(Source: http://fotokto.ru/photo/view/1075682.html)

The Centre of Wildlife was established in Yashkulsky District of Kalmykia. The only micropopulation of saiga living in captivity appeared in the Kalmykia steppe.

There are more than 90 antelopes in the reserve today, and their number grows every year. The antelopes are kept in cages from 3 to 62 hectares in size, so it is easy enough to see them. At least, you do not have to wait for them for a week, like in “Chyornye Zemli”. Photographers organize an ambush in the main aviary of the Centre. Once in two or three days saiga certainly passes by the ambush at least once at a distance of photo shot. You can see not only saiga - the Centre of Wildlife turned into a steppe mini-zoo today. Camels and horses, ponies and sheep, wild pigs and ostriches live in the aviaries. There is even a buffalo called Mishka, a gift of Prioksko-Terrasny Reserve. All this diversity is naturally complemented and enlivened by the landscape. Nearby there is a man-made canal that supplies the entire Kalmykia with water. Fish lives in the canal, demoiselle nest on its reedy banks. In the second half of April the steppe is covered with a carpet of blooming tulips. They are not as big here as on the bank of Manych, but even undersized tulips give the steppe its extraordinary charm.

Local features

In the Centre of Wildlife students do their practice, scientists carry out their experiments, tourists come from different regions of Russia and foreign countries. A guest house for 12 people is equipped for them. In addition, there is a visitors’ centre on the reserve territory: there the staff of the Centre read lectures to visitors, show films about the saiga and other steppe and desert inhabitants.

When a lot of guests come to the Centre, the room of the visitors’ centre is used as their overnight accommodation. You can not only watch the wildlife in the centre - you can also ride horses or camels for a certain fee. All questions concerning the work of the Centre of Wildlife can be addressed to Arylov Yuriy Nimeevich to the e-mail: kalmsaiga@mail.ru.

Important Information

There are a lot of ticks in the steppe from April to October. To protect yourself against them, you must observe at least elementary precautions: leave no open areas of the body, for example, tuck pants into socks. Thus ticks will not be able to immediately get under the clothes, and you will be able to shake the bloodsuckers off. After a trip to the steppe it is strongly recommended to carefully check the skin for the presence of ticks sucked into it.