!!!Saylyugemsky National Park
Photos by Stanislav Sedov, Natalia Sudets,
members of the [AirPano Team|Geography/About/Consortium/AirPano,_Team] that is a member of the [global-geography Consortium|Geography/About/Consortium]. \\

Text by Natalia Sudets

12 December 2018

with kind permission of [AirPano|http://www.AirPano.com]

Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia

Where panthers and manulas live

The Saylyugemsky National Park is the quintessence of the Gorny Altai
wild nature. Mountains and rivers, creeks and prairies, ice caps and
valleys... Here you can find manuls and irbis, Alpine ibex and argali,
and the growing edelweiss on the high-mountain meadows.

[{Image src='01_Saylyugemsky National Park.jpg' caption='Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='516'}]

History

The Saylyugemsky National Park is situated on the borders of the Altai
Republic (Russia) and Mongolia. It was created in 2010 to preserve the
biggest group of snow leopards in the Altai-Sayano region and the
trans-border group of the argali mountain ram (muflon).

The first attempts to create protected lands in the mountains of Central
Altai were made in the beginning of the XX century by the traveler and
explorer V.P.Semenov of the Tian Shang. The Altai and Katunsk reserves
appeared in the last century, but the decision on opening the
Saylyugemsky National Park was postponed for a long time. The proposals
to preserve a part of the Argut river basin and the Saylyugem ridge in
the Kosh-Agach region of the Altai Republic were given in the 1970's.
But the authorities had to keep in mind the interests of the locals. The
status of a conservation limits the attendance and usage of the
territory, when a lot of people here have private territories and cattle
that feed on these grounds.

Therefore, a national park was made — a territory with a less strict
visiting rules. Unfortunately, several areas for preserving the snow
leopard and argali were not included in the Park. Nevertheless, today
this young national park can show you not only the beautiful wild
nature, but also its inhabitants.

[{Image src='02_Saylyugemsky National Park.jpg' caption='Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='516'}]

Accessible routes and objects

When visiting the National Park, you get a unique ability to observe
wild animals in their natural life environment. The tourists can choose
several types of tours that last up to ten days.

These tours take place at 2500-3000 meters above sea level. You can
walk, ride a horse or take a car. Depending on the weather conditions,
ATV buggies and snowmobiles can be used. You can even visit the top of
the Saylyugem ridge that is 3444 meters high. There you will see
panoramas of colorful mountains, high-altitude prairies, tundra, cliffs,
different figures in stone made by the wind, creeks and river valleys.

The Saylyugem and Ulandryk clusters on the border with Mongolia is the
place with the biggest population of the Altai mountain ram. This is the
biggest subspecies of the argali that is in the Red List of Russia and
IUCN.

[{Image src='03_Saylyugemsky National Park.jpg' caption='Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='524'}]

In order to watch the animals, visitors use optical tubes with x80
zooming capabilities. Photographers can take unique photos of wild
animals from very short distances. During the tour you can see a family
of ibex, a very rare manula, wolf, corsac fox, tolai hare, groundhog,
mouse hare, golden eagle, black vulture, bearded vulture, prairie eagle,
saker falcon, Altai snowcock, and if you are very lucky — a snow
leopard.

The route encounters season settlements of locals, Altaian and Kazaks,
where you can get acquainted with their way of life, national cuisine
and the traditional management of natural resources of nomads, which
have been herding sheep, horses and yaks on these lands for several
hundreds of years.

[{Image src='04_Saylyugemsky National Park.jpg' caption='Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='594'}]

Particularities

The National Park provides accommodations and transport, rental of
tourist equipment. A proper hotel can be found in the Visit-center of
the Park in the Kosh-Agach village (Saylyugem street 1). In order to
visit the grounds, you will need a permit of the administration and an
allowance from the FSB (Federal Security Service) for visiting the
Clusters. All this can be given in the Visit-center.

The winter in Kosh-Agach is very cold: up to -50°?, and it is almost
snowless. In spring it is cold and often windy. That is why you should
bring warm clothes: these are the highlands, after all, where summer can
be very cool. Comfortable waterproof hiking shoes will make your
mountain trips easy.

[{Image src='05_Saylyugemsky National Park.jpg' caption='Saylyugemsky National Park. Altai Mountains, Russia\\© [AirPano|https://www.AirPano.com]' alt='' width='900' popup='false' height='516'}]

AirPano team would like to express gratitude to the Saylyugemsky
National Park and personally Valentina Semchenko, Alexander Demchinov
and Mirzhan Mandaev for help with organisation of shooting the Altai
Mountains.

\\ \\
[7 panoramas of Saylyugemsky National Park|Geography/Asia/Russia/Pictures/Panoramas_of_Saylyugemsky_National_Park]

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