Salt lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo. A delightful journey to Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo. Now about the path from the parking lots to the beach
One spring evening it was decided to go out into the wide Astrakhan steppes to look at the salt lakes.
Baskunchak was chosen, which is a local tourist mecca. With all the consequences. It is quite possible to swim in the lake itself, although it is difficult, since it is almost a dead sea and the water actively resists your presence in it. It’s very picturesque, very Martian-like, due to the fact that the soil is red.
We set up camp late at night, we didn’t even understand where we were standing and how far it was from the lake. The navigator assured us that we had been in the water for a long time. We woke up in the morning to the barking of a dog, we were disturbed by the local watchman - it turns out that we are standing in a closed area. Later it turned out that almost the entire shore surrounding the lake was privatized by some cunning organizations.
Baskunchak 1 is not a completely wild place, you won’t be alone here - there are traces of people everywhere: a railway stretched along the entire lake, wooden poles with wires, the most important and important thing is that they sell refrigerator magnets with the image of this wonderful lake. The thing is that table salt is mined on an industrial scale on the lake. And they promote Baskunchak as a tourist attraction. Here you are for some crazy money on very strange vehicles, essentially a motorcycle with a sidecar, in the company of other 5-7 people will be taken to the lake itself. Outlandish service, in my opinion.
The remains of some buildings in the form of a palisade of wooden posts torn by salt. I read that the pillars were needed for a kind of salt production - a net was attached to them, which was lowered into the very hypertonic solution of the lake itself. Then they lifted it and the salt crystallized. They shook it off and repeated the procedure.
the salt crust allows you to stand on it and shimmers very beautifully
the hole from under the post is quietly covered with salt, the lake is like a living thing - it heals the wounds
a bush drowned in a lake gradually becomes covered with a crispy crust
Baskunchak landscape with Bolshoye Bogdo mountain
salt snakes crawl towards their pillars
Martian landscapes, or maybe Australian ones
Date left its mark
Large Baskunchak salt
Rinse off the salt in the shower under open air for a modest 50 rubles from a human nose and 30 rubles from a dog’s nose (this is an undoubted plus of civilization) we set off to conquer Bogdo.
To visit the mountain you need to buy entrance ticket, you are instructed that under no circumstances should you go off the excursion trail, as rare species of vegetation and animals live here.
Here, in fact, is Bogdo 2. Yes, she is exactly that, Martian color
The mountain stands almost on the shore of Lake Baskunchak and, in fact, is a hill, not a mountain. But for the look she gives, I’m ready to forgive her for her modest size. The landscape from Bogdo opens up heart-warming...
I became very aware of the true size of myself in this world. A huge space, absolutely flat, like a tabletop, steppe to the horizon! If you wish, you can even notice some bending of the horizon. Or does it seem so?
My eloquence fails me every time I try to articulate my feelings about this place. I didn’t want to leave Bogdo...
To summarize, I will say that Baskunchak is very picturesque place, and Mount Bogdo is simply fabulous, but there are a number of disadvantages. It seemed to us that there were too many people there and the infrastructure of the “Vasya was here” format was too intrusive, partially destroying the magic unique lake and harmful to the local ecosystem. These disadvantages are so significant for me that I won’t come here a second time, but I’m damn glad that Bogdo and the salt lake Baskunchak were in my life.
Lake Baskunchak, Mount Bolshoye Bogdo and the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Nature Reserve are good not only in themselves and not only as popular attractions and ecological routes. The surroundings of Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bolshoye Bogdo are beautiful, but the regime of the reserve and difficult characters local residents they don’t always allow you to enjoy them. Nevertheless, we will be able to show and tell you something.
Label of a series of articles about a trip through the south of Russia in a UAZ Patriot along the route Moscow – Elton – Baskunchak – Sea of Azov – Yasenskaya crossing – Elton – Moscow in 2008 under the title “Big Steppe Ride” - .
When clicked, photos enlarge and open in a separate window.
Along the steppe, which is called the standard steppe - it is so classically beautiful - you want to walk endlessly. The steppe draws you in like the starry sky above your head. An endless, eternal space through which caravans of oxen with salt slowly walked and cruel bands of nomads raced on horses. The sun is white-hot over the withered grass. Bitter wormwood air. Heady kumiss. The taste of salt on dry lips. All this is steppe...
When walking along the steppe, you need to be careful. In the grass you may unexpectedly meet with a wise steppe viper, with a cute sexy scorpion, with a crazy active phalanx - and this meeting will not always please you. In addition, the steppe only seems as flat as a table. In the steppe in the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bolshoye Bogdo there are many karst sinkholes, caves and gullies. You are unlikely to fall into a deep dungeon, but you can easily injure your leg if you walk carelessly.
Funnels and hollows are scattered across the autumn yellow (the color of a madhouse) steppe. These are karst sinkholes. Layers of rock salt, limestone and other unstable rocks are washed away by rain, and gaps form in the steppe. This is part of the Shar-Bulak tract.
Gardens are grown in deep ravines (for example, in Surikovskaya ravine), because... these places are protected from the cold winter winds that sweep across the steppe at the speed of a modern train. Experimental plantings of southern fruit trees by biologists sometimes survive and bear fruit.
Caves in the steppe are a phenomenon in itself, surprising for our speculative idea of the steppe as a flat area, like a table, overgrown with fluffy feather grass. But the steppe is different, and there are caves in the steppe, and some caves are large and unsafe. In addition to small karst sinkholes and sinkholes, in the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak there are eight full-fledged large caves.
photo. Author VovkaKak.
The Baskunchakskaya cave, also called Studencheskaya, in the vicinity of Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bolshoye Bogdo, is the largest and most famous in the Caspian lowland. Scientists suggest that the Baskunchak Cave began to form about 6 thousand years ago, but it apparently became known to people only about 150 years ago. The first inscription on the wall of the Baskunchakskaya cave is dated 1874, and it is difficult to imagine that the more ancient pioneers of the cave (if there were any) would not have left some kind of inscription or drawing on the walls as a keepsake. The first scientific studies of the Baskunchakskaya cave were published in 1940 by A.A. Gedeonov.
The Baskunchak cave consists of two, and in some places three, horizontal tiers with passages between them and memorable names: Skinner, Labyrinth, Main Gallery. The total length of the passages is about one and a half kilometers, the maximum depth of the cave is about 32 meters.
The history of the exploration of the Baskunchakskaya cave is bright and dramatic.
“More than 30 times from 1979 to 1998, Saratov speleologists visited Baskunchakskaya village. As a result of topographic surveys carried out in full three times (1979-1980, 1986, 1991), all currently passable sections of the cave were mapped. In 1980, the Malaya and Bolshaya Baskunchak caves (according to Gedeonov) were combined into one - the Baskunchak cave with three passable entrances. In 1985, faint reflections of daylight were noticed in the ceiling of one of the halls when the electric lights were turned off. A daredevil who free-climbed the wall of the hall to a narrow hole in the ceiling was unable to either descend (without a safety net) or climb out. Friends, guided by his screams from the surface, found and widened this gap, which became the 4th entrance to the cave.”
“The study of siphons and their supposed connection (1980-1983) constitute a particularly interesting part of the history of the work of Saratov speleologists. The first attempts to pass these siphons were naive but daring. The mud-water half-siphon in the Labyrinth was passed in the absence of wetsuits using a specially constructed polyethylene pipe. The pipe rolled out ahead of the crawler in front of him. Despite the fact that the pipe naturally slammed shut behind the pioneers and they almost suffocated, the half-siphon was passed. But then there was a real water siphon, very narrow for diving. We dived into the lake near the Main Gallery in wetsuits, then also with scuba gear, but the narrowness and turbidity of the water encountered after 6-7 meters did not allow us to go further. Even underwater blasting operations were tried, but without success. Finally, the problem was approached thoroughly. TO underground lake a fire pump with a gasoline engine was brought in. The siphon was successfully pumped into the Main Gallery, while an experiment was simultaneously carried out with fluorescein staining of an artificially created watercourse. Exhaust gases from the engine quickly filled the stroke volume and the authors well remembered the picture of the panicked flight of experimenters from the thundering pump to exit No. 1. Alas, the pumped-out lake, up to 2 m deep and about 7 m long, ended in a clay-filled narrowness with slowly seeping water.” .
Numerous karst sinkholes, funnels, beams and caves, including the Baskunchakskaya cave, gave rise to local stories and legends that in the steppe in the vicinity of Baskunchak there are underground passages that are known only to dedicated people, which usually include mythological characters - “noble robbers” ", like Robin Hood. They also say that horses grazing in the steppe fall into karst sinkholes, and then through underground passages and rapid underground rivers they get out in the Volga region and even beyond the Volga, which in our opinion is nothing more than stories that justify widespread horse theft in the steppe.
Red Lake (or rather, what is left of it) is an unforgettable place next to Lake Baskunchak.
Once upon a time Red Lake was like this.
Photo by Stepkin N.P. photo.
It would seem that there is no need to repeat ourselves about the importance of water in the steppe and the dangers of steppe fires. But those who like to relax, drink and hunt convince us otherwise.
A beautiful oasis in the dry, hot steppe attracted numerous visitors. Primarily local hunters and poachers. Not so long ago, according to local residents, saigas were exterminated en masse in the steppe near Red Rocks in a simple way, preserved from Soviet times: they were allowed into the herd of saigas on high speed car across the steppe, it crushed several dozen saigas, and then the “hunters” took several carcasses for meat. The remaining saigas corpses and a huge number of mutilated wounded were simply abandoned in the steppes to the mercy of fate. The animals were butchered on the shores of Red Lake, because... this is the closest source of fresh water. You can also have a picnic. Numerous lovers of nature and outdoor drinking also stayed here. Careless handling of fire led to a steppe fire, the consequences of which now cannot be overcome for years!
This is what Red Lake became. Perhaps it has become even more beautiful, but this beauty is tragic. Sometimes in the spring, melt waters and streams make an attempt to revive the lake, but then everything returns to a half-dead state. The ecological balance has been disrupted, perhaps forever.
The red clay of the lake bottom leaves unforgettable experience. The same clays of the ancient Permian period of the late Paleozoic era emerge on the surface of the Red Rocks of Mount Bolshoye Bogdo. Crazy colors and textures in golden sunny autumn!
On the territory of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Nature Reserve there is another unique water body - Lake Karasun. The drainless lake, filled with rain and melt water, is located in a large karst sinkhole. South Bank high and steep, on other sides the banks gently slope into the steppe. Several rather deep ancient ravines with eroded slopes descend from the west. The bottom of the lake is silty, black silt with a pronounced smell of hydrogen sulfide. By the end of summer, the water level drops significantly, and the lake can dry up almost completely. The bottom cracks, forming takyr.
“Several years ago, even before the opening of the reserve, the Volga publication reported on the tragedy that took place on the shore of Lake Karasun, where several dozen decomposed corpses of saigas were discovered. As it turned out, these were trophies of poachers. After shooting, or even simply running over them at night in the light of headlights with trucks, they brought the animals to the lake for butchering. But there was so much prey that the so-called hunters abandoned some of the saigas on the shore, without even bothering to cover them. I can’t say for sure how this story ended, but it was not possible to identify the poachers and bring them to justice.” .
The surroundings of Lake Baskunchak and the Bolshoye Bogdo Mountains are attractive at any time of the year. Depending on the season, time of day, weather and lighting conditions, the colors change from rich “alien” to picturesque “pastel”.
This is where we finish introducing you to the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Nature Reserve, Bolshoye Bogdo Mountain, Lake Baskunchak and the immediate surroundings. The description of the trip to the south of Russia is transferred to Krasnodar region to the shores Sea of Azov and to the picturesque place Yasenskaya crossing. Great Steppe Ride continues!
Electronic media « Interesting world" 09.12.2013
June 22nd, 2013
Lake Baskunchak and Mount Bogdo are the main objects of the Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Nature Reserve, which attracted my attention for photography. In addition, they are located in relative proximity to Moscow, and therefore it will take a little time and money to get to them and thoroughly inspect everything.
The first time I went there was in September 2010. The Moscow-Makhachkala train attracted me with its convenient departure and arrival times and the cheapness of its tickets. However, after staying there there was an unpleasant aftertaste. Creepy
there is dirt and dust in the carriage, the passengers are Caucasian faces. After the train departed, the gloomy and unsmiling conductor doomedly dragged a dirty gray bag along the floor, from which, with sweeping movements, she scattered the same gray and damp bed linen to all the passengers. Fortunately, the journey is not long, but on my next trips in this direction I still preferred another train - Moscow-Astrakhan.
The stop I need is Verkhniy Baskunchak, from here to Astrakhan it’s a few more hours by train. At first glance, the roadside village seemed quite neat and clean. Not far from the station there is a small market where you can buy various smoked fish, which I took advantage of on the way back.
A local taxi driver drove me in 20 minutes to the village of Nizhny Baskunchak, where I planned to spend several days. I settled in a hotel, a small 2-story building, with rooms of varying levels of comfort. There is a split system, which is important during the hot season. The only inconvenience is that the toilet, shower, and kitchen are located separately at the end of the corridor. Considering that at this time of year there are practically no people staying at the hotel, I could use all these benefits unlimitedly.
A hundred meters from the hotel there is a sanatorium-preventorium "Bassol", where I hastened to check in. After a short check and conversation with the doctor, a 4-day wellness plan was drawn up for me. From early morning I was treated to mud wraps, a halochamber - a salt cave, a carbon dioxide bath, hydromassage, and a general massage. The daytime was devoted to exploring the village and its surroundings. In the evening - swimming in the brine of Lake Baskunchak. Having reached the hotel, I fell on the bed in pleasant exhaustion and fatigue.
The village is small and the proximity of the salt lake determined the names of its establishments - the Solyanik cultural center, the Solonochka cafe... The museum is quite good, it has many interesting exhibitions dedicated to the history of salt mining and the nature of the area. 
The lake is located a 20-minute walk from the village. On the road to it there are areas with wooden posts sticking out of the salt - traces of salt mining that took place here long ago. 
The salt crust in the coastal part of the lake is quite strong and can withstand the weight of a person. Beneath it is healthy and healing mud, with a complex of macro- and microelements. The further from the coast, the thicker the layer of salt. Railway rails are laid right across the salt, and trains with wagons regularly travel along them, to the mining site and back to the village. In the village itself, the brought salt goes to the Bassol plant, where it is brought to marketable condition. The holes left in the lake after industrial mining are filled with concentrated brine - brine, you can swim in it, but not for long - after all, the salt concentration is very high. In such a body of water you can also calmly lie on the surface without fear of drowning. 
Lake Baskunchak is the largest among European and Russian salt lakes. It has an elongated shape, its length reaches 18 kilometers, width - 10-12 kilometers, total area is more than 100 square kilometers. It is a small depression - a kind of crater of a salt mountain that arose in the Triassic, more than 200 million years ago. 
The thickness of the salt deposits reaches 10-18 meters, the thickness of the surface brine - a saturated aqueous solution of salt - varies from several centimeters to a meter. In the composition of lake salt, sodium chloride, or table salt, accounts for over 90% of the composition, the rest is other mineral salts: halite, bromine, iodine, and fluorine salts. A lot of similar beneficial salts are also found in salt mud. Local population and “wild” tourists take advantage of this for their recovery - they smear themselves with healing mud and take short-term brine baths. It turns out to be a kind of open-air sanatorium, for which you don’t have to pay...
The surrounding area of the salt lake is a saline desert that does not have much diversity of life. Its formation is largely related to the climate of the area where the lake is located. Sharp daily changes in temperature and air humidity, hot and dry summers, winters with little snow - these are the main indicators weather conditions. A salt marsh is a lifeless gray-brown land around a lake on which salt crystallizes. Salt covers the banks and beds of dry streams with a blinding snow-white cover. 
But still, on the salt marshes you can find some plant species that have adapted to the harsh living conditions. These are halophytes - salt-loving plants that cannot imagine their life without salt crystals. The appearance of these plants is unusual because they have to extract moisture from salty soil.
The most common inhabitants of typical salt marshes are saltworts and saltworts. These plants are small, have jointed fleshy stems and tiny leaves with high stored water content. Plants absorb water from saline soils due to the increased osmotic pressure of cell sap, with maximum water consumption occurring in spring and autumn, when the soil contains less salts. Many salt marsh plants are characterized by seasonal coloring; they are yellow-green in spring and summer, and acquire a brown-crimson color in the fall. 
Two kilometers from the southwestern shore of the lake there is another local celebrity - Mount Big Bogdo.
The mountain is small in size, reaching no more than 200 meters in height. However, this is the only mountain rising in the steppe surroundings of the salt lake. It is clearly visible from afar and serves as an excellent landmark in the endless steppe. 
The western slope of the mountain is long and gentle, the eastern slope is steep and steep. It is the eastern slope that is most interesting to explore. Here, in the cliffs of the mountain, layers of earth rocks come to the surface - layers of red-brown and blue clays, gray limestones, sandstone and crystalline gypsum. Overlapping each other, the rocks create a bizarre palette of colors. 
All layers of rocks differ from each other in their chemical composition; among the elements that make up the rock are brown iron ore, lead, copper ore, native sulfur, quartz and jasper. There are fossilized remains of animals that lived in the Triassic, during the formation of the mountain. Hidden under thick layers of sedimentary rock is a giant monolith of rock salt - the remains of a once-existing sea. In the mountain itself and in the small rocks surrounding it there are numerous caves, voids, and grottoes. They all have the gift of singing. All it takes is a breeze to wander across the steppe, and the mountains begin to play their unassuming melody. It is unstable and depends on the strength and direction of the wind. 
Mount Bogdo has long been considered a sacred place in which the spirits of the mountains and the souls of the dead should be worshiped. Sacred Buddhist rites are still performed here, for which religious pilgrims and a Buddhist lama come from Kalmykia. In general, several legends are associated with this mountain. According to one of them, the Dalai Lama, who came from Tibet, stayed here. To diversify the sparse steppe landscapes, he ordered two of his monks to bring from the Urals small mountain and place it in the middle of the steppe. However, in the last meters the monks lost their strength, and the mountain fell on them with all its weight. The red slopes of the mountain are supposedly the color of the blood of the holy brothers, and the nearby salt lake is the tears of the Dalai Lama who mourned them. According to another legend, Mount Bogdo arose from a sacred stone brought to the steppe by wandering Kalmyks from the distant Tien Shan mountains. There is another name for the mountain - Arslan-ola, which translated from Kalmyk means “Lion Mountain”. The mountain received this name for its great external resemblance to a lying lion. The mountain has a younger namesake - Small Bogdo, which is much lower in height (only 37 meters), and it is located several tens of kilometers from Big Bogdo, on the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Like Lake Baskunchak, Mount Bogdo is also surrounded by semi-desert and saline soils, rich in easily soluble salts, with steppe and semi-desert plant species that can tolerate low moisture and salinity.
Depending on the season, plants colorfully transform foothill landscapes. In April-May, tulips bloom, cinquefoils, astragalus, sage, and sweet clover bloom - the steppe becomes elegant. Closer to autumn, the grains and wormwood burn out and the steppe takes on a golden hue. 
You can get to Mount Bogdo from the village along the only road laid across the steppe. True, in a small village it is quite problematic to find a car, but it is possible. At the checkpoint of the reserve, for a small bribe - an environmental fee, you find yourself in the vicinity of the mountain and walk 4 km along a winding steppe road past small singing rocks to the mountain itself. From its height, of course, a fantastic view opens up - a bizarre palette of colors of open rocks, a blinding white salt lake and endless steppe. 
I had the opportunity to visit the mountain and its surroundings at different times of the year. Each of them is beautiful in its own way. In winter - the transparent brine of the ice-free lake and the red and white rocks of Bogdo, in the spring - blooming wild tulips, in the autumn - yellow-brown brine and the golden steppe.
Spring in the steppe is, of course, the brightest period of the year, the time of awakening for tulips. Their delicate flowers open, turning the steppe into a colorful carpet. The first types of tulips to bloom are the two-flowered tulip, and a little later the Bieberstein tulips open their buds. The flowering period ends with rare and larger Schrenk tulips. The brightly colorful expanses of the steppe and the air filled with an ethereal aroma leave indelible memories... 
Taking this opportunity, last week I took a couple of days off, added it to the weekend and went to visit good friend to Astrakhan - to extend your summer, eat watermelons, swim in the Volga and enjoy the temperature of +35 degrees. There are enough impressions in this short time, but to put it briefly, it is hot, dusty and flat there.
I’ll tell you more about Astrakhan itself, but first about a trip to the very north of the region to Mount Bogdo and the salt lake Baskunchak, the name of which has been firmly ingrained in my brain since school geography lessons. The mountain is only 150 meters high, but by local standards it’s just Everest, and it offers stunning views of the Steppe. Naturally, it was absolutely impossible to miss the opportunity to climb somewhere, even in the conditions of the Astrakhan semi-desert.
In fact, the entire territory of the Astrakhan region is one large flat plain, which in some places even falls below sea level. There are no trees, hot sun, sand, dust and endless steppe roads.
Also, the Astrakhan gas processing plant is not smoking like a child.
All the police this weekend were concentrated in the city, where Oilman's Day was held, as well as the search for a group of Astrakhan partisans who had recently shot four patrols. Therefore, the speed on the highways was controlled by nanotechnological robocops.
Sometimes I came across very serious comrades
Along the highways they sell either meat or fish, as well as watermelons and melons...
And the local cows don’t pay any attention to the cars at all, constantly creating emergency situations.
We drove like this for two hours, and the landscape outside the window hardly changed. But at some point, like a mirage, Mount Bogdo appeared from the haze
The temptation to rush to it directly through the steppe was great, but we decided not to tempt fate and drove along the “normal” bypass road. It turned out to be a gravel embankment several tens of kilometers long.
It’s impossible to drive along it quickly, and it’s a pity for the car, so 20 meters from the road is coming a knurled track right across the steppe. Here it is - somewhat reminiscent of the African savannah.
In search of Lake Baskunchak we came to the lake of the same name locality, which, surprisingly, looked like an ordinary village in the Vladimir region.
As soon as we entered the village, two Kazakh children immediately ran up from somewhere and began vying with each other to assure us that only they could show the way to the lake and Mount Bogdo, and we ourselves would not find it and would get lost. We decided to take them on as guides, and at the same time give them the opportunity to earn a little extra money.
They decided not to go to the lake - there was a very complex logistics chain to get to a place where swimming was “allowed”, so they didn’t waste time and went straight to the mountain, especially since it was already very close.
Upon arrival, it turned out that the mountain and the entire surrounding steppe are a nature reserve, entry into which is prohibited.
The issue of entry was resolved by issuing a “ticket” for 140 rubles per person, and now we are already at the entrance to Bogdo.
To get to the top, you have to overcome a fairly steep climb up the steps. Although not high, it was quite difficult in the wild heat.
But once you go up, the view of the white Baskunchak is simply mesmerizing
We can say that this is our Dead Sea - it is located at a level of minus 21 meters relative to the world ocean. Baskunchak is a kind of depression on the top of a salt mountain, whose base extends thousands of meters deep into the earth and is covered with a thickness of sedimentary rocks.
Salt began to be mined there back in the 8th century, and now it accounts for up to 80% of all Russian production. If you look closely, you can see a line in the photo railway, which runs right along the lake.
The lake is fed mainly by springs. Numerous springs flow into it, bringing more than 2.5 thousand tons of salts into the lake during the day. A virtually inexhaustible resource.
You look in any direction and you are amazed.
And our guides are frolicking around
People have always liked this place
The way back
Take another look at the lake...
And again down the stairs to the car
Gradually the weather began to deteriorate, and the long-awaited rain began to fall. And along with the rain came the understanding that Astrakhan horses are as fearless as cows.
Astrakhan region famous for the fact that in the area of the modern village of Selitrennoe there was once the capital of the Golden Horde, Sarai-Batu, where Russian princes went for a label for the great reign. Now all that remains of Sarai is a settlement, which is being actively excavated by archaeologists, but this does not prevent the military-historical festival “Itil Coast” from being regularly held in this area, which attracts military-historical freaks from all over the country.
Like any similar event, the festival turned out to be quite an interesting spectacle.
There are a lot of pictures from there, so there will be a separate story about this medieval rubilov.
The day after tomorrow I am flying to Ashgabat under the pretext of reading lectures at the Turkmen branch of the Russian State University of Oil and Gas named after. Gubkin, but in reality - to take advantage of the rare opportunity to see one of the most closed countries in the world. I think I will definitely bring back a lot of interesting things from there.
Coordinates: N48 8.364 E46 51.462. It is necessary to move from the village of Nizhny Baskunchak, going around the lake in an arc from the west. Mount Bolshoye Bogdo is located on the territory of the reserve; entry is paid.
The Astrakhan region is famous not only for its unusual salt lake Baskunchak, but also Mount Big Bogdo, located near the famous salt lake.
Mount Big Bogdo is the only one real mountain in the Caspian lowland. The foot of Bogdo lies two dozen meters below sea level, and the top is about 150 higher. Every year Mount Big Bogdo becomes higher. The fact is that inside the mountain there is a salt dome, which increases by about 1 mm per year. The height of Greater Bogdo above sea level is 149.6 m, and even more above the surrounding area.
Mount Bogdo has developed above-ground and underground forms of karst relief - beams, funnels, caves, grottoes, etc. Today, the surroundings of Mount Bolshoye Bogdo and Lake Baskunchak number more than 30 caves, the largest of which, Baskunchakskaya, reaches 1.5 km .
Mount Big Bogdo brought to us the remains of the Mesozoic era. In the cliffs of the mountain there is a marine Triassic with the fossilized remains of animals that lived 200-250 million years ago - this makes Big Bogdo a real geological paradise. In addition, Mount Big Bogdo is the only place in Europe where Triassic sedimentary rocks, rich in skeletal remains, come to the surface.
The Big Bogdo is unusual in its color - one of its sides has a red tint. This is due to the high concentration of various metals. However, despite the confirmed scientific fact, there is a legend that explains such an unusual coloring of Mount Big Bogdo: according to legend, Mount Bogdo used to stand on the banks of the Ural River, but two Kalmyk saints decided to move it to the banks of the Volga. After long fasts and prayers, the Kalmyks lifted Mount Big Bogdo onto their shoulders and carried it across the endless sultry steppes, but one of them fell under the weight of the burden the minute he saw a beautiful local woman, and a sinful thought flashed through his head. The mountain crushed him and became watered with blood, which is why one side of it is still red.
Bogdo among the Mongols and Kalmyks means something sublime and majestic, just as in this sense the Chinese owner is called Bogdo Khan, “the highest khan.” The local population believes that the Big Bogdo Mountain is consecrated by the Dalai Lama and come to worship it. According to another legend, Mount Bogdo was formed from a sacred stone that was brought by Kalmyk pilgrims from the distant Tien Shan mountains.
The foot of the Bolshoye Bogdo mountain is hidden by a trail of screes that were formed during the weathering process. On the rocky cliffs of the southwestern slope of Bogdo you can see spectacular weathering forms of sandstones and other rocks of Paleozoic age. The presence of shallow caves, stone niches and pillars, cornices and numerous depressions similar to giant honeycombs made the Big Bogdo a sounding mountain. The phenomenon is explained by air vibrations between stone pillars and drafts in communicating caves. That’s why people call the southwestern slope of the mountain “Singing Rocks.”
Salt lake Baskunchak and Mount Bolshoye Bogdo are part of a unique natural complex. In 1997 Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky natural complex was declared a reserve (Bogdinsko-Baskunchaksky Reserve), where a special environmental regime was established on an area of 53.7 thousand hectares.
Guide: how to get to Mount Bolshoye Bogdo and what to see
Since the easiest way to get to Bogdo is from the village of Nizhny Baskunchak or Lake Baskunchak, we will consider this option.
So, when moving from the village towards Mount Bolshoye Bogdo, you will have to make a small semicircle. Drive south out of the village and follow the rolled dirt road. Your landmark on the left will be Lake Baskunchak itself, and in front to the right will be the towering mountains of dumps from a gypsum quarry. At the quarry itself (N48 12.000 E46 48.064), where Marble Lake is located, you can stop and admire the opening landscape. At the fork near the quarry, keep left and then go straight for about 8 kilometers. Eventually you will arrive at the entrance to the reserve (N48 08.018 E46 49.094), where guards and inspectors are on duty. Entrance fee – 170 rubles. per person (140 rubles per child), paid on the spot (transport is paid separately). Contrary to information on some websites, no prior arrangements are needed. You can receive further instructions on the spot, but we will still tell you a few points.
After the barrier you should go straight, you can stop at the singing rocks (N48 07.850 E46 49.609). Having reached the end, leave the car in the parking lot (N48 08.363 E46 51.460) and walk to the top (N48 08.562 E46 51.333). This is the standard route No. 1, sometimes it is replaced by route No. 2 - a walk along the paths along the red slope, this good way take a closer look at the landscape.
