TOURAGENCY "RIFT"

	Baikal Travel As It Has To Be Baikal Lake What comes to your mind when you say the word "PEARL"? You may imagine a work of nature perfect in its form, unique virgin beauty. Its splendor is a joy forever; its loveliness increases: it will never pass into nothingness. Unique Lake Baikal - one-of-a-kind lake takes outstanding place as a splendor of the world. It's hidden in distant out - of-the-beaten-path Siberia as its pearl in a shell.     Scientists estimate its age at over 20 million years while average live period for glacier origin lakes does not exceed 15 thousand years.    Geophysicists set up a hypothesis that Baikal is an inceptive ocean, which is approved by the fact that Baikal's depression extends 2 сm. per year.    It's depth reaches 1637 meters. The Lake Baikal basin includes three independent depressions and rift zones - Southern extending from Kultuk Bay to the Selenga River Delta (maximum depth 1430m), the Middle Baikal Depression which reaches from the Selenga River Delta underwater Academic Mountain Ridge (maximum depth 1637m), the Northern Baikal Depression extending from the Ridge to the lake's northern shore (maximum depth 920m). These conditions create a large deep-water lake, with a relatively small number of shallow areas.     Baikal contains 23 thousand cubic meters of pure, clear, rich in oxygen, unique fresh water. Baikal water is one of the most transparent and purest in the world. The white Sekki disk, used for defining the transparency of water, is clearly visible in the depth of 40 m. And the glorious Alpine lakes' water cannot compete with Baikal's one. Softly mineralized water, which has only 200 ppm of dissolved solids, is health giving.     The Lake has unique flora and fauna. It is inhabited with over that 1 500 species of animals and there are about 1 080 plants, known in Baikal. 84 % of the inhabitants are endemic ones and can be found only on Lake Baikal. Biodiversity of the lake is flourishing and unique. In 1996, UNESCO listed the Lake of Baikal as one of the most important objects of the world’s heritage. Basically, nearly all fresh water species can be found in Baikal. This fact makes possible to consider Baikal one of the Earth centers of biological species origin. Baikal is a mountains lake and its surface is 445 m. higher that the sea - level. Baikal reserves over 20% of the world's fresh water resource and its water - body size is equal to combined water volumes of all the Great American lakes. The river Angara is the only one river flowing out of Baikal carries 2000 m3 of water per second. Just imagine if all the steams and rivers stopped supplying the Lake with water Baikal could still keep Angara - river 360 years! And it would take the whole planet's annual fresh water income to fill up the bed of the lake again.  Wild, gorgeous, severe, magnificent, and bewitching - Baikal changes from season to season.    You can discover hundreds of images of its beauty all year round. Unique nature of the lake will help you to relax and get new energy.     "RIFT" Travel Agency Russia, Irkutsk Lermontov Str, 85 phone/fax: +7 3952 405306  e-mail: tour@istu.edu Write Us