In eastern Russia there is an amazing land - with thick forests, deep rivers and lakes - rich in gas, coal and diamonds. There you will also find a number of large industrial and scientific centers. But, at the same time, the local population honor the traditions of their ancestors, and primitive shamanism is still practiced there. All that is the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Saha is the largest region of Russia ( over 3000 thousand km²), and almost half of its area lies above the Arctic Circle. Different nations live in that vast land, including Yakuts, Russian, Evens, Evenks, Ukrainians and Tatars. However, the population density is almost the lowest in Russia - totally less than a million people.

Summers in Yakutia are not very hot, and its winters are famous for the lowest temperatures on the planet. Most of the Republic is located in the permafrost area, and even on the hottest days, the ground is not warmed up, and is a mixture of soil and ice. Another world-famous geological feature of Yakutia is the Lena Pillars: the sheer cliffs - up to 220 meters high - stretched along the banks of the Lena River for 104 km. The locals say that the Pillars are spirits' home, but for scientists they are a natural phenomenon, which tells a lot about the natural history of Earth.

It is a place with a long history: archaeological finds prove that people started settling there as far back as in the Paleolithic period . However, Saha is better known in the world as the land of mammoths, that are often found in the permafrost untouched by decay.

The 16^th IRSchool will take place in the New Educational and Laboratory Building of the Sakha Junior Science Academy, the Regional Center for gifted children. Apart from the science labs and classrooms there are also dormitories and restaurant.

The participants will be accommodated in the comfortable rooms : 2 people per room, with 1 the bathroom per block of 2 rooms. The leaders will stay in individual rooms with 1 the bathroom per block of 2 rooms. We will do our best to accommodate members of the same delegation together taking into account the gender factor as well.

There will be 3 meals a day in a buffet-restaurant of the Academy. On tours the participants will be given packed lunches.

Address:
Sakha Junior Science Academy
1, G.Savvina street, Chapayevo, Khagalasskiy uluss, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), 678011, Russia

Tel/fax: +7(41144)24562, Tel: +7(41144)24102