about our project
welcome to eastories | explore Siberia
In 2015, eastories was launched with the purpose to develop environmentally friendly tourism in the region of Lake Baikal. Our goal is to support economically the local community by giving the possibility to host tourists from all over the world and make the experience authentic. The profits that we earn, we invest in reconstruction of old Buryt houses and development of self-sustainable cabins in Buryat architectural style on the shore of Lake Baikal.
Behind eastories
My name is Ilja, I have Buryat-Russian roots but I’ve spent the major part of my life in Poland and Germany, and nowadays I live in Bologna, Italy. Since an early age I have been passionate about Russian culture, literature, history and nature. Every time I could, I was travelling there to my family, that lives far away from me, in a small wooden village on the shore of the Lake Baikal.
The nature and people there seemed to me to be closer to the reality than in Europe. No running water, no manufacturing, no roads but free animals everywhere. Though everything seemed to be simple and peaceful here, there was something that made me feel bad about. The poverty, neglect, ecological ignorance, alcoholism, cultural and mental isolation of locals.
Here eastories was born with an idea of responsibility for a better tomorrow of Lake Baikal and its inhabitants. Since 2015 we have actively worked on reconstruction of old houses, we have extended the network of host-families and guides, we have brought new technologies to support agriculture and we are working on development of self-sustainable cabins on the shore of Lake Baikal.
We’ve hosted over a hundred tourist and volunteers from all over the world in the last few years and we hope to attract more enthusiast to support our project.
Our core values
We have established our core value on bringing authentic travel experiences. Thanks to the local connections, consistent assistance on traveling organisation and ensured cultural exchanges, we can guarantee the maximum of adventure.
What eastories offers?
Exploring Siberia and Lake Baikal with eastories means to choose an alternative travel solution and a different way of organising a trip.
Travelling to Russia is not easy due to the language and bureaucratic barriers which makes the organisation full of steps and extra expenses.
eastories offers customised guided trips and series of services. Among everything we offer, you can find total assistance on flights booking, train tickets, car rental, recommendations for accommodation in Moscow and Saint Petersburg and transportations from Irkutsk to the Lake Baikal and many other destinations.