Travel Guide » Travel, sport, culture » Extreme and Ecological Tourism

For the most adventurous challengers who are eager to explore Vladivostok and its beautiful surrounding landscapes from different perspectives with a good portion of adrenaline in their blood, the city has a lot to offer.

Paintball and Shooting-range

If you are a born sniper or just wish to feel like you are - welcome to take a riffle and shoot!

You have a chance to enjoy paintball shooting either at the real war setting fighting among the deserted fortresses, blindage facilities and earth work or at the natural landscape, hiding in the  woods, slopes and pits, secret railways etc. Recreational facilities are at your disposal as well.

Masks, uniforms, weapons and markers are available for rent.

• Askold Paintball Club, telephones in Vladivostok:  34-04-38, 90-77-67, 90-77-69  
• Alliance Paintball Club, tel.: 90-99-77, 775-228
• Outdoor shooting-range offers a wide range of arbalests, rifles and guns to practice shooting. 
• Professional instructors will give you detailed instructions. Safety is guaranteed.
• "Epoch" Arbalest Club, Tel: 35-63-45, 45-95-78

Diving

Vladivostok gives you an excellent opportunity to explore underwater world of neighboring  islands with its crystal water and rare sea species. Local diving clubs provide different levels of practice guiding you from the beginner to the advanced diver level. Instructors use NAUI international diving standards.  Discovery Scuba level allows you to make your first experimental diving, Junior Scuba training takes you to the relative beginning level, from which you can go on as far as to the level of Advanced Scuba diver. Also, special programs such as night diving, ice diving are available. Boats and equipment are available for rent.

• "Tursio" Far Eastern Diving Club, tel.:  400-484    
• "Bosfor Vostochniy" Diving Club. tel.: 300-099

Parachute Jumping

Wish you could fly in the skies? Then parachute jumping is just the right choice for you! Join the jumping teams of the local air-cubs. Preliminary training is provided. Safety precautions are guaranteed. The parachute bases are located at Vladivostok suburb area. You can do either a tandem jumping together with the instructor or jump on your own. Jumping depends on weather conditions. Children under 14 are not admitted.

• "Ozernie Kluchi" Air Club, tel  35-32-33, 8 (237)46- 808
• "Seventh Sky" Parachute Club, tel: 22-76-43, E-mail:

Underground Vladivostok

In Vladivostok you have a rare unique opportunity to explore underground galleries of the old fortress which date back to the tsar times.  Feeling like a real trailblazer with a lantern in your hand you can investigate the "Vladivostok Fortress" with its massive fortification facilities hidden right under the city. Your extreme tourist curiosity will be satisfied!

• Vladivostok Digger Club, tel.: 55-20-86, E-mail:  http://www.vtc.ru/~vladdig/
• Vladivostok Fortress Museum, tel.:  40-08-96, 40-14-49

Horse Riding

An interesting opportunity to feel yourself like a Vladivostok pioneer of the 19^th century riding a horse through the beautiful and wild landscapes is waiting for you! Romantic and adventurous mood is guaranteed. Ride training is provided by the professional instructors. They select routes specially so that you could enjoy the marvelous sceneries: Botanical garden surroundings, suburb waterfront, mellows near Ussuriysk city. On your wish a ride in a coach is available as well.  

• "Cavalcade" Horse Riding Club: tel:  688-111,  775-257
• Nakhodka Horse Riding Club: tel.:  (4236) 69-71-79, 60-33-05

Off-Road Racing

If you have a good cross-country SUV car and much of adrenalin or are just eager to watch the off-road racing  on broken muddy roads and pits of the suburb areas you are welcome to join the local auto clubs!  Jeep trial and off-road competitions are regularly held as extreme sport shows for all who enjoy jeep racing.

• X-Track Racing Club, tel.: 33-92-51,  http://www.x-track.ru/

Green Street to Ecological Tourism on the Land of the Leopard

The land of the leopard has started to prepare for receiving the ecological tourists in a new summer season.

VLADIVOSTOK, March 20, vladivostoktimes.com For the first time owners of resources are involved in the issue of ecological tourism - the organizations and businessmen directly, who manage the recreation bases, beaches, boats, buses.

The Far-Eastern leopard, and tourists, and the whole Primorsky Territory benefit from development of ecological tourism -the press-service of the Far-Eastern branch of WWF of Russia thinks. The Khasanskiy municipal district Administration has a special interest in creation and maintenance of a positive image of the Khasanskiy district, development of tourist branch, civilized rest. Thereupon the Administration completely supports the work of non-commercial partnership "KhasanEcoTour," and not only supports, but helps in all kinds of undertakings.

However, the organization of tourism in the Khasanskiy district of Primorye with its warm sea, admirable landscape and unique habitats of the rarest cat of the planet, demands a special approach. Five years ago for preservation of nature sanctuaries, rational usage of tourist-recreational potential, assistance in employment of local population on the initiative of WWF of Russia and Administration of the Khasanskiy Territory the non-commercial partnership, which united 16 tourist companies and 2 reserves - "Kedrovaya Pad" and the Far-Eastern Marine reserve, was created.

Meanwhile, in the recent years not only the flow of tourists grew - their number amounts to dozens of thousands a season, but also significant changes concerned the owners of resources. So, for example, in many popular places - in Andreevka, Vityaz, Posyet, Slavyanka new recreation bases, which directly belong to local residents, were created. They often try to attract tourist independently, offering accommodation, food, some services on recreation, but this activity in no way meets the necessity of preservation of the natural complex and regulation of a tourists flow. Rubbish at the coast of beautiful bays in the territory of the nature sanctuaries, of the Kravtsovka waterfalls, are left after guests of the district.

Recently, a meeting on development of ecological tourism in the Khasanskiy district was held in Slavyanka on the initiative of the Administration of the Khasanskiy municipal district. "For the first time the owners of resources are involved in the issue of ecological tourism - the organizations and businessmen directly, who manage the recreation bases, beaches, boats, buses, the Chief Executive of "KhasanEcoTour" Natalia ZININA. Besides, the beach territories are now assigned to tenants on a competitive basis; their responsibility also includes the equipment of parking lots for tents and motor transport, camp fires, water supply, and - the organization of leisure. That's why it's important to us to share the experience and inform tourist companies and tenants, what opportunities we have and what we plan to do."

 Big attention at the meeting was paid to the problems of arrangement of tourist infrastructure along reconstructed line Razdolnoe - Khasan. In 2007 the public informational center will start working at the checkpoint "Rubezh," where everyone entering the territory of the Khasanskiy district will be given a booklet "Ecological tourism at the Land of leopard," a list of excursions of the Khasanskiy district, instruction about rules of staying at the Land of leopard, information about free accommodations at the recreation departments and places at beach territories will be offered. 

"This year we recommend tenants of beach territories to announce their specialization in advance, to let everyone entering the district know, where they would better stay, not to make those who prefer to have rest in calm family variant, meet lovers of night discos and youth parties," Natalia ZININA explains. Those who like to have rest with their pets also won't be deprived of attention - special beach territories will be allocated for them. Besides, it is planned to place "a one-day stop" - a territory for the residents of the district at all beaches, where they will be able to sunbathe and swim during a day.

For broadening of spectrum of tourist services the public excursion office was created with the non-commercial partnership "KhasanEcoTour": the representatives of local intelligentsia joined it: teachers, museum staff, and regional specialists. They have already worked out and are ready to offer tourists 25 excursions, the list of which was presented to the managers of recreation bases and tenants of beach territories at the meeting in the district Administration. They acquaint with sights of the Khasanskiy district, its history, and unique natural riches. For example, one of the excursions is dedicated to architectural-hydrographic buildings - lighthouses, there are four of them in the district. The other - "Secrets of sea architecture" - will tell about geological processes of formation of the Marine reserve coastline. Tourists will be able to visit Ryazanovka salmon fish-breeding plant, to have a walking tour to Borisovskoye Plateau, where the Far-Eastern leopard lives, visit a visit-centre of WWF "Land of leopard."

By the way, as it was said at the meeting, the non-commercial visit-centre of WWF "Land of leopard" can be a model for work of businessmen in the sphere of ecological tourism. It is situated near the road, at the outskirts of a village Barabash, has an office, a small show-room, guest rooms, lunch zone. Near on a slope of a hill a 2, 5-km ecological path is laid. Specialists of the visit-centre hold a year-round ecological-educational activity, dedicated to the rarest cat of the planet - the Far-Eastern leopard. Simultaneously serious research is held here, which is directed on study and preservation of the environment of the leopard's habitat. The visit-centre of WWF "Land of leopard" received almost 2000 tourists in 2006. The recreation base "Zolotoy telenok" works along the same way; it is situated not far from the Kravtsovka waterfalls near Gusevka: the businessman Aleksey SKAVRONSKIY built 5 houses, a sauna, got horses and organized a horse route along the preserve "Borisovskoye Plateau."

Another interesting project, presented at the meeting, is called "Russian village: Phillipovka pancakes" - it's called to turn shabby trading rows near the village Phillipovka into the real object of tourist infrastructure. On the application of "KhasanEcoTour" the institute Dalrybproject worked out the sketch plan of "a Russian village," which includes a hotel for 50 beds, a café, a chapel, a sauna, lavatories, trading rows with souvenir stalls and traditional Phillipovska pancakes, the museum complex "a Russian izba" and paths - "tales of the ancient Slavs" in style of a Russian tower-house architecture. In non-commercial partnership "KhasanEcoTour" they are sure that such a complex along the reconstructed federal line Razdolnoye - Khasan, necessary and profitable for tourists and inhabitants of Phillipovka, will appear in the nearest 2-3 years. Besides "the Russian village," the plans for construction of a museum-historical complex "fishing village in the bay Chirok near Slavyanka" were voiced at the meeting.