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Zabaikalsky National Park (Russia)
The Zabaikalsky National Park is part of the 'Lake Baikal World Heritage
Site' and lies in south-east Siberia in the Russian Federation. The core
area of the World Heritage site is Lake Baikal itself and the land from
5km to 70km surrounding it. The property covers 88,000sq.km, including 19,000sq.km
in protected areas.
The surface area of Lake Baikal covers 31,500sq.km and is 455m above sea
level. There are 365 rivers flowing into the Lake and only one, the Angara
River, flowing out.
Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world (deepest point: 1,637m), has
the greatest volume of any freshwater lake in the world (23,000 km³
- equivalent to approximately 20% of all running fresh water in the world)
and is the sixth largest in terms of open water area.
The Lake is 636km long and up to 80km wide and is the oldest major lake
in the world at 25 million years. It has exceptionally clear water (up to
40m visibility), and a mineral content 25-50% lower than most other freshwater
lakes. The unusual purity of the water is due to the presence of Epischura
zooplankton, and the fact that most of Lake Baikal's watershed is surfaced
with rock so that water inflow has little mineral or chemical contact.
The surface of the Lake freezes during winter, with ice present until mid-June.
The Lake Baikal basin shows a great variety of plants which is determined
by climatic asymmetry: the western part of the basin is occupied by light
coniferous forests and mountain steppes; in the east pine forest predominate
whilst the north is dominated by deciduous forests. Lake Baikal' fauna is
one of the most diverse in the world with 1,500 aquatic species, 80% of
which are endemic. The most noteworthy aquatic species is the unique freshwater
Baikal seal.
The region of Lake Baikal is also rich in cultural heritage. Some 1,200 Archaeological remains of past cultures have been found around the lake's shores: rock drawings, stone walls and remains of ancient settlements and 1,000 such monuments have legal protection. The Huns, Kaganates of the Zhouzhanhs, ancient Turks, Uighurs and Kidanhs, who maintained broad international relations with both the East and the West ,lived around the Lake. Lake Baikal and the Selenga River are mentioned in ancient Chinese chronicles, Muslim historical manuscripts and old Russian books. Buddhist and shaman shrines, and Russian Orthodox churches are found.
Today, about 100.000 people of different ethnic groups, including Russians, Buryats, Evenks, live permanently in the Lake Baikal basin. About half of the population are urban, the remainder living in villages. The main activities are forestry, agriculture, fisheries, hunting and tourism.
Lake Baikal Basin provides an outstanding example of the evolutionary development
of a rift zone of global scale and includes contrasting landscapes of mountains,
forests, steppes, tundra and lake. It’s also one of the world’s
most biologically diverse lakes. It has been referred to as the “Galapagos
of Russia” as its age and isolation have produced one of the world’s
richest and most unusual freshwater faunas.