- Rafting along the Irkut river in the Eastern Sayan Mountains -
The intensive tour with a whitewater rafting experience next to the unique place of the world – Lake Baikal – will give you amazing emotions. The nature is pristine, the mountains majestic, the Irkut river picturesque and fast. You will never have time to be bored in your rafting adventure working hard in your small team to skip the rocks in time, not to miss the right turn, put the cataraft out after stumbling over large rocks. The hikes at the stops will be scenic and enjoyable, slalom on well-manageable catarafts exciting, and relaxation afterwards at the natural springs well-deserved!
Tour type: whitewater rafting (catarafts, 2-4 pers)
Duration: 7 days/6 nights
Season: June 10 – September 1 (best July-August)
Group size: 6 pax minimum
Category: rapids II – III, 70 km rafting distance
Special requirements: none, previous experience not required
Day 1
Morning arrival by flight from Moscow, meeting and assistance in Irkutsk, transfer and check-in at the hotel
Time at leisure, lunch of traditional cuisine in the restaurant of the hotel. Sightseeing tour of Irkutsk with the visit to its most atmospheric sights.
Dinner and overnight back at the hotel.
Day 2
Breakfast, check out from the hotel, start off for Orlik settlement and the Eastern Sayan Mountains (total 7-8 hours, 500 km away from Irkutsk):
First part of the road along the Moscow Highway to the southern tip of Baikal – Kultuk settlement (1.5 hours, 100 km) where we stop to admire a magnificent view over lake Baikal and taste famous Baikal fish (omul, whitefish and grayling) cooked in a number of ways. Lunch at a roadside cafй.
Continue along the picturesque Tunkinskaya Valley framed by the bright Tunka Ridge from one side and dark Khamar-Daban ridge from the other to cross the border between Irkutsk oblast’ and the Buryat Republic – the land of shamans and Buddhist sacred places. Tunka valley is famous for its mineral springs worshipped in old times by the local population.
The road to the settlement of Mondy will take us about 3 hours (205 km). Having reached Mondy, we will follow the dirt track (about 30 km) towards the Okinskoe plateau and the settlement of Orlik, where the Irkut and the White Irkut rivers join – the starting point of our whitewater rafting.
Set up tents on the bank of the Irkut river at the junction of the two streams. Dinner cooked over the fire, overnight in tents under the starry skies.
Day 3
Breakfast. Easy trekking along the old Okinskaya road which used to connect the Okinskoe plateau, separated from any civilization, with the Tunkinskaya valley. Quite a lengthy hike uphill will bring us to the plateau, beautiful in its wilderness and very spectacular (2500 m). A marvelous view opens over the glacier lakes and the highest peak of the Eastern Sayans – Munku-Sardyk Mount (3491m).
Picnic at the top of one of the nearest hills.
Return to the camp for dinner at the fire and overnight in tents.
Day 4
Breakfast, assembling 4 seats catarafts (“catamarans” – reliable and stable vessels, easy to manouevre, invented in Russia for rafting both high and low difficulty level rivers in trips involving long hikes), safety briefing and instructions.
Start the whitewater part of the trip (2 hours). The first 20 km runs in a narrow ravine, with obstacles right from the start - rocks, shoals and shivers, and short intervals of calm water. Lunch on the left bank on a wood clearing.
Continue the rafting till the settlement of Mondy along the wider river, past small islands.
Stop for the night 5 km down the stream at the mouth of Khuligiyma river, set up the camp, angling. Dinner and overnight in tents
Day 5
Breakfast in the camp, packing. Today is the beginning of the most interesting part of the rafting adventure - from Mondy to Moygoty settlement. The river gets narrow again into a canyon and starts twirling between white rocks. Within 30 km we will have to pass a number of interesting rapids with powerful stream and lots of ‘naval’ places, where the river’s flow tends to throw the vessel on the shore at sharp turns due to centrifugal force. Good team work and hard paddling are required. The whole of the water slalom distance is passed on a single 3 hours breath.
Lunch at the mouth of the Haradaban river. Continue dynamic rafting down the river till Moygoty settlement where the river calms down turning into a wide flow. Dinner and overnight in tents on the bank of the river.
With a high water level and speed, we might be able to raft way past Moygoty village and stop down the current.
Day 6
Breakfast, start for a long journey for Irkutsk with a number of stops to explore Tunka valley of the Buryat Republic. Stop on the way to visit the settlement of Zhemchug with its hot thermal springs (+43 C) of Hongor – Ula for a shower or a bath, possibly a dip in our rafting river Irkut. Here you can take a horse ride, hired at additional expense from the locals. Continue to Arshan settlement, a famous place of Tunkinskaya valley with its mineral water springs, a small resort preferred by the locals - Irkutians and Buryats.
Arrive in Arshan, visit a small Buddhist datsan. Walk to the springs to drink water from artesian wells. Lunch of traditional Buryat cuisine in a cafй before heading for Irkutsk.
Arrival in Irkutsk, check-in at the hotel, special dinner with certificates awarding.
Day 7
Breakfast, check-out and transfer to the train station or the airport.
Notes: In droughty times of the year (June) the river may become shallow and create other than rapids obstacles to overcome
