle, 1637 m, in the northern hollow, 920 m.

There are 22 islands in the lake, the area of the biggest of them, Ol`khon, is more than 700 sq.km.

The ancient age

Baikal is the most ancient and the deepest lake on the planet. It is nearly 25 million years, but it has no any signs of ageing as many lakes of the world have, the majority of them live 10-15 thousand years, and then they become filled by deposits and disappear. The maximal depth of Baikal noted by sound locators is 1637 meters. In fact, the lake is much deeper, it is located in huge hollow, limited by breaks of the Earth's crust, which enters into the higher cloak of the earth. Bowels under the lake are very heated, and somewhere at the bottom of the lake and on the land by the lake you can find thermal springs.

Mountains around

Baikal – is a mountain lake, its level is higher than the level of the World Ocean by 445 meters. From all directions it is surrounded with the mountains having different heights and several tops. The northern and the northwestern coast of the lake are mounted by the Primorsky and the Baikalsky ranges. In the southern part of the Baikalsky range one of the greatest rivers of the world, Lena, originates. The Upper Lena is in 9 km from Baikal. On the eastern coast of the northern part of the hollow of the lake there is the Barguzinsky range. The coast of the Southern hollow forms the Khamar-Daban range. On the north the western coast is limited by the spur of Kichersky range, behind the channel of the largest inflow of Baikal - the river of Selenga, the Ulan-Burgasy range is located. The highest tops of the mountain ranges are: the Primorsky range – the Trekhgolovy Golets, 1728м; the Baikalsky range – the mountain of Chersky, 2573 m; the Barguzinsky range with the length of 280 km, 2840 m; The Khamar-Daban range – the Khan-Ula mountain, 2371 m.

The water of Baikal

In Baikal 23 thousand cubic km or 20 % of the world reserves of superficial fresh waters and more than 80 % of Russian waters reserves are concentrated. The hollow of the lake can contain all water of the Baltic Sea or waters of all of the five Great Lakes of the USA. The water mode of the lake depends on the drain of the rivers, 336 rivers flow into Baikal, one river Angara flows out. According to another version about 1 thousand rivers flow into Baikal. If the drain of all rivers flowing into the lake stops, Angara would flow out of Baikal for 360 years. Annual drain of the rivers of the globe would be necessary to fill the hollow.

Flora and Fauna

The flora and the fauna of Baikal are unique and include various kinds of plants, animals, birds and fishes, 2/3 of them are endemics. In total, in Baikal 2565 kinds and subspecies of animals and 1000 kinds, subspecies and forms of water plants were registered. This number includes many hundreds kinds of water and ground microorganisms, and also little studied viruses and phages. A specific variety of Baikal has no equal among ancient and Great Lakes of the world. Scientists annually find more than 20 kinds invertebrate animals of Baikal, scientists forecast presence of 1500 more kinds which are unknown yet. The top of the pyramid in the ecosystem of the lake is endemic Baikal seal.

“The part of the world heritage"

Baikal was given the status of “UNESCO World Heritage Site”. Taking into account that the development of the economy on Baikal is limited by the current legislation of Russia, one of the main directions of the economic development is ecologically safe tourism. Baikal and adjoining territory at present became the largest tourist region of Eastern Siberia, attracting tourists not only from Russia, but also from foreign countries. The number of visitors grows annually, and the majority of visitors comes in summer. Winter tourism also has a very big potential for development. In winter Baikal freezes, its ice has a special color shade. An enormous tourist resource is the nature of Baikal and history of people, that having been living on its coast from ancient times.

Tourism on Baikal

Tourism in this area is developing. Its tendencies have been studied for the last years. In Buryatia marketing researches were conducted and the Framework for the Development of Tourism was accepted on their basis in 2003. On Baikal independent tourist areas each with their own specialization are formed. Within the borders of Buryatia these are Podlemorie, the Northern Baikal, Barguzinskaya valley, Pribaikalie, Kabansky region. New tourist complexes are constructed, investment projects are developed and roads are reconstructed. In settlements the network of guesthouses (home stay) is developing. The development of tourism on Baikal has great potential, but it also has its limits. Its development is now regulated by a number of laws and law acts of Russia and subjects of the federation, including the law of the Russian Federation “About protection of Lake Baikal”.