Editing Lake Baikal (section)

===Ecotourism===
[[File:Лёд Байкала.jpg|thumb|Cracks in Baikal ice]]
Baikal has a number of different tourist activities, depending on the season. Generally, Baikal has two top tourist seasons. The first season is ice season, which starts usually in mid-January and lasts till mid-April.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.56thparallel.com/lake-baikal-travel-guide/ | title=Lake Baikal Travel Guide – Top Ten Attractions on Lake Baikal| date=23 November 2017}}</ref> During this season ice depth increases up to 140 centimeters, that allows safe vehicle driving on the ice cover (except heavy vehicles, such as tourist buses, that do not take this risk). This allows access to the figures of ice that are formed at rocky banks of [[Olkhon Island]], including Cape Hoboy, the Three Brothers rock, and caves to the north of [[Khuzhir, Irkutsk Oblast|Khuzhir]]. It also provides access to small islands like [[Ogoy Island]] and Zamogoy.

The ice itself has a transparency of one meter depth.{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} That is why this season is popular for hiking, ice-walking, ice-skating, and bicycle riding.<ref>{{cite web|date=2020-05-18|title=A Winter Bikepacking Journey Across Lake Baikal|url=https://bikepacking.com/plog/bikepacking-lake-baikal/|access-date=2021-01-18|website=BIKEPACKING.com|language=en}}</ref> An ice route around Olkhon is around 200&nbsp;km. Some tourists may spot a [[Baikal seal]] along the route. Local entrepreneurs offer overnight in [[yurt]] on ice.

The ice season ends in mid-April. Owing to increasing temperatures ice starts to melt and becomes shallow and fragile, especially in places with strong under-ice flows. A range of factors contribute to an increased risk of falling through the ice towards the end of the season, resulting in multiple deaths in Russia each year, although exact data for Baikal are unknown.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Sharma|first1=Sapna|last2=Blagrave|first2=Kevin|last3=Watson|first3=Simon R.|last4=O'Reilly|first4=Catherine M.|last5=Batt|first5=Ryan|last6=Magnuson|first6=John J.|last7=Clemens|first7=Tessa|last8=Denfeld|first8=Blaize A.|last9=Flaim|first9=Giovanna|last10=Grinberga|first10=Laura|last11=Hori|first11=Yukari|date=2020-11-18|title=Increased winter drownings in ice-covered regions with warmer winters|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=15|issue=11|pages=e0241222|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0241222|issn=1932-6203|pmc=7673519|pmid=33206655|bibcode=2020PLoSO..1541222S|doi-access=free}}</ref> [[Viktor Viktorovych Yanukovych]], son of former Ukrainian President [[Viktor Yanukovych]], reportedly died after his car fell through the ice while driving on Baikal in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|date=2015-03-22|title=Ukraine ex-President Yanukovych's son 'drowns in lake'|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-32009480}}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150324180642/http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2015/03/22/7062301/ Yanukovych junior perished]. ''[[Ukrayinska Pravda]]''. 22 March 2015</ref>
[[File:Great-baikal-trail.jpg|thumb|[[Great Baikal Trail]] goes from Listvyanka to Bolshoe Goloustnoye along Lake Baikal coast]]
The second tourist season is summer, which lets tourists dive deeper into virgin Baikal nature. Hiking trails become open,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://greatbaikaltrail.org/en/tropi/ |title=Trails - Great Baikal Trail &#124; GBT |work=Great Baikal Trail &#124; GBT |access-date=10 March 2019 |archive-date=27 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327101121/https://greatbaikaltrail.org/en/tropi/  }}</ref> many of them cross two mountain ranges: [[Baikal Mountains|Baikal Range]] on the western side and [[Barguzin Range]] on the eastern side of Baikal.

Small tourist vessels operate in the area, availing bird-watching, animal-watching (especially [[Baikal seal]]), and fishing. Water in the lake stays extremely cold in most places (does not exceed 10 C most of the year), but in a few gulfs like Chivirkuy, it can be comfortable for swimming.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://prospekt-desires.ru/samyj-teplyj-zaliv-na-bajkale-chivyrkujskij-zaliv/ |title = Самый теплый залив на Байкале – Чивыркуйский залив !|date = 17 December 2017}}</ref>

Olkhon's most-populated village [[Khuzhir, Irkutsk Oblast|Khuzhir]] is an ecotourist destination.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://geohistory.today/siberia-ecotourism-olkhon-island/|title=Ecotourism in Siberia: Development and Challenges on Olkhon Island|last=McGee|first=Rylin|date=2018-04-17|website=GeoHistory|language=en-US|access-date=2019-10-26}}</ref> Baikal has always been popular in Russia and CIS-countries, but for the last few years{{when|date=March 2019}} Baikal has seen an influx of visitors from China and Europe.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rbth.com/business/2015/03/18/chinese_tourists_eager_to_visit_baikal_44579.html | title=Chinese tourists eager to visit Baikal| date=18 March 2015}}</ref>