Vast lands, deep lakes, chilly mornings, taiga, mountains, arctic, tundra, amazing wildlife – all of this is Siberia, a vast region comprising the Asian portion of Russia as well as northern Kazakhstan with a variety of unmatched cultural, adventure and natural expedition itinerary possibilities…
Siberia, meaning “sleeping land,” is a large region inside Russia, extending from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Siberia occupies about 5.2 million square miles, which roughly corresponds to about 9 percent of Earth’s dry land mass…let´s explore some!
Much of Siberia is uninhabitable, covered by either permafrost or thick taiga.
From the Urals, the Eurasian Steppe to the watershed between Pacific and Arctic drainage basins live the Siberians, including all the wild animals from tigers to bears. Siberian lands extent from the Arctic Ocean to north-central Kazakhstan mountains.
Eastern Russian also borders Mongolia, China the Pacific, with the biggest city being Vladivostok, which is currently a post industrial city. I think in the future it will be a very avant-guard city like Vancouver once Russia changes its economy towards more free market and generally when East Asia develops more.
Most of central Siberia is taiga while the southern regions are temperate broad leaf forest and the northern Tundra, with the far south being steppe.
Siberian Wildlife
Siberia shelters a verity of animals such as, Siberian wapiti (red deer), Musk deer, Sable, Siberian weasel, Squirrel, Chipmunk, Siberian ibex or Mountain goat. The lovely snow leopard and the Altai snow cock also can be observed.
- Amur Leopard
- East Siberian Brown Bear
- Siberian Flying Squirrel
- Siberian Musk Deer
- Siberian Weasel
- Siberian chipmunk
- Siberian tiger
Siberian mammals (bears, lynx, musk deer, wolves and squirrels) and birds (hazel grouse and woodpeckers) frequent the moist coniferous forests.
The Siberian Russian Arctic, extreme habitat and haven for Polar Bears, Arctic Foxes and Walruses. Beluga (Anadyr near Chukotka), Elk (Moose), Reindeer, Mountain (Arctic) Hare, and Brown and Collared Lemmings are an example of the great variety of wildlife to be found.
Russian wildlife has received a huge boost to it’s conservation as the Russian government announced 9 new national reserved and an amazing 13 new national parks will be constructed.
The people
Prior to Russian colonization of Siberia, local ethnic groups of various origins populated the region, including Turkic, Finnic, Mongolic, and other tribes. Some of these peoples intermarried with Europeans and some ethnic groups remained discrete, but in any case, colonists adopted many local food traditions through mixed marriages or through daily contact.
Today 10% of Siberia’s tribal peoples live a nomadic or semi nomadic life, compared to 70% just 30 years ago. The languages the different tribes speak are from a range of linguistic families: some bear no similarity to any other language, and none bear any relation to Russian.
Climate
The climate of most of Siberia is continental, which means there are large temperature differences between summer and winter. The Siberian winter is indeed long and cold, yet summers are fairly warm—warm enough to allow for the cultivation of watermelons in western and southern Siberia. Although there is relatively little precipitation in eastern Siberia, and the winter frost penetrates quite deep, the climate becomes milder and warmer towards the west and south. Due to heavy rainfall, the region is drained by numerous rivers and dotted with lakes filled with a variety of fish.
The Siberian northern coastal region along the Arctic Ocean is occupied by a wide strip of arctic tundra, which is inhabited by an enormous population of reindeer. South of this is a vast area of evergreen pine forest, which gradually changes to fertile chernozem (black earth) steppes. The far southeastern part of Siberia, near Manchuria and the Pacific Ocean, consists of subtropical forests.
What places do we visit?
Tuva – The semi-autonomous region of Tuva is a unique cultural destination whose ethnic population practices Buddhism.
Lake Baikal – The most ancient and deepest lake in the world.
Yakutia – Built on permafrost, Yakutia’s layers of earth have preserved the flora and fauna of millenia and is located in eastern Siberia and stretches to the Henrietta Islands in the far north and is washed by the Laptev and Eastern Siberian Seas of the Arctic Ocean.
Chukotka -The most north-easterly region of Siberia and is situated in the Russian Far East and is washed by the waters of the Arctic Ocean, the Bering Strait and the Bering Sea from three sides correspondingly.
Republic of Buryatia – The Buryat Republic is located in the southern part of East Siberia south and east of Lake Baikal. It has a favorable geographic location, with borders on Irkutsk and Chita regions, the Republic of Tuva, and Mongolia. It is a predominantly mountainous country with a small number of flat regions at altitudes of more than 500 m. The capital of Buryatia is Ulan-Ude.
Altai Krai – Altai Krai is located in the southeast of Western Siberia. The territory presents quite a variety of landscapes — flat grassland steppes, wooded steppe and forests, and mountains.
Primorsky Krai – is a region in the Russian Far East, which borders China to the west,Khabarovsk Krai to the north, and North Korea to the extreme southwest.
Who travels with us to Siberia?
Not afraid for obstacles, extreme conditions and uncontrollable situations? Are you a real adventurer?
