Lake Baikal .

	« Time after time seeking to exist, they return to their mother's womb; beings come and go; one state of being replaces another.»   ...This place gave birth to legends, unique cultures and flora & fauna found only here, and it remains a mystery to many. Intertwined between mountains and created as a result of tectonic movements some 25 million years ago, Lake Baikal is the largest World Heritage site, included in the UNESCO heritage list...
Baikal (originating from turkish-mongol "rich waters" and is also known as "The Sacred Sea") is a fresh water lake located in the Southeastern part of Siberia, Russia. First written mentioning about the lake dates back to 110 B.C. and is recorded in the Chinese written sources as "Beikhai." Lake Baikal is known as a unique self-contained aquatic ecosystem which provides comfortable home for flora and fauna that are endemic (unique to the particular geographic location), found nowhere else on the planet. One of the wonders of Lake Baikal is freshwater seal, Phoca siberica, known as "nerpa," which is the only mammal that inhabits the lake. Scientists believe that nerpa seals are from the tertiary fauna (and are related to Arctic ringed seal). They are believed to have gradually migrated during the Ice Age inland from the Arctic Ocean in search for food, and have been breeding on Baikal for over 20 million years. Location - between 55°46,3° north latitude and 109°57,5°, east longitude, 51°27,5° north latitude and 103°42,5° east longitude. The lake is situated at 455 meters above sea level. Age - around 25 million years. Different nations have myriads of beautiful and colourful legends describing birth of this lake, however, according to the dominating scientific version, the lake was formed as a result of gigantic split of rock stratum. Lake's flora and fauna include over 2,600 species. Baikal's maximum depth is 1,637 meters; its area of the surface is 31,500 square kilometers, which approximates the size of Belgium or Netherlands. Water volume: 23,000 km3, length (talweg) - 636 km. Length of the shoreline: 2,000 km. Baikal has 30 islands, with Olkhon being the biggest. The biggest bays are: Barguzinskiy (725 km2), Chivyrkuiskiy (270 km2), Proval (197 km2). 544 rivers flow into Baikal and only one, "daughter-river," Angara, is outflowing. We want you to see the Lake.. "... The man was dumbfounded by the view of Baikal for it could not be fathomed by man's notion: Baikal was not situated in a place where something like this could be, it was not what it could be, and it affected the human soul differently than the "indifferent" nature usually does. It was something special, extraordinary and exceptional.."