Zabaikalsky

Zabaikalsky National Park, "Transbaikal", was established in 1986 and covers the central stretch of the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, in Buryatia. It comprises the western slope of the Barguzin range, the Ushkany Islands and Svyatoy Nos, the lake's only large peninsula, whose name means "sacred nose". Of its 2,690 km², some 38.8 are protected water surface of the lake itself.

It is very steep country: 55% of the park has slopes greater than 26 degrees and a further 28% lies between 16 and 25, with Mount Barmashovoe as its highest point, at 2,376 metres. To the north it borders the Barguzinsky zapovednik, which is of similar size, the two together forming a continuous protected front along the lake's north-eastern shore.

The Ushkany Islands, a small archipelago in the middle of the lake, are the principal haul-out site of the Baikal seal, the nerpa, the only pinniped in the world that lives exclusively in fresh water and which reached the lake millions of years ago by routes that are still debated. In summer hundreds of seals gather on the rocks of the islands, one of the best-known wildlife spectacles in Siberia. The park also includes beaches and dunes on the Svyatoy Nos isthmus, hot springs and a taiga of larch and Siberian pine on the slopes.