Nature of Baikal
A long-running Russian-language site about Lake Baikal and its mountains: photo of the day, hiking reports, topo maps and a flower guide sorted by colour.
What it is
Nature of Baikal is a personal project by Vyacheslav Petukhin, who built both the design and the code. It looks like a page from the early 2000s: tables, small type, sidebars on both sides. Don't close the tab yet. Inside is a lively community that adds something almost every day; when we checked, the newest photo had been posted that very day.
Photography is the core. The site's motto is the Russian version of "seeing is believing". It covers not just the lake but the mountains, taiga and steppe around it: Khamar-Daban, Olkhon Island, the Circum-Baikal Railway, Munku-Sardyk, the Tunka Goltsy range, Kodar, and further afield Tuva, Mongolia, Altai and Yakutia.
Why we picked it
It's a rare enthusiast site that survived the social-media era and stayed useful. The "Regions" section holds dozens of areas with photos and descriptions. The maps section offers topographic maps, a route builder, and photos and GPS waypoints plotted on a map, handy for finding exactly where a shot was taken.
Photos are sorted by theme: landscapes, sunrises and sunsets, water, ice and waterfalls. Flora has its own branches for fungi, lichens, mosses and ferns; fauna covers butterflies, beetles, dragonflies, grasshoppers and spiders. We especially liked the flower pages, grouped by colour: white, yellow, red, blue, lilac and green. Saw a yellow flower on the trail? Open the yellow page and scan.
Then there are trip reports by people who were actually there: a winter ice crossing in 2026, an eight-day ski trek from Mondy to Nilova Pustyn, ridge walks above the Solzan river, and newly scouted climbing rocks with coordinates. Discussions under photos and stories run on the forum.
Where to start
- Check the photo of the day and the "New materials" feed on the left.
- Open "Regions" and pick a famous spot like Olkhon or the Circum-Baikal Railway.
- In the maps section, turn on photos on the map and explore shot by shot.
- Try the yellow or blue flower pages, an informal field guide.
- Read recent trip reports if you're planning a route.
Who it's for
Hikers heading to Baikal or the Eastern Sayan. Nature photographers. Plant and insect lovers who want a visual reference. Anyone curious about Siberian landscapes who prefers honest photos without ads or algorithms. If you don't read Russian, the photos still speak for themselves, and browser translation handles the trip reports.
Quick answers
Who runs it? It's Vyacheslav Petukhin's personal project; visitors send in photos and stories.
Is it in English? No, the site is in Russian only.
Is it only about Baikal? No, there are sections on Tuva, Mongolia, Altai, Yakutia and the Russian Far East.
