Day Schedule

➤Breakfast

➤Chuysky Trakt

➤Seminsky pass

➤Karakol valley, the Siberian Stonehedge

➤Traditional Altai cooking master class

➤Kay concert (Altai traditional throat singing)

After breakfast, you move to Karakol valley, the sacred land of Altai aborigines, along one of the most beautiful roads in the world - Chuysky Trakt. On the way, you make stops to admire natural sights, like the mighty Seminsky pass, and see firsthand the gorgeous blooming rhododendron, which colors slopes of the Altai mountain landscape in bright pink.

Upon arrival at the Karakol Natural Park, you have a sightseeing tour of the natural attractions of the valley, a culinary master class, during which you will learn how to cook different dishes of local Altai cuisine, as well as enjoy Kai concert, the traditional Altai throat singing. The indigenous Altai people living on the sacred land carefully preserve the cultural and historical heritage of its ancestors and its own identity, observe special rituals and ancient rites of worship of the spirits of mountains, fire, water, while not entering into conflict with world civilization. It is believed that all these ancient monuments, together with the culture of local residents, represent an" information code" about the laws of the universe.

Megaliths of Altai in Karakol Valley. Since ancient times, people have settled in the Karakol Valley, as evidenced by numerous archaeological finds - stone steles - balbals, mounds, sculptures of petroglyphs. Traces of ancient cultures are perfectly preserved on a huge territoty of the park. You may see Afanasyev culture (3 thousand years BC), Karakol (one and a half thousand years BC), Scythian (VIII-IV centuries BC), Turkic (VI-VIII centuries AD). The number of monuments of historical and cultural heritage is striking - there are about 5,000 of them here.

The first equipped site with monuments of cultural and historical heritage is clearly visible from the road leading from the village of Karakol to the village of Kulada. Large stones (some of which are inclined) and towering mounds are perfectly visible from afar. According to one theory, the sloping sculptures are in such a position from the moment of installation, and the angle of inclination is 23.44 degrees, which corresponds exactly to the inclination of the axis of rotation of the Earth. Coincidence? Overnight in the Ongudai area in a local guesthouse (authentic wooden house with en-suite facilities). Now you're in the real, remote Altai and the true adventure begins.