Our T rip to Lake Baikal

1. Our Trip to Lake Baikal Chelsea Noort and Kaylene Chan

2. Where we fled to We vacationed to Lake Baikal, Siberia, which is nicknamed, “the Pearl of Siberia,” the world’s oldest and deepest (1260m) freshwater lake. It’s just north of the Mongolian border. We’d always loved forest areas and this one was new to both of us. We first went to a village called Listvyanka. It was a 2 hour drive from Irkutsk airport, Russia.

3. The Lake The lake was beautiful, clear and blue. Everything was very natural because it was a protected area. The lake was surrounded by extremely high mountains, dense forests, that still had snow resting on the very tops. This remote Siberian taiga presented remarkable and breathtaking views.

4. Baikal We toured around Lake Baikal in August, which our tour guide,Vladamir, explained is one of the six months that the Lake is not frozen over. (Frozen from at earliest, December, to at latest, May) When we touched the water it was cold, being around 10-12 degrees, said Vladamir. It was about 10-17 degrees outside for the whole time we visited. We enjoyed the weather immensely because it was not too hot or cold. In the winter, around the lake the temperature drops significantly.

5. Frozen Lake Vladamir told us that the lake freezes during the winter months and stays frozen for half the year. He also explained that the lake freezes about 20cm thick so that it’s safe a drive a car on the surface. Vladamir told us how he competed in the Baikal Ice-Running Marathon where he ran on the frozen lake in March.

6. Trees, trees, trees When we arrived at the Lake the first things we noticed were huge, thick, evergreen forests that surrounded the waters. There were a great vast amount of trees, such as larch, birch, poplar and alder (deciduous trees) that were closer to the water. Larch Birch Poplar Alder

7. Trees, trees, trees When wewent higher on a hike, we noticed more coniferous trees, like spruce, fir and cedar. These cone-bearing trees looked very similar to the trees from our home in Canada. The forests had the same environment as the coniferous forests in British Columbia. Cedar Spruce Fir

8. Plants and soil While Kaylene and I were on our hike in the surrounding area of Lake Baikal, we both noticed that there were lots of bogs and then completely dry places in other areas. A bog is a low-lying area that is covered with water most of the year. We also saw lots of algae, lichens, and mosses on many plants and tree trunks. Vladamir explained to us that soils located in taiga regions are called podzols. The name is comes from two Russian words. Pod meaning “under” and zola meaning “ash.” This is a good name for the soil because of the grey color and the texture of the soil.

9. Journey to the animals After we saw and took pictures of Lake Baikal, Kaylene and I wanted to see some of the mammals that Vladamir talked about. So we got onto a bus by Lake Baikal, and we drove until we got to a place called Primorsky Krai, all the way on the east coast of Siberia. Here, Vladamir explained, that we would be able to see two of the world’s largest endangered mammals.

10. Endangered Siberian Tigers The first large mammal that is endangered in Siberia is the Siberian Tiger. The Siberian Tiger is currently being protected in Primorsky Krai, near Korea and China. This tiger is endangered because of serious poaching. The population of these tigers, in China and Korea is almost extinct because the tiger’s skin, bones and internal organs are used in traditional Chinese medicine. You could see how this could be a problem.

11. Endangered Siberian Leopard The second large mammal that is endangered in Siberia, is the Siberian Leopard. This leopard is located between Vladivostok and the Chinese border. Although this leopard is protected, farmers are setting fires, to burn old crops, which sometimes leads to lighting the forest on fire. The leopards then must clear out. Being short of food, the leopard will go for deer in the deer farms. He will then become the hunted instead of the hunter.

12. Many more animals While we were travelling back, Kaylene and I saw many more different mammals, including… • Moose • Grey Wolves • Brown bears • Lynx • Wolverines • Baikal Seal • and the Siberian Crane

13. Similar to …. The Boreal Forest (Taiga) by Lake Baikal, is virtually the same throughout northern Siberia and Russia. The Boreal Forest is also similar to the forests in Finland and Scandinavia, as well as all across northern Canada.

14. Interesting Facts Some interesting facts that Kaylene and I heard while we were on our trip include.. • Boreal forest was named after Boreas, the Greek god of the north wind • Largest continuous expanse of forest on earth (covers about 15 million square kilometers) • Lake Baikal is one of the clearest lakes in the world, on a clear sunny day, you can see 40 meters down into the lake.

15. Work Cited Information: • http://www.bww.irk.ru/baikalclimate/baikalice.html • http://www.geographia.com/russia/baikal01.htm • http://www.lakebaikal.org/ • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga • Day, Trevor. Taiga. New York: Chelsea House, 2006. Print • Ryerson, McGraw-Hill. BC Science 10: Biomes and Ecosystems. Printed and bound in Canada, 2008. Print