Camp 3 - Zabaikalsky National Park 5th - 18th July 2007
by Ralph Kapitzky
We started in Ulan-Ude at the Lenin statue. Then we travelled by 'marshrutka' (small bus) 250km (155 miles) northbound to Ust-Barguzin. After we arrived we loaded our luggage into an old Gaz Jeep (Gaz is a Russian automotive group), the first Russian jeep as the Russian participants proudly announced. But we really needed this car for travelling along the barely drivable roads of the Holy Nose Peninsula. It was a very bumpy ride but we were rewarded with a wonderful view of the landscape. After a few hours we loaded all the luggage onto a boat that brought us to Chivyrkuisky Bay.
Millions of aggressive midges welcomed us. You get used to them very quickly and when the sun is blazing down onto the beach, they disappear. However, they like to be in the woods and in marshy areas. It was our task to restore the trail which leads from our side of the bay to the thermal spring on the opposite side. We also had to build small bridges over the marshy ground. The work was fun. It's great to cut trees in the taiga (for the bridges) but doing this together with such nice people is even more fun. The work team consisted of Sveta, the group leader, Igor, the interpreter, 4 Buryat students, 5 pupils, a couple from New York, Reinhard from Austria and me from Germany. When we built a new trail section next to the thermal spring it became evident that there exist different opinions amongst the GBT people. People from Irkutsk (represented by Igor) prefer efficiency. They therefore take the risk that the wayside will be destroyed because of the soil being put there. It would be covered in grass next year, Igor said. People from Ulan-Ude and from the Zabaikalsky National Park administration rather prefer aesthetics. They think that the interference with nature shouldn't be obvious: The earth has to be removed and hidden. Which is extremely tiring! Of course, we weighed up the pros and cons. Finally, we did what Sveta said.
Regarding the organisational problems that occurred, we Westerners could only shake our heads. For example, we didn't have nails even though it was clear that we would build small bridges. And we were really far away from the next shop. Only one of the two chainsaws we brought was working. Someone could have noticed this before the departure in Ulan-Ude. Although we took the time to check the quality of the thermal spring (it's almost too hot to take a bath in and it smells a little like sulphur but people say it's a great beauty treatment) we had enough time to finish our work. So, after one week we removed our tents and moved to a camping site near the Katun River. On the way there we collected litter which we put on our boat. After a few days, when being in the settlement of Kaltuk, we loaded the trash onto a tractor trailer. It certainly wasn't amusing. There was life in the trash!
However, we were compensated with a climbing tour at Barguzinsky Bay. It was extremely exhausting but we were rewarded with a great view of the bay, the wetland on Holy Nose with its lakes and the snow-clad peaks of the Barguzinsky mountains in the background. The pupils weren't tired at all. They even sang loudly the Russian hymn when going down the hill. Katun was a very interesting place. When we saw the village from a distance it looked very romantic and reminded us of a Russian story. When we arrived in Katun it was like a nightmare ... considering the standards. Also the fishing village next to Katun, Kurbulik, made us feel as if we had travelled back in time. There were motorcycles everywhere that would be owned only by vintage motorcycle enthusiasts in Germany. Some of them even still worked. We got fresh bread from the bakery where the oven is right next to the counter and the wood in a little room behind.The fishermen still go out to sea on their traditional boats and they will continue doing this as long as they have money for buying vodka. Time passes more slowly there. That's why I had the feeling that their lives are not worse than ours although they live in poverty. This is also why so many Siberian people who live in Germany are really homesick.
This camp week we had more time off than expected. And we had the feeling that there were too less work projects planned although some people had to cancel on short notice. Actually, it wasn't that tragic. It's just that we travelled very far to work. The schoolboys took the opportunity to rebuild a two-person tent into a banya. For this they covered the tent ground with sand, put stones on it which they had heated in the campfire and afterwards put water on them. The steam makes you sweat within seconds. And after this, it's just wonderful to take a refreshing bath in the lake. We also experienced Russian hospitality. Our campsite neighbours, who actually just wanted to play our guitar, brought freshly smoked omul. It was so much that we almost burst but it was really delicious. And during dinner we drank the 'little water'. Time passed quickly. At the end, we went by the Gaz (since it wasn't possible to close the back doors, we bound them together with a rope) back to Ust-Barguzin where we had to say goodbye to each other - with tears in our eyes.
Afterwards Reinhard and I were visiting Barguzin and Ulan-Ude. Then, without Reinhard, I visited the Ivolginsk monastery, the village of Bolshoi Kunalei, where the Old Believers live. I was shocked from the village of Kultushnaya situated in the local recreation area around Ulan-Ude and flew to the famous Shaman Rock close to Slyudyanka. I stayed two days at the hostel of the mineral museum of Sludyanka. I really recommend this hostel. It's a good starting point for walking tours. Then I travelled to Irkutsk where I stayed at Igor's apartment. Igor showed me the town and recommended me some sights. For example, the Decembrist museum located in the house of the Volkonsky Family. We already stood at the grave of Mikhail Küchelbecker before, a German decembrist and aristocrat, when we were in Barguzin. It touched us very much. The Decembrist museum was also very impressive considering all the names of people who were involved in the Decembrist revolt. This was the only place where the information panels were also in German language. After this, I unfortunately had to travel back home.
