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Chita, the capital city of Chita Oblast (region) literally sits atop a gold mine. This region in southeast Russia is one of the world’s richest gold mining areas. Chita is our first stop in Siberia as we begin our journey into Siberia, a trip which will take us1,805km into a stunningly, beautiful, diverse and vast land of steppes and taiga forests.
Exploring all of Siberia (12.5 million sq km) will take a lifetime so for the next six days we will be satiated to see a slice of Siberian life. As we leave Chita behind, a long and difficult drive awaits us. Zig-zagging through endless mountain roads to reach Ulan Ude, the capitol of the Buryat Republic, may leave even the most macho participant feeling a bit ill.
Our convoy will then make our way westwards to Irkutsk, home to about half a million Siberians and gateway to Lake Baikal. In the 19th century, Irkutsk was a customs city, taxing bales of expensive black tea from China en route to Russia on the famous Tea Road. Today, Irkutsk’s largest factories are the tannery, shoe and fur factories. We will spend our first rest day admiring the Russian log izby or the peasant’s wooden cottage, and Siberia’s top tourist attraction, Lake Baikal or the “Pearl of Siberia”. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is a 636-km long lake holding one-fifth of the world’s fresh water.
Once rested, and our water bottles filled, we will leave the serene landscape of Siberia for the desert and ger dotted landscape of Mongolia.
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