Camels, Yaks and Yurts: Tuva! (Aug 24-25)

Not many people would think of camels and yaks when they think of Russia, but in Russia's Republic of Tuva you can see them. Not that we did.

But anyway Tuva is one of the most mystical places in Russia, a land of nomads, throat singers, shamanism, and more.

Tuva is on the border with Mongolia. From Khakasiya we headed south and drove across Tuva from its western edge, on the border with Altai, to east. The landscape there was awesome. I have never seen any place like it. Tuva is home to the highest mountain in Siberia and also real, untouched steppe. There are only 300,000 people here, in an area as big as the state of Washington. Here is the sign on the border between Tuva and Khakasiya. Even though it is only a little more than 7000 feet up, at this pass it feels like you are on the top of the world.



Looking back toward Khakasiya from Tuva. The red color of the grass is a sign that it is already fall.

Me next to an Oba. People will start to build these in high places. You should add a rock on top if you wish to have good fortunes.

Yurts in the foothills. Yurts were the traditional housing for nomadic Tuvan cattle herders. They can have from 8 to 16 wooden walls and are covered with a thick cloth. They are the ideal nomads' residence -- they can be assembled and dissembled in just an hour! In the early 1950s the Tuvan people officially became "settled," that is, no longer nomadic, but a small percent of Tuvans today still lead the traditional nomadic lifestyle that they had led for over 2000 years. Another nomadic Tuvan dwelling resembles an American Indian's teepee, and was traditionally used by reindeer herders.

Amazing scenic lookout. It looked like another planet. Tuva has been a part of Russia since 1944. Before then it had quite the mixed history and was settled by by European, Turkish, Mongolian and Chinese tribes, and was part of the Mongolian and Chinese empires. The Tuvan language is a Turkish language, and they also adopted the traditional nomadic lifestyle (including the yurt) from the Turks over 2000 years ago. Today 77% of the population of Tuva is native, and 22% is Russian. Tuvans actually call Tuva "Tyva," which is the official name for the republic, but Russians say "Tuva" because "Tyva" is hard for them to say.

Me and Anya at the amazing scenic lookout.

This picture pretty much sums up our guide, Ilya.

Big sign heading into the town of Ak-Dovurak, home to a big asbetos mine. Big signs were popular in Tuva.

Here's another big road sign in Tuva, wishing you a safe journey.

Steppe and mountains. The scenery really was awesome.

More scenery.

Cow crossing. Single-file. They're very well organized.

Sacred mountain in Tuva. The Dalai Lama visited here in 1993. Both Buddhism and Shamanism are accepted religions in Tuva. Tuva is considered one of the birthplaces of Shamanism and is home to perhaps the most famous shaman living today, who is considered an authority for the religion.

Tuvans believe that Genghis Khan is buried in this little mountain/hill in the foreground. German archeologists actually wanted to excavate the hill and have a look, but the Tuvans wouldn't let them.

More scenery. Even though fall is starting in Tuva, it was still about 75 degrees out. In the summer here temperatures easily top 100, while in the winter it can hit 50 below.

This is the headwaters of the Enisei River. Only here is the Enisei still natural, and it still looks like it has for centuries, because here the river is free of dams. The rest of the river north to the Arctic is home to nearly a dozen very large dams. The Enisei forms at the confluence of the Small and Large Enisei rivers, and at their confluence also stands the city of Kyzyl, the capital of Tuva. Kyzyl was founded in 1914 and means "red" in the Tuvan language. It is home to only 109,000 people. The oldest city in Tuva was founded in 1886. (After all, Tuvans were nomadic.)

Buddhist temple in Kyzyl. After my visit to China I didn't find it very impressive inside, though.

We went to the Beaver Springs outside of Kyzyl. These springs were discovered in the 4th century, which means people have been coming here for over 1500 years. It is believed that people who wash in these springs will be healthy and strong, and that they will not harm nature (neither kill animals nor pick a single flower). Beavers would also come here in the winter. Now there are some signs of modernity here: there are a number of different springs and for each one a post-it note indicates what diseases the waters will help protect you from. This spring above one is helpful against headaches. We saw a few people come and fill up their water bottles here too. The water tastes really good.

Kyzyl is the geographic center of Asia! Wow! So now I have been there, too. Pretty cool.

Good-bye, Tuva. This is the sign on the border with the Krasnoyarsk Region.

Ergaki: Artists' Pass and a Stone City (Aug 26-27)

From Tuva we traveled to Ergaki Park in the Krasnoyarsk Region, where we spent had gorgeous weather for two great days of hiking and interacting with the park's staff. Ergaki is located in the Sayan Mountains, named for an ancient tribe that lived in the area, the Sayans. The word "ergaki" means "fingers" and refers to the way the cliffs in the area stick up out of the mountains. The park is pretty popular and gets about 80,000 tourists (mostly hikers and skiers) each year.

This first photo above is of the "Sleeping Sayan." If you look at this mountain cliff right you will see the Sayan's face in profile on the left side, then his arms crossed over his chest and then his feet on the right side; he is lying down as if looking toward the sky. As you might imagine, there are many legends about the Sayan people at Ergaki. The Sleeping Sayan is the guardian and protector of nature in these parts.

A rainbow followed us into Ergaki -- a sign of great weather to come!

We stayed on the second floor of this visitors' center.

Sign on the road advertising the Ergaki visitors' center and park, amenities. Although in the U.S. we think of such signs as standard, it is very rare to see them for parks in Russia. (And it certainly makes a nice impression when you do.)

Artists' Pass Hike
This picture above is the Artists' Pass (перевал художников). On our first day in Ergaki we hiked to here -- a combination of hiking and rock climbing. The weather and the views were spectacular. It is about a 20 km hike round-trip, and unfortunately the first third of the trail was rather wet and muddy, so we did this hike in rubber boots. This makes for very sore feet at the end of the day!

Me and Anya at the beginning of the Artists' Pass hike.

Views and scenery at the beginning of the Artists' Pass trail. You can tell by the colors that it's fall already at the end of August.

Wild blueberry picking. There were lots of them and they were yummy!

This cliff in the background is called the "Nut." It is actually quite far away in this picture, and people scale all the way up to the top of it (with climbing equipment, of course). Ergaki is very popular with climbers and there are some very challenging peaks.

We arrived at Buibinskoye Lake. From here we hiked uphill to the left of the lake and then right along the ridge of the cliff you see in the background behind the lake.

Here I am standing under the Hanging Rock, a famous spot in Ergaki, of course.

Hanging Rock from a little farther away.

Rainbow Lake, looking down from the cliff near the Hanging Rock.

A view of the cliff, the hanging rock (right side) and the mountains beyond.

Another view.

Tatyana is wondering when we will stop taking pictures of views.

Not yet! Mountain lakes.

We were lucky to be hiking with two boys who helped us when it really did become rather impossible scaling the rocks over the ridges. (Of course, if it weren't for the boys we would not have chosen such a crazy route with no climbing gear in the first place, but I suppose that's already not the point.) Here Ilya is going to catch Anya when she jumps down from this rock.

Anya is doubting whether this was a good idea.

Scaling the mountainside.

The trail reappears.

Cool cliffs near the Artists' Pass.

Another view from near the Artists' Pass.

Me with Buibinskoye Lake below and mountains in the background. We were 1800 meters up.

More cool rocks.

Another view of Buinbinskoye Lake from above. Anya actually went swimming in this frigid pool! The water temperature was probably only about 50 degrees F. Oh Siberians.

On our way back from the Artists' Pass we passed this miniature rock city that some tourists must have built before us. (It kind of reminded me of the rock sculptures in the river at Zion National Park.) This was pretty cool but nothing compared to the natural stone city we saw on our next day's hike.

Stone City

On our second day in Ergaki we scrambled over rocks in the "Stone City." There are amazing rock columns here, and, of course, many legends, as the scientific explanation for how these huge rock pilesgot here is not completely satisfying.

The legends tell about a stone city built by the ancient Sayan peoples who lived in this area. In this first picture the huge rocks sticking out of the mountainside almost look like they form the wall of a giant's fortress built along a mountain ridge.



This is the first big rock formation you come to in the stone city -- the lookout tower (сторожевая башня).

Me and Anya in front of the lookout tower.

These are the three warriors protecting their stone city.

Me and Anya.

Fall colors.

More huge stacks of rocks.


This is the horse or knight of one of the Sayan princes, in profile. His nose is touching the neighboring rock to the left.

More rocks.

At the end of the trail (we only went about 6 km round-trip today) we decided to climb some rocks. We ended getting up very high. Here is our group up top from below. I have no idea now how we got up there. Apparently we weren't looking down.

And here I am from the top of those rocks. What an amazing trip!