Burtinskaya Steppe

Burtinskaya Steppe is a section of the Orenburgsky State Nature Reserve in the Belyayevsky District of Orenburg Region, about 10 kilometers south of the village of Burlyksky and roughly 130 kilometers from Orenburg. The section covers 4,500 hectares and is one of the best known steppe nature monuments in the Southern Urals.

History

The Orenburgsky Nature Reserve was established on May 12, 1989, to protect typical steppe landscapes of the Trans-Volga and Cis-Ural regions; Burtinskaya Steppe became part of it the same year. In 2013 the Institute of Steppe of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences justified expanding the reserve, and in 2015 a former military training ground, the Preduralskaya Steppe section covering 16,500 hectares, was added to it.

Nature

The relief of Burtinskaya Steppe is flat to hilly-ridged. The main watershed runs along the Muyelda Plateau, 420.9 meters high, from which several gullies originate. The section includes meadow, rocky and true steppe areas, along with forests of birch, aspen and black alder; about 800 species of vascular plants have been recorded here. Mammals include elk, Siberian roe deer, badger, fox, wolf and steppe marmot, and reptiles include the pond turtle, sand lizard and steppe viper. About 120 bird species have been recorded in the reserve, 51 of them nesting, including the little bustard, steppe eagle, demoiselle crane, long-legged buzzard, sociable lapwing and ruddy shelduck. In the summer of 2007 tracks of a European brown bear were recorded in the reserve for the first time. Since 2015 the section has been home to a group of Przewalski's horses brought from France as part of a reintroduction program planned through 2030.

Landmarks

The section's main landmark is the powerful Kaynar spring, fed by deep artesian waters; the stream flowing from it forms a small round pool and sometimes reaches Lake Koskol. Nearby lies the Cherepashye (Turtle) swamp: specialists believe it is an ancient outlet of the same spring, and it takes its name from the pond turtles living there. Two freshwater, karst-suffosion lakes called Koskol, northern and southern, lie on the western border of the buffer zone, up to 3.5 meters deep. The section preserves burial mounds of the Sarmatian culture from the 7th-3rd centuries BC, and an old Kazakh cemetery with anthropomorphic kulpytas stelae stands nearby.

Getting there

From Orenburg it is about 130 kilometers to the village of Burlyksky via the village of Belyayevka, then about 18 kilometers along a dirt road to the Burtinskaya Steppe outpost. Walking the reserve on one's own is not allowed: the section can only be visited as part of a guided tour, booked in advance at least a day ahead. A tour lasts up to two hours; the entrance fee is 250 rubles per person and parking costs 500 rubles per car.

Photo: Orenburg Region Tourism Development Centre