"Baikal - Amikan", individual tours and nature at Baikal Lake

This is a special time of the Rhododendron (Bagulnik) blossoming. It starts in May and continues till the end of June. They bear a richest collection of bright colors from purple to lilac, and have a special smell as well. It is one of my favorite times of the year to travel to Baikal lake. It has just recovered from the winter ice, with calm freezing-cold clearest water, new light-green leaves of the larches and fields of Bagulnik brightly blossoming on Baikal shores. This is how spring at Baikal lake looks like. Camping in a tent is especially pleasant among such beauty. You wake up early in the morning, pull a branch of the rhododendon to smell and find a drops of the morning dew washing its leaves. One must catch a moment before the sun dries it away.  Almost everywhere you go at Baikal at this time of the year you'll find the rhododendron. It may be the slope near Listvyanka, the Circum-Baikal railway or any other place. But it is especially beautiful on Olkhon island. ...

Finally the spring has come! This year we had very long winter and 3 or 4 snowfalls in April. The lake broke its ice-shield and clear water if being fed with the sun, with shadows playing on its rocks on the bottom. This time of the year one can observe the calmest water on the Lake and the still snowy mountain peaks reflecting in its mirror. Beautiful time. Inspiring beginning of life all around. The first flowers break through frozen soil even next to my house in the city. Clean, bright and clear colors. To read more...