Lake Baikal is remote. Standing on the shore of the world's largest lake, you feel alone and very small. In the summer, the lake is peaceful and serene. Baikal is vast, larger than you can see-on the horizon, the edge of the lake blends into the sky. In Tahoe there are gift shops, hotels and casinos, but at Baikal, there are no attractions other than the lake itself.
Tourists go there for simple relaxation in nature.
After two and a half days on a train from Khabarovsk in the Far East to Irkutsk, we passed along the south shore of the lake. All of the program participants crowded to the windows and stared out at Baikal. For the Russians it was their homecoming, for the rest of us, it was our first view of this great lake. During our camping trips and expeditions at Baikal, the Russian participants' love for the lake was obvious, but we all felt equally privileged to be standing on its magnificent shores. Even though relatively few people live around the lake, human impacts are evident in the litter along the trails and the scarred campsites.