Research project: Ecotourism and remoteness - Sibiria

30/06/2018

Grab your notebook and dictionary, a three-week train travel through the SIberian Taiga was the job description.

This project surrounded the Baikal-Amur railroad and its impacts on local populations. The team spend 91 hours on trains during these three weekds while we travelled around the Baikal lake and neighbouring regions gathering data. A challenging, but also fascinating project.

Irkutsk to Chita

Towards the end of my master studies I got the chance to be part of a research project in Siberia. The team consisted of a group of researchers from the university of VIenna and translators. My personal research project examined ecotourism and remoteness. Despite language barriers we established a good cooperation with local guides and tourist companies.

We travelled from Irkutsk, through Ust-Kut, Severobaykalsk, Chara, Tynda, and Pervomayskoe, to Chita. Got drilled in data gathering methods in challening circumstances while we overcame motion sickness, language barriers and sleep deprivation. Thanks to the insights locals shared we learner much about the relations between infrastructure, tourism and the role of local nature ideologies in daily life for many people in the Baikal region. The Baikal area is climate-wise a cold region, but the people we met showed us the warm side of Baikal.

The results of this project have not yet been published, but I share some visual impressions below.