1st till 3rd Day

Day 1:

On arrival at Moscow - transfer to your hotel, the rest of the day at your leisure.
Overnight in Moscow.

Day 2:

Transfer to the airport and flight to Irkutsk. Meeting and assistance at the airport, afterwards a short city tour in Irkutsk, the centre of East Siberia. Irkutsk is one of the oldest and most traditional cities in this region, characterized by Cossacks, merchants, Orthodox missionaries, Polish revolutionaries and exiled to the taiga participants of the uprising of the Decembrists. The city became a centre of sable hunting and later it became the starting point for the conquest of the Far East.
Then we drive in a minibus (200 km) to the middle part of Lake Baikal. On the way we will have lunch at a pavement cafe. Then our driver takes us over a beautiful forest street to the shores of Lake Baikal. We hide the cars in the bushes and go down less than 2 km to the picturesque Sagan Saba bay. This bay is one of the most beautiful places on western shore of Lake Baikal.
In the evening we set up our tent camp and celebrate our first meeting with Lake Baikal with a festive dinner that we have prepared over open camp fire.
Overnight in tents.

Day 3:

This day we dedicate to acquaintance with the environment. We take on our way only a small backpack with us. One of the most beautiful places in the area is a sacred place of the shamans, where centuries ago animals were sacrificed for the spirits. Even today you can find the remains of bones of some animals. Some of the bones are so old that they disintegrate into dust. In good weather we will offer you a short boat trip in a dinghy. The cliffs well-known for their prehistoric rock paintings are better to be looked at from the water side. The drawings were executed in the different eras. They go back to the Bronze and Iron Ages. The oldest image is approximately 4000 years old. The characteristic detail of the representations of the people is that they were painted with small horns on their heads. This could mean that these drawings were not intended to show human beings but spirits or shamans. Other paintings depict deer, bulls, dogs, geese or swans. Some of these drawings were a part of rituals, and later they became the markers for the Sacred Places.
Before lunch we return to the camp, where we sleep in tents.

4th till 6th Day

Day 4:

After breakfast in the camp we pick up our tents and march back to the car to drive further to the nearest shaman place - the sacred hill Shibute. We climb up the hill that rises up directly on Lake Baikal. This hill is one of the oldest and holiest places for the shamans, where they can connect themselves with the spirits. Once at the top we visit an old fortress wall that has been built by the Kurikan, the indigenous inhabitants of the 8th - 9th century. We put up our tents at the top of a rocky cliff and then we walk short distance to one of the small natural wonders of Lake Baikal, a curved cut rock.

Day 5:

After breakfast we drive to our final destination, the valley of stone ghosts. This valley is famous for its mysterious formed rocks. According to a popular legend the main spirit of the region ended a war between two warlords by transforming all the warriors into stone. The two warlords themselves were transformed into two impressive mountains that now rise above the Tazheran steppe. At the same time the valley is regarded as the home of the main spirit of the region. At this point we end our trip at Lake Baikal and go back to the car for our transfer to Irkutsk (265 km) that takes about 3-4 hours including lunch in a café.

Day 6:

Until transfer to the airport for the flight back to Moscow, this day is at your leisure. You can spend the time for visiting one of the Old Russian Orthodox churches or one of the old wooden houses that were built without nails. Also the Decembrists museum is worth visiting. In this museum the evidence of the Decembrist uprisings against the Russian Czar in the 19th сentury is issued.The Kirov square, where the Saviot Church, Epiphany Cathedral and Catholic Church are located, is also a worthwhile destination. Or simply stroll along the embankment of the Angara River. A view of the "White House" or the statue of Alexander III opens from there.

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