Nature Reserves of Siberia. Part 2
The chapter is about how the largest protected areas of Siberia carefully preserve the natural resources of their amazing region...
"On paths to which no one has knowledge of fancy beasts they lock the spores..." as Alexander Pushkin wrote. These lines come to mind witnessing the beauty of the reserves of Siberia, which preserve the best that nature has created. There is no mobile communication here, transport does not access all the spots: Leave the world behind – people come here to be alone with nature, inhale the purest air, admire the beauty of the landscapes and wander along the very paths where no man has gone before. We invite you to mentally immerse yourself in this fabulous world of nature and continue your walk through the largest nature reserves in Siberia.
Russia's largest Great Arctic State Nature Reserve with an area of more than 4 million hectares is located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Diksonsky district on the territory of the Taymyr Peninsula. It was created to preserve unique ecosystems. The Reserve includes nine sites that are washed by two seas of the Arctic Ocean – the Kara Sea and the Laptev Sea. The Reserve stuns with its icebergs – giant fragments from glaciers that show us only one tenth of their volume, hiding under water. Red-book polar bears and lemmings live here, and the ivory gull is considered the symbol of the Reserve – it never leaves the Arctic circle. For tourists, the Willem Barents biological station on Dikson Island is of particular interest, where you can try a popular type of ecotourism – birdwatching. Urban-type settlement Dikson is one of the northernmost settlements on earth.
The Taymyr Nature Reserve, created in 1979 to preserve tundra ecosystems and Ary-Mas Forest and Lukunsky grove, is situated on the territory of the Khatangsky and Dikson districts of the Taymyr Peninsula. Here, the beauty of the Russian Far North has preserved its pristine nature, so the permafrost territory with a harsh climate attracts both scientists and tourists who long to see these vast expanses and spectacular northern lights. The Reserve is characterized by a mountain-valley landscape, and the largest lake in the Arctic part of Russia, Lake Taymyr, is located on its territory. There are 20 species of fish in rivers and lakes: Common whitefish, salmon, Arctic cisco, burbot, Siberian salmon, taimen, beluga, and least cisco are found here. The Reserve has become a reliable shelter for such animals as the Red Book musk ox, walrus, and polar bear. The Reserve is famous for the largest number of wild reindeer with a population of more than 410 thousand individuals. Guests are certainly advised to visit the Ary-Mas Forest and the mammoth museum and take a dog sledding tour.
In the northernmost part of Western Siberia, in the Tyumen Oblast, there is the Gyda National Park, created in 1996 to protect and study the ecosystems of the Kara Sea area. Due to excessive moisture and low heat, a dense chain of lakes and rivers has formed in the Park. Since the Park is located in the Arctic tundra region, the flora here is quite poor, but the fauna is impressive in its diversity. The Atlantic walrus and the polar bear, listed in the Red Books, are found here; wild reindeer breed their offspring on this territory. Beluga whale and ringed seals live in local waters. The Park serves as a haven for 180 species of birds (red-breasted goose, peregrine falcon, white-tailed eagle, Bewick's swan) and 60 species of fish (Arctic cisco, sculpin, least cisco, broad whitefish, nelma). The Park impresses with its Arctic landscapes.
The Central Siberia Nature Reserve, which has been declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO since 1987, is considered the heritage of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Its rarity is in its location on both banks of the Yenisei River, hence the variety of flora, fauna, as well as amazing landscapes. The West Siberian plain with swamps and overgrown forests on the left bank and the Central Siberian Plateau with rocks and mountain taiga on the right bank. In the Reserve there are larch trees in a circumference of 2-2.5 girth, whose age is one thousand year, and a rare flower – calypso. 65 species of butterflies registered here. The Reserve is home for bears, sables, moose, reindeer and valuable fish species such as sturgeon, sterlet, and lenok. The unique natural attractions of the Reserve include the Sulomai pillars – a huge canyon with a length of about 500 m with mountain slopes 150 m high and rocky basalt pillars of bizarre shapes and forms.
In the south of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, on the left bank of the Yenisei River, there is a beautiful Sayano-Shushenski Nature Reserve – a place where the greatness of Siberian taiga is presented in all its glory. The protected area includes part of the western Sayan mountains, the northern slope of the Khemchiksky Ridge and the Sayan Canyon with picturesque fjords. The signature of the Reserve is the strongly curving water "roads" 2 km wide and mountains over 2000 m high, where the main "attraction" of the Reserve lives, the snow leopard who is hard to see; today there are 12 individuals. More than 100 species of animals live here: Marals, mountain goats, Siberian musk deer, moose, roe deer, wolves, fur-bearing animals and about 300 species of birds, including the black storks, snowcocks, white-tailed eagles, peregrine falcons, listed in the Red Book. The main territory is occupied by cedar forests, but pine, fir, larch, spruce are found, and rovan tree, elder, currant, lingonberry, aspen and bird cherry trees grow in the valleys. A paradise for lovers of wildlife.
We will continue our journey through the reserves of Siberia in the next, final, material, but for now we want to remind you that each reserve has its own rules for visiting, so please be sure to read them in advance.