Sayan mountains-Khakassia-Tuva
Tuva and the Sayan Mountains have so far had few visitors and are touristically "unspoilt.
Tuva and the Sayan located in southern Siberia and on the northern edge of Mongolia Tuva extends from the coniferous forests of the Taiga in the north to the rolling Steppes in the south. Nowhere else in the world is so far from the sea; its capital Kyzyl has a monument proclaiming it to be the very center of Asia. Tuva is a country of great variety with almost every type of landscape: luxuriant meadows, green taiga, boundless steppes, medicinal springs, beautiful lakes, rushing mountain rivers fed in spring by melting snows, dusty semi-desert and snowy chains of mountains.
The high peaks and alpine lakes of the Sayan Mountains in southwest of Tuva give rise to the tributaries that merge to become the mighty Yenisei, one of Siberia's, major rivers flowing over 2000 miles north to the Arctic Ocean.
The mountain ranges that form its natural borders have long protected and isolated this region. Moreover, the Soviet Union kept Tuva closed to the outside world for nearly half a century, and most of this country is still remote and difficult to access. So far few foreigners have been to this remote land.
Predominantly, Tuvans are cattle-breeding nomads. For millennia they have tended to their herds of camels, reindeer, yaks, sheep and goats. Traditionally they live in yurts, felt covered circular tents, that are easily moved to different locations as they follow the seasonal pastures.
The Tuvan people have a mixed ethnic heritage reflecting the ancient powers that dominated this part of Central Asia. It is said that Tuva was the birth place of Ghenghis Khan and that Ghenghis Khan's mother was a Tuvan. It is the cradle of the Turkic language and its culture is strongly related to Mongolian. They have persisted in speaking their own language of Turkic origin even while the Mongols, the Manchu's and other groups ruled them. Even now after decades of domination by the Soviets they still remember their sacred traditions from their main religions: Buddhism and Shaman.
Shamanism was widely practised in Tuva until the forties and fifties when the Soviets enforced their campaign to eradicate religious practice. This brought a modern infrastructure of roads and systems of public education, medical care and communications to this remote part of Asia.
The fauna of the Sayany Region is very rich including bears, marals (south Siberian elk), mountain goats, wolverines, and many semi-tamed chipmunks. Among the birds here are ulars, kedrovkas, and hazel hens (grouse). The clean rivers of this region support a healthy fish population, including graylings and taimens, a kind of salmon.
There are almost no mosquitoes or midges along the rivers in summer, so you can enjoy river trips in this region without the maddening distraction of insects. To add to the pleasure of this area, there are numerous hot and cold mineral springs found near the river banks.
Republic of Khakassia
The Republic of Khakassia, dominated by mountains and steppes, is considered as one of the cradles of Siberian civilisations. Everywhere you see kurgans, big stones marking an ancient grave. They create a mythic athmospere. Khakassia is often called "an archeological Mecca". The visitors will meet beautiful nature and friendly people during their stay.
Khakassia is a small country, only about 61 900 square kilometers large. Two thirds of the surface is covered with mountains. The rest with steppe or hilly steppes. The larch- and cedarwoods are covering about 40 % of the area.
The climate is typical continental, with severe winters and pleasant summers.
Also the khakass are a turkic speaking minority and are supposed to be decendents to the so called "Yenisey Kyrgyz", mentioned already in the 7th Century in chinese chronicals. In the 11th Century the khaskass were defeated by mongolian troups under the lead of Ghengis Khan. The first traces of humans are dated back to the younger stoneage. The first russians, cossacks, arrived during the 15th century.
Shamanism has always been strong among the Khakass, but in 17th centrury many of them became christian.
The present population is about 600 000, of them only about 80 000 are khakass, representing about 11 % of the total population. The russians represent more than 80 % of the total population. Abakan, the capital, has a population of about 200 000.
The khakass were originally cattlebreeding nomads. Today they all are domiciled and most of them works within the agricultural sector.
The last week of my Siberian roundtrip I spent in the captial Abakan, which is a modern russian dominated city. Abakan became my base for exploring Khakassia. Three times, with support from Abakan Tour and their very nice and serviceminded staff, I made longer daytrips.
There is not much of interest in Abakan besides the common russian life. The major attraction is the Khakassia Local Studies Museum with intersting archeologichal exhibitions. The Abakan Zoo, owned by the local meat combine, has Siberian animals, including a siberian tiger and camels from Tuva. Regretfully the animals live in very small and dirty cages. You really feel sorry for them when walking around.
An interesting daytrip goes to Shushenskoe, a small town with about 20 000 inhabitants. It is located about 85 kilometers south of Abakan.
Shushenskoe was founded by immigrant peasants in the 18th century. Nobody should ever come here, if it was?t for the reason that Lenin was exiled here from St Petersburg from 1897 to 1900. Here he married his fellow revolutionary Nadezhda Krupskaya, who had followed him here with her mother in 1898.
In 1970, on the centennial of Lenins birth, the whole village centre was reconstructed to look as it had in the 1870:s.
From Shushenskoe you can continue to the village of Sizay, with its new church built in marbel. The church is located on a hill overlooking the village and the Yenisej river.
Russias biggest hydroelectric dam, with a capacity of impressing 6 400 000 Twh, was constucted in the Karlovy Gorge of the upper Yenisey. Construction began in 1975 and took nearly 20 years to finish.
The Sayano-Shushenskaya dam is located 150 kilometers upstream the Yenisey river from Abakan.
The interesting 18th century town Minusinsk, with a population of 75 000 inhabitants, is located only about 20 kilometers east of Abakan. It is easy to jump on a local bus or private taxi to come here. The ride takes maximum 30 minutes. The old part of Minusinsk, located on an island in a branch of Yenisey, has well preserved old woodenhouses and brick- and stonehouses built in the 19th century by Siberian gold merchants, who travelled the world. Here you also find the beautiful old church. There is a museum with well preserved collection featuring archeology. The library is still as it was when Lenin used it.
Another interseting daytrip can be made to Askiz, the capital for the Khakass. From here you can continue to the beautiful and hilly Kazanovka area.
The market in Askiz is small, and mainly frequented by khakass. The wooden houses in Askiz are of traditional Siberian style.
In Kazanovka there are fine trekking possibilities among the green mountains. There are some wooden yurtas where you can stay over nigth. Abakan Tour can help you with reservations. The small village offeres an interesting walk among the houses. People were rather shy here. Around Kazanovka many kurgans, ancient gravestones, can be found. There is also an archeological area with several ancient graves, 3 - 4 000 years old. The site can be visited.
"The Valley of Kings" is located on the large steppe about 60 kilometers west of Abakan, which is an ancient burial mound from the Ding Ling imperium. Here you find "Siberias Stonehenge", a huge ancient grave, once 11 meters high. It is now explored, and you can see the findings from the grave in the museum in Abakan. Today only the wall of stones is left. Some of the huge stones have a weight of 50 tons!
Before you are allowed to enter "The Valley of Kings" you have to sacrifice some bread, a pieces of meat and a beverage to conciliate the spirits. After your visit you must make a fire and hold your hands towards it, to get rid of the evil forces who are all around. | 
