The deep lake is surrounded by mountain ranges and hills; the western shore is rockier and steeper than the eastern.
Its picturesque surroundings with an exceptional variety of flora and fauna attract tourists from all over the world.
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A train with tourists enters a tunnel on the Circum-Baikal railway.
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The Baikal seal is the only species of seal in the world that lives in fresh water, endemic to Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik / Petr Petrovich Malinovskiy
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Night sky as seen from the bay of Sagan-Zaba on Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik / Vladimir Smirnov
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Girl with a dog on the shore of Lake Baikal.
© Depositphotos.com / Argo20
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A vessel sails through Lake Baikal near the island of Olkhon.
© Sputnik / Ilya Pitalev
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Vladimir Putin during a dive in the deep-submergence vehicle "Mir-1" at the bottom of Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik
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Shaman Valentin Khagdaev in the mountains lining the shore of Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik / Ilya Pitalev
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The flowering of Ledum or Daurian rhododendron on Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik / Freidberg
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A view from the island of Olkhon to Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik / Vladimir Smirnov
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TV presenter Ekaterina Andreeva (left) holding the Olympic torch while diving in Lake Baikal.
© Sputnik
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The main street of town Khuzhir, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia.