On 11 June, in the City of Severobaykalsk students and teachers from Buryatia and Irkutsk were greeted by the Khakusy project coordinators and representatives of the Fund for Protection of Lake Baikal. The ecological team was brought by cars to the port of Nizhneangarsk from where Tayezhnik-2 motor boat transported all campers to the other side of Baikal to Khakusy.

The group settled in the camp quickly: two tents and a yurt as the main “control station”. Campers did not forget about outdoor activities and stretched a volleyball net (they also found badminton rackets, soccer ball and volleyballs in their bags). Senior members of the team and Mr Kantakov, state inspector of the Barguzin State Biosphere Reserve, discussed a preliminary camp program.

Though this experimental camp will only have 20 campers, they have to accomplish significant goals to develop new tourist routes in Baikal in line with international standards of ecological active recreation. The first season at the ecocamp arranged by the FPLB will be a pilot season from 11 July through 23 July, 2011. Students and teachers of geography departments from Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude and Severobaykalsk were invited to attend the camp.