Great Baikal Trail Non-Profit Organization

Contact Person

Great Baikal Trail is dedicated to the preservation of Siberia's Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake in the world. The lake contains one fifth of all of the world's fresh water and is home to hundreds of endemic terrestrial and aquatic species that truly make Baikal and the surrounding taiga forest a unique place. The most famous of these creatures is the Baikal seal, one of the world's few freshwater seal species.

Great Baikal Trail's focus is on the development of ecotourism in the region in order to provide Baikal communities with an alternative to mass tourism and destructive logging or industrial activities while preserving unique ecosystems and wildlife. GBT carries out its work with the help of Russian and international volunteers who spend their summer building and maintaining nature trails while teaching youngsters and local communities about the environment and benefits of sustainable tourism.

Volunteers get to work on a trail crew out in nature with Russian and other volunteers from all over the world while interacting with local children and their families and visiting attractions around Lake Baikal. Each trail crew receives an experienced trail builder and interpreter to facilitate communication and teach about the forest, lake and local communities.

Since 2003, thousands of volunteers have participated in hundreds of projects to develop trails and contribute to a more socially and environmentally sustainable form of tourism for the region.