The Irkut – river

The Irkut - river originates from the confluence of two rivers - the White Irkut, flowing down the hills of Munku -Saridak and the Black Irkut which rises in the lake Ilchir in the Tunkinsky hills at height of 2000 m. The most significant tributaries of the Irkut-river are the rivers Ehe-Ugun, Engarga, Kharagun, Bolshoy and Maly (Big and Small) Zangisan, Zun-Murin and Kyngyrga. In the places of crossing ridges valleys of the rivers turn into gorges with steep slopes. The rivers abound in rollings and weirs, some of them have small water falls. Speeds of streams are various, and in mountain streams they, as a rule, reach 3-4 m per second.

The Irkut flows in Tunkinskaya valley almost 450 kms being its main waterway. There are some versions of an origin of the name of the river.

1. According to one of them, it was named so by the Buryats. In translation it means “carrying craters”, or "to turn, to spin". Passing a narrow gorge in the upper reaches, the river really has a rough character.
2. Another version is that the Soyotes called it so, as the derivative from the name of lake Ilchir, from which the Black Irkut flows.
3.  According to the third version, it was named by the Mongols, that in translation means “a real man” who in youth is hot, not self-restrained, but in maturity he is quiet and self-assured, strong and resolute. The Irkut often proves it. In the upper reaches it is fast, but, entering a wide valley, it calms down. During flooding, it shows its force, destroying everything on its way.

The river flows to the Baikal, but it does not reach lake Baikal and at the distance 20 kms left to the Baikal it suddenly turns to the mountains. This phenomenon has been studied by scientists for a long time, but there is no common point of view on the reasons of this phenomenon. The fact of this rare phenomenon in nature became a ground for many legends in the Buryat folklore. One of them is a famous legend about Baikal, Irkut and Angara which became the theme of the ballet “The Beauty Angara” staged in the Buryat State Opera and Ballet House, and for many years it has been a success among spectators.

In summer water in the river gets warm rather well. The highest temperature of water is usually in July about 15 degrees. The banks of the river in many places are convenient for rest and fishing. There are 18 species of the fish included in 9 families as a salmo -thymalus a pike, a umber, a grayling, a lake white fish, an eel-pout, a soroga and others.

The Irkut causes a great interest for organizations to arrange tourism and rest. Some of its parts are suitable for sports rafting and amateur water travels. There are also many plots convenient for construction of tourist objects. At present the banks of the river are inhabited poorly, for many kilometers the river flows along wild places. And this fact attracts those who searches for solitude's to communicate with nature.