Banditskie Gory

Banditskie Gory (Bandit Hills) is a group of low rocky hills in the Belyaevsky district of the Orenburg region, on the watershed between the Burti river and the Karagashty stream, a tributary of the Kiyalyburti. The highest point reaches 290.5 meters. The hills lie within the Preduralskaya Step (Cis-Ural Steppe) section of the Orenburgsky nature reserve, 7 km south of the village of Sazan and about 115 km from the city of Orenburg.

History

The name comes from a legend: a caravan route from Asia to Russia once passed through these hills, and until the mid-20th century bandit gangs reportedly used the area to rob merchant caravans. The summits and slopes are strewn with boulders riddled with holes, as if nature itself had carved out a perfect ambush spot in the otherwise flat steppe.

In 1980 the steppe plot containing Banditskie Gory was turned into a Ministry of Defense firing range used for practice bombing of ground targets. Frequent fires caused by the training runs turned the surrounding landscape into a fire-adapted (pyrogenic) steppe, dominated by plants that tolerate repeated burning. The area was later included in the Orenburgsky nature reserve as part of the 4,500-hectare Preduralskaya Step section, which sits on the watershed between the Kiyalyburtya and Burli rivers, in the headwaters of the Tuzlukkol, Kzylsay and Muyuldy streams.

Nature

The summits and slopes are covered with outcrops of light-gray, sometimes pinkish-gray quartzite conglomerate and quartzite sandstone with a distinctive cellular, pitted surface. Lower on the slopes lie fragments of rusty-brown quartz sandstone cemented by limonite. Groundwater lies close to the surface at the foot of the hills, and an old hand-dug well in a cirque-shaped hollow on the western slope still shows where it seeps out.

The steppe here is a fescue-feathergrass community with patches of dwarf shrub, and birch-aspen groves grow here and there. Mammals recorded in the hills include fox, badger, steppe polecat and steppe pika. Steppe eagles and long-legged buzzards nest above the slopes, and bat colonies, including the particolored bat, roost in the rock crevices.

Getting there

From Orenburg, drive about 80 km along the highway to the village of Belyaevka, then about 33 km south through the settlement of Burtinsky to the village of Sazan. From Sazan it is another 7 km south to the Preduralskaya Step section of the reserve.

Good to know

Banditskie Gory lies inside the nature reserve, so visiting on your own without arrangement is not possible. The reserve runs a guided "photo safari" through the hills in the visitor's own off-road vehicle, accompanied by a reserve staff member: the 26-km route takes about 4 hours, runs on Wednesdays and Fridays from June to September, and is open to adults and children aged 10 and up. The entrance ticket costs 170 rubles per person (with discount categories), the photo safari itself costs 400 rubles on weekdays and 500 rubles on weekends and holidays, and parking costs 250 and 300 rubles respectively. Before setting out, check whether the route is currently running and book by phone through the Preduralskaya Step visitor center.