RUSSIA ~ Shaman Rock on Olkhon Island - Lake Baikal - Pribaikalsky National Park - UNESCO ~

♥✿♥Wishing you all a Happy Earth Day!♥✿♥

... The perfect postcard to celebrate this special day... awesome nature beauty... Lake Baikal is one of the main wonders in Russia....the oldest, most beautiful, purest and deepest freshwater lake in the world... with a surface area bigger than Belgium, it contains nearly one quarter of all the world's freshwater, which is more than the five American Great Lakes combined... it's on the Olkhon Island, the heart of Lake Baikal... Thanks a lot Irina!! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Photo:Ⓒ Andrei Grachow
Lake Baikal, located in south-east Siberia is the world's oldest lake, estimated to be approximately 25 million years old.  It was formed as a rift valley (earth's crust slowly pulls apart) and is crescent shaped. Lake Baikal is 79 km wide and 636 km in length. The coastline is roughly 2100 kms.

Olkhon is the fourth-largest lake-bound island in the world. It is by far the largest island in Lake Baikal.

"Shaman-rock" is above water projection of Angarsk threshold. This rock is a subject of many popular legends and myths about Baikal Lake and Angara river, besides it is one of the main symbols of Baikal Lake.

Pribaikalsky National Park covers the southwest coast of Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia. The coastal strip includes some mountain ridges to the west as well as offshore islands such as Olkhon Island to the east.

The lake was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Stamps:

Definitive Issues
(Issued 29-08-2008)

ContamparyRussian Art
(Issued 29-11-2016)