About 2,000 visitors came to the Land of the Leopard: Crossroads of Cultures environmental festival, held for the first time in the village of Barabash, Primorye Territory, between 18 and 19 August. The venue consisted of a number of stops where guests could enjoy music and dance performances, treats and original souvenirs, and take part in creative workshops by members of local ethnic communities and residents of the Khasan District who are the neighbours of the Far Eastern leopards’ national park.

Music and dance performances included the Gorlitsa Ukrainian folk choir, the Altyn Ai (Golden Moon) Tatar-Bashkir song group, the Chan Mi Kot vocal group of ethnic Koreans, the Bereginya Russian folk choir, and the Treustye neo-folk project.

At the World Cuisine stop, visitors could taste various kinds of traditional food, such as Korean seafood pancakes called haemul pajeon and Armenian dolma grape leaf wraps. At the Cossack homestead Barabashsky, festival-goers were treated to traditional borsch and oatmeal cooked in a mobile kitchen. In addition, all visitors could attend a workshop on baking traditional Tatar flatbread called qistibi, as well as a Primorye-style tea ceremony with local herb infusions.

Another festival attraction was the Khasan Workshop site, featuring an artisan fair with stalls selling handmade decorations and souvenirs, as well as workshops on painting on water and the Kanzashi technique of making lotus flowers from satin ribbons. Primorye’s spotted symbol, the leopard, was also present at the festival, since visitors young and old could make pins designed as paw prints of the Far Eastern leopard.

There was also a special academic stand devoted to the Far Eastern leopard, where volunteers from the national park showed visitors how camera traps work. In addition, all visitors were given a chance to try out being leopard researchers: they were asked to identify leopards by their spot patterns. Young visitors could create their own breed of the Far Eastern leopard by drawing a specific spot pattern and placing paper leopards with similar patterns together.

"As we issued visitor passes for the locals, we found that people identified themselves as so many ethnicities. We decided to bring these ethnicities together as they are all known for generosity, kindness and hospitality. We hope that the festival will open up the natural and cultural abundance of this land. <…> Working together on this festival, we understood that our unity makes us stronger, and with so much positive feedback we have no doubt that this event must be held every year," said Zilya Ibatullina, deputy director of the environmental education and tourism department at Land of the Leopard.

About 600 people walked the Leopard Trail, the national park’s main eco-trail. Walking in the shade of the trees and getting to know the unique nature of the southwestern Primorye Territory was a wonderful addition to the festival programme.