Khantayskoye Lake on the Taimyr Peninsula in the Krasnoyarsk Territory

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:48

Taimyr is the largest peninsula in Russia. It is located in the northern part of the mainland, between the Khatanga Bay in the Laptev Sea and the Yenisei Bay in the Kara Sea on the outskirts of the Arctic Ocean. The southern part of the peninsula is limited by the ledge of the Putorana plateau. It is here that Khantayskoye Lake is located, which will be discussed in the article.

Description

This lake is not the largest on the peninsula, but the deepest. Its depth reaches 420 meters, which puts Lake Khantayskoye in third place in the ranking of the deepest lakes in Russia after Baikal (1642 meters) and the Caspian Sea (1025 meters).

The length of the reservoir, which is described in the article, is 80 km, the width is 25 km, and the area is 822 km2. The reservoir is stretched from west to east, on the east side it spreads into two sleeves, which the locals call "pants". The western part of the lake is the source of the Khantayka River, which flows through the Small Khantayskoye Lake from the right side into the mighty Yenisei.

Also, on the western side, many small lakes adjoin the lake:

• Nekengdae.
• Delichi.
• Hakanachi.
• Small Cum.
• Cum.
• Tolga.
• Delimaquid.
• Togody.
• Small Khantai.
• July.
• Nonermakit.
• Kapchuk.
• Arbuckley.
• Chatkaul.

This is not a single system of lakes, as some of them are interconnected, while others are separate closed bodies of water.

For the first time, Lake Khantayskoye was explored and described by members of the expedition of Sotnikov A. A. in 1915. Research continued in 1919 by an expedition led by Urvantsev N. N.

Climate and hydrology (lake feeding)

Lake Khantayskoye (Krasnoyarsk Territory) lies in the climatic zone of tundra and forest-tundra, at the southern border of the Arctic Circle, where permafrost begins to spread. The severity of weather conditions here is estimated at 4.8 points out of 5. For almost 9 months the ground is covered with snow, the spring is swift, the summer is very hot - the air warms up to +30 degrees. At the end of August, frosts already come at night, Khantayskoye Lake completely freezes in October, and the first ice opens only in June. This leads to the fact that the water reservoir is mainly (90%) glacial, only 8-12% is filled with precipitation.

Flora and fauna

The climate of the area where Lake Khantayskoye is located is harsh and cold. The water temperature is never higher than +10…+12 degrees even in July. It is surrounded on all sides by taiga, and the highlands of the nearby mountains are surrounded by tundra vegetation. The flora here is typical: spruces, pines and larches grow along the banks, fir trees are common, juniper and honeysuckle are common among shrubs, undersized currants, blueberry and lingonberry bushes and grasses such as oxalis and wintergreen form the undergrowth. The mountains are covered with mosses and lichens, polar poppies, dryads, dwarf willows and birches, blueberries, cloudberries.

Brown bears, foxes, wolves, hares, squirrels, moose, roe deer, deer, sables, wolverines, weasels, ermines, minks, martens, and many small rodents live in the foothills. Those who are in the area during the summer months are very annoyed by midges, horseflies, midges.

The feathered kingdom is represented by crossbills, common capercaillie, woodpeckers, owls, Siberian thrushes, hazel grouses, nutcrackers, white partridges, Khantayskoye Lake is full of fish, and not only its quantity is striking, but also the species diversity. There are whitefish, vendace, huge pikes weighing up to 6-8 kg, peled, chiry, muksun, omul, char, taimen, which are listed in the Red Book.

Infrastructure

In the vicinity of this lake there is only one settlement - the village of Khantayskoye Lake. It is located on the southwestern shore of the reservoir, according to the 2010 census, 490 people live in it, of which 443 are the indigenous inhabitants of Taimyr (Enets, Dolgans, Nenets). At first it was just a camp of aborigines without capital buildings, but from 1952 to 1959. hereexiles were sent, who laid the foundation of this village. There is a kindergarten, a school, a medical center, a post office, a shop, a bakery, an administration, 4-apartment residential buildings.

Traditional occupations of local residents - hunting for fur-bearing animals, fishing, reindeer herding. You can get to the mainland either through an extensive water network by boat or by helicopter.

240 km from the village, on the right bank of the Yenisei, is the city of Dudinka with a population of almost 22 thousand people. Travelers who spent time on Khantai Lake said that you could not meet a single person here for a month!

Recreation and tourism

Despite the fact that the infrastructure of the lake is practically undeveloped, there are two camp sites on its shore. One of them is unfinished, owned by Gazprom, the second is on the balance sheet of the Snezhnogorsk HPP. It is located on the southern shore of the lake. The base is a small wooden house with a sauna and minimal outdoor amenities. Most of the time it is empty, only a couple of times a year companies arrive here who want to spend time in these amazing lands.

From the entertainment here are available kayak or boat trips on the lake, fishing (all fishermen dream of taimen), hiking.

As mentioned above, Lake Khantayskoe is full of fish. Fishing here is just excellent!