The Altai Republic

The new air terminal at Gorno Altaisk, capital of the Altai Republic. Three months ago, regular jet flights started from Moscow, bringing affluent Russians and foreigners to a long isolated corner of the world's largest nation. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

A white ribbon, a good luck totem of the mountain people’s shamanistic faith, flutters from a larch tree overlooking a ridge of the Altai-Sayan mountains. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

Nadezhda Yegorova offers bowls of fresh mare’s milk to foreign visitors. Two years ago, after attending a class on eco-tourism offered by WWF, Yegorova decided to open to tourists her traditional family yurt in the village of Inya on the Chuiskii Track.

Mutton sausage, river fish, and sweetened cranberries are some of the delicacies that Altai hosts serve their guests. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

At Chui Oozi cultural center, also on the Chuiskii Track, rock etchings – thousands of years old – commemorate deer and elk hunts by prehistoric peoples of the Altai. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

At the Chui Oozi cultural center, a young woman shows off traditional native dress. In the background, Bolot Byiryshev, one of Altai’s most accomplished throat singers, rests after singing an epic ballad. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

A young Altai boy walks to school, where he will study in Russian and Altai, the region’s Turkic language. An Altai population boom means that within a generation, Altai people will probably displace Russians as the ethnic majority.

In a high mountain yurt, a woman elder from the Kun community burns juniper twigs in a shamanistic purification and blessing welcome ceremony for foreign visitors. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

華航在國際花車獎項連續九年稱霸

Muscovites ask visitors returning from the Altai: Did you see a Snow Leopard? No, but we bought little leopards fashioned out of felt, made from the pressed and matted wool of sheep raised in the Altai. (Vera Undritz for VOA)

A summer season of white prayer ribbons festoon a cedar tree on a mountainside. Following shamanistic beliefs of the White Faith, travelers tie white ribbons to tree branches for good luck. VOA Photo: Vera Undritz

On a cool autumn evening, a mountain lake carries the reflections of high mountain slopes where the first snows of winter have already fallen. These high altitudes are home to the snow leopard and its prey, the Argali sheep.