Altai Photo Tour, Shimmers of Siberia's Autumn
The Altai Photo tour promises cinematic scenery all year round. But visit Altai in autumn and you’ll truly understand why this enchanting place is known to the local Altayans as “The Golden Mountains of Altai”.
You’ll be given ample opportunity to snap stunning landscape photos of Altai at its very best. Contrasting colours are everywhere – red canyons, silver mountains, white glaciers, yellow grasslands, azure lakes, amber larch trees and evergreen cedar. Every day is more beautiful than the next! This Altai Photo tour was perfectly created for photographers – beginners up to pros are all welcome!
There will be some early starts with few return trips to the same location at different times of day, as well as photography workshops during our downtime. While some light hiking will be necessary, between locations, you and your camera gear will travel in an extra-spacious vehicle. You’ll also stay in comfortable, heated lodging in some of the most remote parts of the Altai Republic!
Landscapes of Altai Photo Tour Highlights:
- Visit one of the most spectacular places for wide-angle photography in Altai, the Kurai Steppe, where a chain of mountains rise up like giants from the semi-desert plain
- Explore the incredible Aktru Canyon and the Aktru Glaciers. Temporary ice caves are naturally hollowed out at the base of the glaciers, allowing us to step inside hidden vaults aglow with translucent blue ice.
Ring of Fire - Kamchatka, Commander & Kuril Islands Expedition Cruise
A once-in-a-lifetime Russia cruise in the spirit of the great explorers, embark on a Russia Far East Cruise of unparalleled adventure into the Pacific Ring of Fire. Here, Mother Nature still reigns supreme. Mighty volcanoes (mostly only half-asleep), cast their magnificent shadows across bizarre and beautiful landscapes.
Nowhere else on earth can the eruptive forces of nature be experienced more intensely than where the Pacific Ring of Fire meets the Russian Far East. Stretching for 50,000km around the Rim of the Pacific Ocean, most of the earth’s volcanoes are located around the edge of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Along with one of the world’s most active plate boundaries, millions of years of volcanic and geothermal activity have brought islands up from the sea and carved the land into the most unique and amazing shapes and formations.
Kamchatka's Forgotten Coast - Expedition Cruise
On this Kamchatka cruise, venture into the forgotten landscape of the Kamchatka and Chukotka coasts, the sublime natural beauty of untouched landscapes and abundant wildlife! As the Kamchatka coastline has been largely uninfluenced by human interaction for years, natural habitats and colonies of birds, seals, foxes, bears, and marine life have been able to flourish in the region.
It is also home to many indigenous peoples such as the Itelmen, Even, Chukchi, and Koryak, whose cultures you can experience on this Kamchatka cruise.
Kamchatka’s Forgotten Coast Cruise Highlights:
- Take a unique journey to the Commander Islands, rich with bird and marine life like the Red-faced cormorant, horned puffin, Pigeon Guillemot, Crested and Whiskered Auklets, and Sea Otters. Cruising the surrounds, you’ll also have the opportunity to observe the humpback, northern minke, sperm, orca, and Baird’s Beaked whales.
- Multiple landings across the Koryak and Chukotka coast will provide an excellent opportunity for sightings and photography of the natural world. As this Kamchatka cruise expedition takes you from the forested fiords to lagoons and bays, you’ll be in awe of wildlife like the brown bear, Kamchatka marmot, red fox, Tundra Bean Goose, Asian Rosy Finch and Siberian Accentor.
Top of the World - North Pole Cruise
Get on board for the ultimate North Pole adventure. Nothing compares to experiencing the untamed grandeur of the Arctic quite like seeing its majestic landscapes unfold from the deck of a state-of-the-art nuclear icebreaker. Imagine an endless expanse of ice under the polar midnight sun. Pristine waters teeming with marine life. Prowling polar bears in the tundra. This is Mother Nature at her breathtaking best.
From Murmansk, Russia, you’ll embark the icebreaker 50 Years of Victory for a roundtrip voyage to the earth’s geographic North Pole. Our mighty vessel will plough its way through the frozen Arctic Ocean on a cruise that literally circumnavigates the globe in a matter of days. In addition to the exhilaration of cruising to the very apex of the earth, passengers will have the extraordinary privilege to land, via helicopter, on the scarcely visited Russian Arctic archipelago of Franz Josef Land, a remote wilderness home to an incredible abundance of wildlife.
North Pole Cruise Highlights:
- After 7 days of cruising from Murmansk, we’ll arrive at the geographic North Pole, the place where all meridians meet and the only direction is south. To celebrate our successful mission to the top of the world, we’ll ceremoniously drop anchor and disembark on a sturdy stretch of ice for the ‘International Round Dance’ – a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to literally walk around the world!
- Franz Josef Land: Weather permitting, we’ll spend two days exploring this uninhabited archipelago, one most pristine Arctic habitats on earth. It is comprised of 192 islands where glaciers cover 85% of the land, carving out a spectacular terrain of steep valleys, caves and pinnacles
Franz Josef Land and Svalbard Cruise
A Franz Josef Land cruise is as unique and authentic as the place itself. Franz Josef Land is part of the Russian Arctic National Park which is a nature sanctuary. Starting in Longyearbyen in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, the Sea Spirit cruise ship crosses the icy, wildlife-rich Barents Sea to the Russian High Arctic. This remote wilderness is home to a variety of wildlife, including polar bears. In the surrounding icy waters, it is possible to spot seals, walruses, and the elusive bowhead whale. The archipelago also hosts an abundance of nesting Arctic seabirds such as the rare ivory gull.
Franz Josef Land and Svalbard Cruise Trip Highlights:
- Upon our arrival in Franz Josef Land, we’ll spend a week exploring this uninhabited archipelago. We’ll navigate the shallow waters of the isles by Zodiac and make as many on-shore landings as possible. It is comprised of 192 islands where glaciers cover 85% of the land, carving out a spectacular terrain of steep valleys, caves and pinnacles
- Our mission during our time in Franz Josef Land is to observe (sometimes at an extremely close range) the iconic Arctic animal species that call the islands home, including polar bears, walruses, beluga whales and narwhals
Reindeer Migration with the Nenets in Yamal
As the world gets smaller, we desire to travel further – and there are few places as enchantingly far away as Yamal. This cultural immersion transports you deep into Russia’s isolated Arctic region. ‘Yamal’ means ‘edge of the world’ in the language of the indigenous Nenets. The Nenets of Yamal carves out a unique way of life, seemingly at the limits of human tolerance.
Each spring, the Nenets migrate from winter pastures on the Russian mainland to the summer pastures in the Arctic Circle, a one-way journey of up to 1,000km. This is your chance to experience a small part of this epic journey alongside these extraordinarily resilient people. This is a remarkable extraordinary opportunity to get to know one of the world’s last true nomadic reindeer herders through their eyes.
Yamal Reindeer Migration with Nenets – expedition highlights:
- Salekhard is the only city in the world located right at the Polar Circle. Among the highlights on our tour of the city is the Shemanovskiy Yamal-Nenets District Museum, which includes an exhibition on mammoth remains found in the region
- Travel to the Polar Ural Mountains to an encampment of nomadic Nenets reindeer herders
Lake Baikal Photography Tour
This Lake Baikal Photography Tour will grant intrepid photographers the honour of focusing their lenses on some of Siberia’s most famously beautiful frozen landscapes. Summer sees the bulk of tourist activity in the area, but it’s in winter that the most devoted photographers make the pilgrimage, hoping to capture once-in-a-lifetime images of the natural world at its most powerful and surreal.
Lake Baikal Ice Photo Tour Highlights:
- Enjoy a breathtaking panoramic view showing the true scale of Siberia’s “inland sea” from Khoboy Cape, which contains a labyrinth of grottoes where sunlight dances off ceilings jagged with icy stalactites
- Khorin-Igri Bay: an ideal spot to photograph the natural phenomenon of frozen bubbles under Lake Baikal, rising to the surface in perfect discs suspended in the clear, dark water
Kamchatka - Kingdom of the Brown Bears
Perhaps the most potent symbols of Kamchatka’s untamed nature are its towering volcanoes and the mighty Kamchatka Brown bears, the furry residents are the ancestor of the Alaskan Kodiak bears. These two iconic natural emblems are the main subjects of our Kamchatka bears and volcanoes tour, an adventure into the wilds of Russia’s Far East that’s equal parts thrilling and humbling. Including three nights staying in a cabin on Kuril Lake at the height of the bear’s salmon hunting season, this Kamchatka wildlife watching tour will get you closer than you ever imagined to the animal inhabitants of the Kamchatka peninsula.
Kamchatka – Kingdom of the Brown Bears tour highlights:
- Kuril Lake during the summer salmon run is one of only a few places where visitors can observe hunting brown bears in their natural habitat at close proximity. To get the best chances of adrenaline-pumping close encounters and amazing photos ops, we’ll watch bears feed and frolick along the shore from a motorboat, as well as on-land from a special viewing platform overlooking prime fishing grounds.
- Take off in a Russian Mi-8 helicopter for a breathtaking flight to the Khodutka River hot springs, nestled in a forested valley where we’ll bathe, relax and camp for the evening. The largest collection of hot springs in Kamchatka, water temperatures in the various spring pools range from 40 and 60°C.
Wrangel Island - Expedition Cruise in Russian Arctic
Cruise to Wrangel Island, an area 140km off the northeast coast of Siberia, separated from northern Alaska by the Chukchi Sea. For 10 frozen months of the year, this lonely wilderness is completely cut off from the outside world. Reaching Wrangel and braving its polar climate is not for the faint of heart. Only the most dedicated nature lovers make the journey – but the rewards are without parallel. There is simply no better destination than to meet the wild denizens of the Arctic up-close, virtually undisturbed by human interference, and in numbers that will simply astound you.
Wrangel Island – Russian Arctic expedition cruise highlights:
- Whale Bone Alley is the name given to a beach on Yttygran Island in the Bering Sea. Landing on the beach, you’ll take in the haunting atmosphere of this ancient site, where gigantic whalebones appear to sprout out of the ground, stretching along the coast for nearly half a kilometre
- Wrangel Island: After 6 days we reach the highlight of our cruise. Explore the island on foot and via Zodiac, searching for wildlife such as polar bears, musk oxen and reindeer amid majestic tundra landscapes with brilliant pastel patches of Arctic wildflowers
Kamchatka Photo Expedition - Bears and Volcanoes
This 2-week Kamchatka photography tour is designed especially for landscape, nature, and wildlife photography enthusiasts. Stay on the shores of the iconic Kurilskoye Lake and take part in some of the best brown bear photo opportunities as the bears gorge themselves during the annual salmon run. Hike to the summits of some of Kamchatka’s active volcanoes for thrilling shots of steaming vents, acid lakes, and smoking craters. Your aim is to return to “Earth” with images of alien landscapes and wild nature worthy of the pages of National Geographic. Our Kamchatka photography tour suits all professional and amateur photographers, as well as active and adventurous travellers. No prior mountain climbing experience is required, but a decent level of fitness is strongly recommended.
Kamchatka photo tour highlights:
- Brace yourself for a bone-rattling journey on a Russian 6WD all-terrain vehicle on a road tracing the western coast of Kamchatka (complete with river crossing) to isolated Pauzhetka village. Pauzhhetka is a tiny settlement between the Sea of Okhost and Kuril Lake, surrounded on all sides by towering volcanoes
- Embark on the off-road drive to Kurilskoye Lake for a two day shooting and photo workshopping season among the brown bears who gather at the lake in large numbers during the salmon season to get the best chance of heart-stopping close encounters and amazing photos ops, we’ll watch the bears on land and on boat, staying overnight in log cabins close to the lakeshore
Lake Baikal Ice Adventure
Our Lake Baikal Ice Adventure tour takes place during late February and March. The beginning of spring in the Baikal region, at this time of year, the temperature climbs above zero, but the surface of the lake is still largely frozen, covered by solid winter ice so clear you can see rocks and other objects at the bottom of the lake as far as 40m below. During spring, Baikal receives few visitors compared to the summer high season, allowing you to feel an inspiring sense of isolation and communion with undisturbed nature during this handcrafted 7-day tour. Be amazed by the frozen beauty of the world’s oldest and deepest lake and experience real-life walking on water. We’ve included a few activities exclusive to the cooler months such as ice skating snowmobiling to add a sprinkle of spills and thrills to this thoroughly enjoyable adventure.
Lake Baikal Ice Adventure Highlights:
- Embark on an over-ice expedition on and around Olkhon Island, the largest of Lake Baikal’s islands and the centre of shamanic energy for the Buryat people. Spend three nights on the island and discover pristine beaches, craggy capes, and untouched Siberian forests
- Enjoy over-ice hovercraft expedition to Ogoy island – one of the sacred places in the region.
- Enjoy one of the most popular winter activities – snowmobiling and dog sledding.
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About 56th Parallel
56th Parallel is a travel company specialising in providing packaged tours and travel services in Russia.
Our goal is to redefine travel to Russia, focusing on creating the most rewarding experiences, which help travellers unfolds the soul of this exciting destination.
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