Alina Gorina
Head of the Tourist Information Centre of the Omsk Region
Alina Gorina, Head of the Tourist Information Centre of the Omsk Region, speaks about the natural potential of the Region and its new opportunities for the regional travel industry
- In recent years, the Omsk Region has been actively developing tourist trails. Are any of them ecological ones?
- Today, we have several eco-tourist trails. The first and most accessible of them was launched in 2018 in the Bird’s Harbor Natural Park in the very centre of Omsk, on the left bank of the Irtysh River. More than 100 species of birds inhabit this Natural Park. There are information boards about birds and a birdwatching tower that offers also a beautiful view of the city. And the most remote ecological trail is located 340 kilometres away from Omsk in the ecosite Ekaterininsky Urochische State Nature Sanctuary. A hiking trail through the picturesque places in the unique taiga of the Omsk North area was laid here. Many species of flora and fauna that can be seen there are listed in the Russia’s Red Book.
The Omsk Region has a strongly continental climate with hot summers and frosty winters when a landscape looks like in a fairy tale. At the same time, all eco-trails and many routes function year-round, the information is given on the website of the Omsk Tourist Information Centre where guides are also mentioned, and a free catalogue of audio-guides has been created for those who are fond of excursions.
We pay great attention to active tourism as this is an opportunity for the tourists to combine amazing experiences and healthy physical exercises while travelling. Moreover, tourists are increasingly interested in trekking, horseback riding, rafting down the Tara and Om rivers.
The eco-trails in the area of five lakes in the Muromtsevsky District are especially popular, their origin is often associated with the impact of a meteorite. The mysterious village of Okunevo popularly called the ‘power place’ is located here, and our traditional Solstice summer ethno-festival takes place here, it gathers a very large number of visitors from all over of the country.
- What other natural attractions of the Omsk Region do you recommend to visit?
- 160 kilometres away from Omsk, there is the ‘dead sea’ of Ebeita, which is the largest bitter lake in the Omsk Irtysh area, and as for salt concentration, it is really comparable to the Dead Sea water. By July, this figure usually reaches 350 ppm, and therapeutic mud helpful for various diseases accumulates at the bottom. There is also an eco-trail along which glassworts (Salicornia gen.) grow, plants of an unusual reddish colour due to the high concentration of salt in the soil.
The Krutinsky Lakes making up a single hydrological system are another treasure of the Omsk Region and a must-see for ecotourists. On the largest of them - lakes Ik, Tenis and Saltaim - rare birds nest, including the birds listed in the Red Book. It is here that the world’s northernmost colony of ‘curly’ Dalmatian pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) is located.
The travellers can see almost all types of landscape in the Omsk Region. In addition to plains and lakes, there are several mountains near the ancient village of Serebryanoye in the Gorky District, and an ecosite on the right bank of the Irtysh River near the village of Lezhanka. And in the Cherlak District, 60 kilometres from Omsk, there is even a small piece of a desert.
Very beautiful places and the most promising areas in terms of the tourism development are in the Ust-Ishim District with its untouched valleys of taiga rivers, wild virgin forests, mysterious lakes.
If travellers have time and desire, many beauties of the Omsk Region can also be viewed from a height by taking a sightseeing air trip from the Popovka airfield.
- Is it possible to combine ecotourism with an educational tourism in the Omsk Region?
- Undoubtedly, it is possible. In the Bolsheukovsky District, for example, travellers can both enjoy the beauty of the pristine Siberian nature and learn a lot about the amazing history of the Omsk Region. A section of the Moscow-Siberian Road was preserved here, along which the Decembrists and revolutionaries, travellers and scientists went in the past, and now, there is a historical and cultural museum-reserve. One of the interesting routes on the Moscow-Siberian Road is a tour to a town of Tyukalinsk where pre-revolutionary merchant buildings with unique masonry are preserved.
In the Bolsherechensky District, a unique museum of living history Starina Sibirskaya (Old Siberian life style) was created where cultural monuments are collected in five exposition zones, including Holy Rus, Merchants’ Manor Houses, Peasant Farmstead, Trade in Siberia, Arts and Crafts of the Omsk Irtysh Area. The tourists can visit a merchant’s manor house and a coachman’s house, as well as a peasant farmstead and craft workshops, they can climb the bell tower, take part in interactive excursions, festivities and rituals, and master their traditional crafts.
Other ethno-tourism opportunities include visiting the centre of the Russian traditional culture Rodniki Sibirskiye (Siberian Springs) in the Muromtsevsky District, the Kazakh aul (village) Karazyuk in the Novovarshavsky District, as well as the house of a Siberian Tartar in the Bolsherechensky District and the Latvian Ethnographic Museum in the Tara District. Do not be surprised, the Latvians moved to the Omsk Region back in 1897, when under the leadership of Stolypin, Russia was just beginning to offer incentives for the development of the Siberian areas. By the way, the town of Tara in the very centre of the Tara District is among the oldest in Siberia.
The culture and traditions of the Siberian Germans are preserved in the Azov District. The tourists can taste dishes of German cuisine here as part of a gastro-tour in the Omsk Region. The gastro-tours in the Region gives a wide opportunity to enjoy traditional Russian cuisine, visit an eco-farm and the Kalachi Festival to taste delicious kalachs, ring-shaped soft buns...
We are also actively developing other destinations like pilgrimage tours to holy places, event tourism, we hold sightseeing flash mobs giving a chance to everyone to act both as a sightseer and as a guide showing his or her favorite places. By the way, the idea of such ‘free’ tours came to people in Omsk, and more than 50 regions of Russia have already joined it.
Photos courtesy of the Tourist Information Centre of the Omsk Region.
