Taiga Harvest: Berries and Mushrooms of Baikal

A late-summer journey with reserve specialists, forest food and local hosts

About

BBT created this late-summer journey around the short period when Baikal’s taiga offers berries and mushrooms suitable for responsible gathering. Reserve specialists introduce the forest through its tracks, ecological routes and camera traps, then guide guests to approved collecting areas outside strictly protected zones. Cooking with local hosts turns the harvest into a shared meal and small prepared gifts. A helicopter transfer to Olkhon opens a second landscape, followed by northern cliffs, Buryat hospitality and the final return through Tazherany.

Parameters

Season: Late August–early September
Duration: 8 days / 7 nights
Format: Closed group · Up to 20 guests
Route: Ulan-Ude → Selenga Delta → Posolskoye → Tankhoy → Olkhon → Tazherany → Irkutsk
Airports: Ulan-Ude / Irkutsk
Rhythm: Forest gathering, preparation, island exploration and recovery
Physical activity: Moderate · Forest trails, boat and helicopter boarding
Best suited to: Groups interested in the Siberian forest, seasonal food and local expertise
Est. price per person: $17,900

Day 01: A Buryat Welcome
An attentive arrival in Ulan-Ude introduces the local culture before the expedition into the eastern shore.
Experience
An actor portraying a Buryat elder welcomes the group with khadak scarves, tea and local berry snacks.
Arrangements
Private airport transfer to Cosmos Selection Ulan-Ude; optional three-hour city tour and restaurant dinner.
Buryat host presenting a blue khadag scarf to arriving travellers
Day 02: The Selenga Route to Tankhoy
Waterways and an old diplomatic settlement trace the connection between the Baikal shore and the wider region.
Experience
Motorboat passage through the Selenga Delta; Posolskoye and its historic monastery; planned private visit to the Baikal Zapovedny visitor centre in Tankhoy.
Arrangements
Lakeside dinner cooked over an open fire with reserve staff, hunters and live guitar music; some special exhibits and historic-object demonstrations require confirmation.
Motorboat on a reed-lined channel of the Selenga delta
Day 03: Harvesting with Taiga Specialists
The journey’s main experience brings guests into the forest with the people who study and protect it.
Experience
Ecological paths, bridges, wildlife tracks and camera-trap footage with reserve staff; gathering berries and mushrooms on a checked, permitted site outside strict protection areas.
Arrangements
River approach by airboat or hovercraft where approved; local cooking workshop using collected produce, including berry and mushroom dishes and preserves.
Travellers gathering berries and mushrooms in the taiga with a specialist
Day 04: The Forest at a Slower Pace
A day held in reserve for the harvest also allows guests to explore the forest more gently.
Experience
Nature museum and sable enclosure; short optional ecological walks, finishing preserves and packing the prepared harvest.
Arrangements
Lakeside Siberian banya with bath masters, tea and time to rest; Day 03 forest outing can be moved here if needed.
Bath master steaming a guest with a birch broom in a wooden banya
Day 05: From the Forest to Olkhon
The Mi-8 helicopter links the eastern taiga with the open lake and Olkhon’s Buryat cultural sites.
Experience
Planned flight via Peschanaya Bay to Olkhon; Shaman Rock and an introduction by a local Buryat shaman.
Arrangements
Land Cruiser 200 island transfers; home-style Buryat dinner with morin khuur music and throat singing. Intermediate stops subject to the flight plan.
Mi-8 helicopter flying along the forested cliffs of the Baikal shore
Day 06: The Northern Island
Olkhon offers a lighter continuation of the seasonal harvest between the rock formations and cliffs of the northern coast.
Experience
Speedboat and dedicated off-road vehicles to Keeper of Baikal, Fang Rock and Cape Khoboy; short berry or mushroom stop at a selected site.
Arrangements
Private outdoor lunch, boat return and shoreline banya. Optional lake swimming; further wildlife sightings are unplanned.
Travellers and an off-road vehicle on a cliff above the lake in northern Olkhon
Day 07: Tazherany and Siberian Cuisine
The final day brings the harvest theme into a concluding meal before the return to Irkutsk.
Experience
Tazherany’s Valley of Stone Spirits and rocky viewpoints; private field lunch that may include dishes using the collected produce.
Arrangements
Land Cruiser 200 onward transfer, welcome at RODINA and Siberian farewell dinner at Partizan restaurant.
Chef cooking for travellers at a lunch table on the Tazherany cliffs
Day 08: Departure
Private airport transport concludes the route from the eastern taiga to Irkutsk.
Experience
Breakfast and transfer to Irkutsk Airport.
Driver loading suitcases into a black minivan on a leafy city street