For the past two months, the Tiger student team of the Amur Tiger Centre has been building the Cape Severny eco trail in the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve. There are no similar tourist routes in the wild boreal forest in the whole of Russia’s Far East.

In just a few days, the trail will be ready to open. The Tiger student team is finishing its work. The 25 students – future biologists, ecologists, foresters, game managers and vets – have lived for two months in the wilderness and gained experience in surviving in the taiga without electricity and communications. They did so to give other people a unique opportunity to learn about pristine nature while having a minimal impact on the environment.

According to Dmitry Gorshkov, Director of the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve, the most important part of the trail is the boarded path. It was planned that its length would be 600 metres, but it had to be extended to 1.04 kilometres after heavy rains showed the potential of an unboarded section of the rail to flood.

Robert Birkby, a traveller, writer, photographer and expert in environmental protection, was the construction consultant. The student team was also joined by Anna Gritsuk and Natalya Ivanova, members of the Great Baikal Trail interregional organization, experts with six years of experience in constructing eco trails, who supervised the students’ work.

The festivities to mark the completion of the trail will take place on 28 August. Director of the Primorye Branch of the Amur Tiger Centre Sergei Aramilev and Director of the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve Dmitry Gorshkov together with the students will walk along the new environmental trail.