Ethnotour to Kalmykia and Astrakhan region

Day 1 Elista city tour

After meeting at the airport of Elista, you will have lunch in the Kalmyk cuisine cafe. Then you will be taken to your hotel and have a city tour.

Elista is one of the largest centers of Buddhism in Russia. You will visit the Central khurul of Kalmykia – the Golden Abode of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Seven Days Pagoda, where the largest prayer drum in Europe is installed. You will also see statues of Shakyamuni Buddha and the Golden Gate during the tour.

After that, you will go to the steppe, to the border of two geomorphological zones: the Kumo-Many depression and the Yergenin uplands. Here you will see the the Lone Poplar – one of Kalmykia's places of strength. You will hear the legend of the place and learn why it has become a Buddhist shrine.

Back in town, you will have dinner at a restaurant and rest at the hotel. 

Day 2 Birdwatching on Manych-Gudilo Lake

After breakfast you will go on tour to the wildfowl congregation places along the Kumo-Manych hollow or to Manych-Gudilo Lake (4 hours). Unique flora and birdwatching are waiting for you there. Pelicans, cormorants, herons, glossy ibis, and plenty of other birds live here on islands.

After the tour you will have a picnic and then go to the camel's camp. There you can take a ride on camels, which are called the “ships of the desert” and hear the stories about these animals.

Next, you will visit Chess City and the Museum of Nomadic Peoples, where can take part in master classes. You will learn how to make a traditional Kalmyk Jomba tea, shoot a bow, get acquainted with "Todo Bichig" – old Kalmyk vertical writing, and take photos in national Kalmyk costumes. By the evening you will return to the hotel, have dinner and rest. 

The route length is 150 km.

Day 3 Singing dunes and the Pink lakes

Today you will get acquainted with the unique natural sights of Kalmykia. First, you will walk through the desert with the "Singing dunes". The place is called so because in the dry weather the sands sound like an organ. You will be taken to the start of the route by car.

Next you will continue your route the unique salty Pink lakes. Migrating birds have brought small pink crayfish into the lakes, which have bred here, and now water seems pink. In addition to coloring water, this crustacean is involved in the formation of therapeutic mud, which is used in cosmetology and the treatment of skin diseases.

In ancient times the camps of various nomadic peoples were located along the lakeshores. On the slopes of hills, you still can find fragments of ancient pottery vessels and arrowheads belonging to the Yamnaya, Catacomb, Sarmatian, and Scythian cultures.

You will have a picnic in the summer house on the lakeshore and then go to the spring, where you can take part in the ritual lighting of the "burning spring".

Then you will go to the border of the "Chernye zemli" (Rus.for "Black Lands") Nature Reserve. This is the wild habitat of the steppe saiga. You will get acquainted with the unique flora and fauna of the reserved steppe and, if you are lucky, see saigas.

In the second half of the day, you will visit the village Adyk, where you will enjoy an ethnic program in a Kalmyk yurt, a traditional nomadic dwelling. On the master class, you will learn how to lasso a horse properly and  how to tie a Kalmyk knot.The program will finish with the national cuisine dinner in the yurt. Afterward, you will be taken to Astrakhan, where you will check in to a hotel and rest.

The route length is 450 km.

Day 4 The Astrakhan Kremlin and the capital of the Golden Horde

After breakfast, you will have a walk with a guide through the territory of the Astrakhan Kremlin. More than 20 architectural monuments from different centuries have been preserved here: ancient churches and chapels, towers, gateways, and various civil structures.

Then you will be transferred to one of the main attractions of the Astrakhan region, the reconstructed capital of the Golden Horde – Sarai-Batu. Founded in 1250 by Batu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, the ancient city grew out of a nomadic staging post.

By the end of the XV century attacks of enemies, natural disasters and time destroyed the capital of the Golden Horde. Bricks from the ruins of the city were used in the construction of the Astrakhan Kremlin. Originally at the site of the excavations was supposed to be a museum, but in 2010 the Sarai-Batu was reconstructed for the shooting of the film "Saint Alexis" ("The Horde").

From the capital of the Golden Horde you will go to Akhtubinsk, where you will stay in a hotel. After dinner at the restaurant (extra charge), you can take a walk along the Akhtuba River.

The route length is 315 km.

Day 5 Baskunchak lake and Bogdo mount

After breakfast you will go to the territory of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky nature reserve to see its main attractions: the unique salt Baskunchak lake and the Big Bogdo Mountain.

First, you will take a walk on Baskunchak Lake. The basin of the lake is filled with salts and clay deposits of the Permian and Triassic periods, and also the rocks of the Quaternary age. Since the VIII century, the lake was used to extract salt and send it on the Silk Way. On the coast there are deposits of medicinal clays, and bathing in spring with a highly concentrated solution of salts has a curative effect.

You will have lunch in a cafe in the village of Nizhny Baskunchak. After that, you will go to the Big Bogdo Mountain, which is the highest point of the Caspian lowland (150 m above sea level) and one of the most ancient mountains of the Astrakhan khanate. The mountain is composed of rocks 200-250 million years old.

Another unique feature of this mountain is that it continues to grow: its height increases by up to 2 mm per year. Also, Bogdo Mountain is the only place in Russia where the squeaky gecko lives – a rare species of lizard.

In the evening you will move to the park-hotel in the village of Kolkhoznaya Akhtuba. You will be accommodated in the rooms and have dinner in the cafe.

The route length is 300 km.

Day 6 Return home

In the morning after breakfast you will be transferred to Volgograd. There you will visit the famous memorial  "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad" on the Mamayev Kurgan. You will see the main sculpture of the ensemble "Motherland Calls" and the changing of the guard at the Hall of Military Glory.

You will also visit the museum-panorama "The Battle of Stalingrad", which is located near the central embankment of Volgograd. After lunch at the cafe, you will be taken to the airport for your departure flight.