Sayano-Shushenski Nature Biosphere Reserve is located in the central part of Western Sayan mountains, in the southwestern parts of Shushensky and Ermakovskiy Districts of Krasnoyarsk Krai. In the south, it borders with Tyva Republic.
OUR ADDRESS:
662710, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Shushenskoye settlement, 7, Zapovednaya str.
Phone: +7 (39139) 3-18-81, 3-23-00
The area of the reserve is 390.4 thousand hectares. The reserve is one of the few places in Russia where the population of the snow leopard (ounce), very rare representative of the cat family, has been preserved. The populations of the Siberian ibex, reindeer, osprey, golden eagle, as well as the number of plants included in the Red Data List of the Russian Federation, are protected.
The reserve was established on 17 March 1976 by the order of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR. Now reserve belongs to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves of UNESCO. The Biosphere Reserve is engaged in the scientific research, environmental protection and environmental education. Visitors have the visitor center in Shushenskoye village, where there is a museum of nature with various scientific collections, library and conference hall.
Excursion objects on reserve territory, which are the object of tourist interest, can be divided into two main groups. The first group consists of objects of human activity: rock paintings, ancient irrigation structure, bear trap, winter camps of fishermen, campsites and equipment for the production and processing of pine nuts, cordons of the reserve, hydropower plants on taiga rivers, meteorological station operating since the end of the XIX century, archeological monuments (mounds), Sayano-Shushensky reservoir. The second group consists of natural objects: the ridges of the Western Sayan (Khemchik, Sayan, Kantegir, Idzhir etc.), karst dips and buttes, rocks that form the ranges of the reserve, soil, water systems (mountain rivers, lakes, springs), flora and fauna (plants and animals included in the Red Data List of the Russian Federation).
The routes of Sayano-Shushenski Nature Reserve
Excursion and tourist services are organized in the reserve. They are conducted on the routes running along the valley of Yenisei River within the territory of Shushenskoye and Ermakovskiy Districts of Krasnoyarsk Krai and partly within the territory of Khakassia and Tyva Republics. The total length of the route is about 400 km. The water part of the routes passes through the water area of Sayano-Shushenskaya Dam reservoir. Three routes of different length, duration and complexity were developed and approved on this stretch. They are the following: “To the Katushka waterfall” (three-hour excursion), “Weekend tour” (three days with visiting of the northern cordon of the reserve and a walking tour “On the Hunter’s Path”) and “Along the Sayan canyon” (a five-day tour along the reservoir before entering the Tuva basin with walking excursions “Path of the Pathfinder”, “To the mineral spring” etc.).
All tours are provided with cognitive, cultural and recreational programs, suggesting an acquaintance with the natural, cultural and historical features of the territory, environmental organizations and the Sayano-Shushensky hydroelectric complex. The programs of the tours include automobile, water and walking tours (“To the Waterfall”, “Path of the Pathfinder”, “On the Hunter’s Path”, “Following the Snow Leopard”, “The Path of the Capricorn” etc.), as well as travel information, amateur photo and video shooting, recreational and cultural-leisure activities, additional services and presentation of materials about the reserve with the help of multimedia equipment in the places, provided with uninterrupted electricity supply.
For the tourism purposes in the reserve there are off-road vehicles (UAZ), a comfortable minibus ToyotaHiace and a boat “Yaroslavets”.
Places of accommodation
Collective accommodation facilities (there are 76 beds totally) in the reserve include cabins on the boat “Yaroslavets”; cabins at the floating base “Dzhoy Sosnovka”; the floating base of the checkpoint “Golaya”; guest house at the checkpoint “Kerema”; two guest houses of campsite “Kurgol”; multifunctional field complex “Shugur”.
The reserve does not provide food services for tourists, but it provides all the conditions for cooking on the routes. Boats are fully equipped with all necessary equipment, dishes and caboose tools. On cordons, checkpoints and in the guesthouses there are equipped kitchens and places for eating. Tourists at will can prepare their own food or hire a professional chef with the organizational support of the reserve.
There are lots of outstanding tourist and excursion objects on the routes of the reserve. There are the following: man-made, cultural and historical sights (mounds, sand-gravel quarries, archeological monuments, stone-extracting enterprise “Sayanskiye samotsvety”, settlements, including the village of Sizaya with the museum of I.S. Yarygin, Church of Saint Evdokia, Maynskaya and Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric power stations with reservoirs, trout farming, marble quarry, shipping bases and cordons, cult places of the Tuvan people), natural objects (Yenisei River, sand dunes, pine forest strips, Borus ridge, the town of Khabas, Kibik-Cordonian marble field, the Sayan Canyon, landslides, mudslides, the places of avalanches, forest areas, the mineral spring “Arzhaan Azhig-Sug”), rare, remarkable and background animals and plants.
An inseparable package of services includes the rental of a riverboat equipped with everything necessary for autonomous navigation for the entire period of the tour, with the crew and the guide services.
Additional services include: car rental with the reserve driver, temporary accommodation in guest houses, visitor centers and at the floating bases, a bathhouse, escorted by security inspector etc.
Details by phone: +7 (39139) 3-18-81, email or website.
