June 15 Lake Baikal: the Pearl of Siberia

Barely an hour from Irkutsk on the Angara River is Lake Baikal which we were about to visit. It is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world (over 1.6km deep) and is estimated to be the world’s oldest lake at 25–30 million years old. Today it holds over 20% of the world's fresh unfrozen surface water. It is enormous!  The lake is home to 1000s of species of plants and animals, many of them endemic to the region such as the Baikal Seal, Baikal Sturgeon and Omul, a white species of salmon which the local people smoke and sell at markets along the shores (and offer from their back gates to passing tourists!). There are also fish found near the bottom of the lake that are the deepest freshwater fish in the world (we saw the deepest salt-water fish in Iceland some years later – the Greenland Shark). Not surprising that it has been nicknamed the Pearl of Siberia. 

Irkutsk on the Angara River which flows into Lake Baikal

Buryatia cradling Lake Baikal

The region around the lake is also home to Buryat tribes who raise goats, camels, cattle, sheep and horses on the eastern side of the lake – we were visiting the very southwestern side.

We had only a short time to visit (we were on a tight time schedule because of our visas – more later) so were pretty limited in what we could see.  Our guide and his driver took us on a mad dash for an afternoon visit (the Russian drivers are crazy speedsters: you just hang on and hope for the best!). 

We were deposited beside the lake to walk through one of the villages. It was very rustic, folksy and colourful. We then strolled through Listvyanka, a larger village on the shores of the lake. Listvyanka is a very popular water resort for locals and tourists alike and boasts some very quirky hotels. The beach was busy with boats and people and fishermen – it looks lovely. We strolled through the local market which is both a local and tourist market with many food outlets (loads of fish) – lots of great buying opportunities!   

Elaborate window treatment

Phantasmagorical hotels crowded the shoreline 

Typical scene - a man walking along eating a fistful of fish

Eateries by the beach

Not far from the village is Stone Cherskogo, a high rocky place where once the villagers sent people accused of a crime to spend the night exposed to the elements. If they were alive in the morning, they were deemed innocent!  Some people walk up there but given it was about 800m high, Lindsay and I took the chairlift.  At the top of the rock there are wonderful views over the lake. We peered into the distance hoping to see the opposite shores of the lake but couldn’t. We did, however, sit on the rocky outcrop where the village ‘criminals’ were sent to survive or die from overnight exposure. 

Evidence of Shamanism still alive and doing well - scraps of rags carrying prayers

Us perched on Stone Cherskogo against an impressive view over the lake. 

Then it was back to lake-level for the drive back to Irkutsk, stopping on the way for supplies to tide us over on the 4-day train journey to Moscow.  Talking trains, in particular the Trans-Siberian, evidently the building of what was a series of tracks started from both east and west but until the Circum-Baikal Railway section was built, the line ended on either side of the lake. Two ice-breaking train-ferries made the four-hour crossing to link the two railheads.   The rail line stretching right across Siberia was completed in 1905. A huge project given the topography and climate of Siberia.  I wondered how the train-ferry ships got to the lake. Apparently, they were built in Newcastle upon Tyne UK as ‘knock down’ vessels – a bit like an Ikea flatpack. Every part of the ships was marked with a number and the many 100s of parts were then transported in ‘kit form’ to Listvyanka where a shipyard was built especially to reassemble them.  

What a fascinating region to visit and what amazing history. It was just a shame we didn’t have more time there .... but a Russian visa waits for no man!