Far East Tours

Explore the Southern Sikhote-Alin mountain-taiga area. It covers 1.5 million hectares and constitutes a unique flora and fauna ecosystem. The core of the area is Lazovsky Nature Reserve and Zov Tigra (Call of the Tiger) National Park, which, when completed, will comprise over eighty thousand hectares. The area's broadleaf and coniferous forests include cedar reaching 50 meters in height and 2 meters in diameter, spruce, Korean pine, birch, oak, maple, linden, elm, Manchurian nut, Japanese yew. The Manchurian Aralia, the Ginseng and many other rare and valuable plant species are native to these forests as are almost all the rare and valuable mammal species of the Southern Russian Far East. The area is unmatched in Russia for its great variety of rare animal species. The Southern Sikhote-Alin is home to the Amur tiger, the Brown and Himalayan bear, the Far Eastern forest cat, boar, raccoon dog, several species of wolf and deer, and many others.

The highest mountains of Primorye (1600-1800 m), crystal clear water and waterfalls of mountain rivers give the area a special attractiveness. The Ussuri, the longest river in Primorye, begins here. Some river basins show no evidence of human influence: there was no felling, no road and settlement building, no agricultural activity. Unique highland landscapes with a wide range of animal and plant species add to the area's appeal. None of the nature reserves in Primorye offer highland areas comparable to the Oblachnaya, Sestra or Snezhnaya Mountains of the Southern Sikhote-Alin. The peaks loom more than 1,200 meters above the valleys below, with each successive woodland band blending smoothly into the next, as you rise through the hills. Above 800 meters, the broadleaf and conifer forests intermingle with oak on the eastern slopes. Over the next few hundred meters, the pine mixing with other evergreens gradually gives way, leaving a belt of spruce and fir that reaches to 1,500 meters, where it yields to a band of stone birch and sub-highland shrubs. Finally, you come to the alpine tundra, blanketing the landscape at the peaks and stretching off toward the clouds and the sky. Another unusual feature of the area is the Mutta tract, an extensive highland marsh in the vast Korean Dahurian Larch zone. We invite you to spend several days deep in the wilderness face to face with nature. A five-hour drive brings you to Chuguevsky County, where Arkhipovka Village is located in the heart of the Southern Sikhote-Alin near the upstream of the Ussuri River. Arkhipovka Country Lodge awaits those who want to explore the area and taste Russian village life and the pleasures of rustic tourism. You will stay in a large wooden house featuring 220 V AC, four warm rooms, a kitchen and a cozy dining room. Fresh milk and home-made farmer cheese, honey and berries, traditional Russian cuisine, relaxing in a Russian steam bath - all this will give you a special taste of the Russian village. Ecological trails, fishing with traditional fires ide dishes, one-day rafting, a hike to the county's famous mountains and waterfalls, and horse-back riding will make your tour unforgettable.