Expeditions – The Road Back to Buryatia

Expeditions – The Road Back to Buryatia

Feb 1, 2015

In September we returned to Ulan Ude, the capital of the Russian Republic of Buryatia. On our previous visit in 1998 we attended a unique international Sea Berry Conference which featured the valuable varieties from this region. This year we met old friends, checked out new Sea Berry varieties, and visited the plantations we had seen in 1998.

2-1/2 days on the Trans-Siberian railroad – an epic journey on a comfortable train with friendly traveling companions.

The Siberian landscape is vast, beautiful and unpopulated. Traveling by train gave us lots of time for reading, visiting and taking photos.

The view from the former experimental Sea Berry plantation near Ulan Ude. The landscape is reminiscent of Montana with its ‘big skies’.

Lorraine and our friend Klim Arbakov collecting Sea Berry samples. The plantation has been abandoned, although many of the plants are still bearing fruit.

Klim Arbakov in his dacha garden with his own variety, which we call Klim’s Prize™. Klim has been researching wild Sea Berry plants in Buryatia since the 1970’s.