Ashchelsay Cliff

The Ashchelsay Red and White Cliffs (Russian: Ащельсайские Красный и Белый утёсы), also known simply as the Ashchelsay Cliff, are a rock face almost 35 metres high on the right bank of the Kumak River in the Novoorsky District of Orenburg Oblast. The cliff rises near the site of the former village of Kainsay, about 6 km south-east of the village of Karaganka. It is a geological natural monument of regional importance covering 20 hectares.

What to see

The main sight is the cliff itself, where pale and red rock come out side by side. Most of the rock is made of pale marbled limestone of the Lower Carboniferous, Tournaisian and Visean stages. Just below the top of the river bend the pale stone gives way abruptly to blood-red jasper quartzites of the Middle Devonian. The boundary between the two rocks is visible right in the outcrop, which is why the cliff is protected as a stratigraphic monument: it clearly shows the contact between rocks of different ages.

In the lower part of the cliff, one and a half to two metres above the water, a wide grotto opens in the limestone. The passage goes about 5 metres deep.

History

According to the Novoorsk historian and archaeologist G. I. Rusov, traces of a Neolithic campsite were found in the grotto.

The cliff is described as a natural monument in the Green Book of Orenburg Oblast and in the geographer A. A. Chibilyov's book The Natural Heritage of Orenburg Oblast (both published in 1996).

The Kumak River

At the foot of the Ashchelsay Cliff the Kumak is wide and deep. Under the rock there is a deep pool where catfish, pike, carp, bream, ide, chub and perch live. Opposite the cliff, on the left bank, there is a sandy shore where anglers and tourists regularly stop.

Getting there

From Novoorsk, drive to the village of Karaganka, then turn south and follow dirt steppe roads to the Kumak River. The cliff's coordinates are 51.3177, 59.4406. About 10 km from the cliff is the crash site of cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.

Good to know

The Ashchelsay Red and White Cliffs are on the list of natural monuments of regional importance approved by the Government of Orenburg Oblast in 2015. A special protection regime applies to the area.