Nilova Pustyn - a real review of the resort. Nilova Pustyn - thermal waters of Lake Baikal Hot springs of the Nile Desert

By right, the location of the boarding house can be called exceptional. First of all, this is due to the fact that Energetik was built in a truly delightful place - on the banks of the mountain river Yekhe-Ukhgun in a deep picturesque gorge of the Tunkinsky National Park - one of the largest national parks in Russia.

In the boarding house you will be provided with excellent three meals a day, they will offer a cultural and entertainment program.

Accommodation
The boarding house "Energetik" offers all vacationers accommodation in comfortable 1-, 2-x, 3-bed rooms with TV, intercom telephone.

At the service of vacationers
The boarding house will also offer you a cultural and entertainment program. You can spend the evening in a bar, on a dance floor, play badminton, billiards or take an excursion to the waterfalls in the village of Arshan, to the hydrogen sulfide museum in the village of Zhemchug, to the museum of Buryat architecture in the village of Khaitagol, to holy places, etc.

4 km from the village, under the Kholma-Ula mountain, there is a Buddhist datsan - a sacred place for Buddhists. According to legend, the spirit of Khan Shar Gai Noyon, the head of the spirits of the Sayan Mountains, descended on this mountain. Local belief claims that the sand of the sacred mountain enhances male power and brings good luck in business. Currently, there is a complex of buildings on the mountain that make up a Buddhist datsan and a Christian chapel.

Treatment:

• Diseases of the musculoskeletal system and connective tissue
• Diseases nervous system
• Respiratory diseases
• Diseases of the digestive system
• Diseases of the circulatory system

In addition to taking radon baths, the boarding house offers all vacationers for an additional fee to take a course of massage and hydromassage, use physiotherapy, acupuncture, phytotherapy, work out in the sports and gym.

In addition to the actual thermal springs of the Nilova Desert, vacationers are attracted by thermal springs and healing mud of the Shumak valley, which is located in close proximity to the boarding house. There are more than 100 healing springs in the valley, the water of which has the glory of curing certain ailments indicated right at the source.

Natural healing factor and sources:

A few words should be said about the thermal waters of the Nile Desert. After all, it was the presence of healing springs in the village that made this place attractive for the construction of the Energetik boarding house. The springs were discovered by local hunters, their development began in the middle of the nineteenth century. Weakly mineralized thermal waters The Nile Desert contains silicic acid and radon, the water temperature is 42 degrees C. Indications for the treatment of thermal waters are a number of diseases. Among them are diseases of the musculoskeletal, peripheral and nervous systems, skin and chronic inflammatory diseases. In the boarding house "Energetik" treatment with radon waters is carried out through the procedure of taking therapeutic baths.

Radon baths (mineral water containing the inert gas radon) - affect the state of the circulatory system: improve metabolic processes in the myocardium, the functional state of the heart, accelerate recovery processes in bone, muscle tissue, nerve fibers, anti-inflammatory effect, normalize the exchange of carbon, protein , fat metabolism. In terms of radioactivity, Nilova Pustyn is closer to such resorts as Belokurikha and Tskhaltubo.

But, of course, treatment must be necessarily complex. You can not expect any effect from 5-7 baths. It is necessary to alternate taking baths with physiotherapy. You should also not get carried away and ask for everything at once - each procedure carries a serious burden on the body.

In the Buryat Eastern Sayans, 265 kilometers from Irkutsk, at an altitude of 915 meters above sea level, in the gorge of the Uhe-Ugun River, there is one of the most environmentally friendly places in Russia - the Nilova Pustyn balneological resort. Its radon sources cure diseases of the joints, skin, nervous system. official history The resort dates back to the middle of the 19th century and is associated with the Decembrists. In other matters, like most of the sights of the Baikal region.
On a September morning at 8.45 at the Irkutsk bus station, I got on a regular bus Irkutsk - Nilova Pustyn. While we were driving through the territory of the Irkutsk region, an indescribably beautiful Siberian taiga floated outside the window ...

Gradually the landscape changed. Instead of the golden wall of the taiga autumn forest, a valley and mountain ranges spread on both sides of the road. We drove into the legendary Tunkinskaya Valley, one of the sacred places of Buryatia. Millions of years ago, a giant lake splashed here, and its shores were numerous volcanoes. Their powerful eruption led to the fact that the water broke through the bridge and flowed into Baikal. And the volcanoes fell asleep. The result of their "sleepy" tectonic activity are numerous mineral springs. By left side from the road lay dark, gloomy Hamar-Daban. Buryat legends personify him with a cruel old man who tore out the heart of his beloved when she changed her mind about marrying him. On the right side, the white tops of the Tunkinsky loaches rose to the sky. This name was given to the bare, snow-covered peaks of the Sayan Mountains. Basalt lava lies on their tops, which makes it impossible for any plants to appear there. On these white peaks, the Buryats settled their gods in ancient times. And until now, simultaneously with Buddhism in Tunka, as the inhabitants of the valley lovingly call, the shamanic cult of the Sayan mountain range is widespread. Its common name is Mundarga. But each peak has its own god-"owner".

At 14.30 the bus was already in the Nile desert. I did not book anything in advance, deciding that it would be easy to find a place for one night. Of course, I wanted to spend the night in one of the most comfortable boarding houses, which are considered Energetik, Filatovsky and Shumak. But alas. You can stay in them for at least 5 days. Not so “fancy” boarding houses by local standards, such as Cheremkhovsky, Gornyak, Metallurg and some others accept guests for one night.

My choice fell on the pleasant wooden guest house "At the Karaskovs", standing right on the bank of the river. The window of the room also overlooked the river and its noise was heard. But I wasn't going to stay in the room. I wanted to quickly go to enjoy the surrounding effective natural beauty.
I walked along the bank of the river, carrying its waters between the basalt walls of the gorge, and recalled the Buryat legend about the Nilovsky radon source and the history of the development of the resort.

A long time ago, a brave hunter tracked down a strong and beautiful deer and wounded him with an arrow. But the wounded deer began to run away from the hunter. For many days the hunter pursued his prey, and could not catch up. And suddenly the hunter saw how a wounded deer, all exhausted, descends to a stream flowing from a granite rock, and forming a small lake. And the deer sank into the lake and after a while jumped out of it, as if he had no wound. The hunter did not shoot at the deer, but plunged into the water himself. And I felt such strength, as if I had become a mighty hero. He thanked all the gods and spirits of this place, and returning to the village, he told his relatives about the magic water. And people began to go to the source for healing ...
Indeed, the Buryats have long taken a kind of radon "baths" here: they dug a hole next to the source, and when it was filled with water, they sat down in it and sat, who could stand it for how long. But these are men. But women were forbidden to approach the springs, as according to legend they could desecrate it. For a sick Buryat woman, a husband, father or brother set up a yurt a few hundred meters from the water, dug a “bath” hole in it and carried healing water there with leather bags.

As they say, the earth is full of hearing. And now the rumors about the healing water reached the Governor-General of Eastern Siberia V.Ya. Rupert. In the late 30s of the 19th century, he instructed the Turan border detachment to study the area near the sources for security. In 1840, a commission consisting of the inspector of the Irkutsk medical council Sorochinsky and the pharmacist Kulau conducted a study of the composition of water to determine its medicinal properties. Radon springs, containing a large amount of silicic acid and fluorine, were considered unsuitable for drinking, but very useful as baths. As a result, it was decided to start building a bath room and a guest house. The governor was personally interested in the resort, since his wife "suffered from the reduction of her hands." And the Irkutsk nouveaux riches began building their own houses on the still "no man's" territory and renting them out to vacationers.

Soon this place became interested in the Archbishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsk Nil Isakovich Stolbensky, in the world Nikolai Fedorovich (1799-1874).

A comprehensively educated person, having extensive knowledge both in Christian and Buddhist theology, and in geology, chemistry, Archbishop Nil took the healing place under his patronage. By decision of the Irkutsk governor in 1845, it was ordered to give the nascent resort to the Orthodox Church "as a revenue item for the spiritual department." The archbishop began active work on the construction of the resort. Local wealthy merchants and the nobility made large charitable contributions to its development. As a result, a bathhouse, a small hotel, rooms for church services and a church were built. At the same time, a skete for monks was being built here. In 1852, Tsar Nicholas I approved the "Regulations on the provincial male desert in the name of the Venerable Nil Stolbensky", and the resort was named Nilova Pustyn. And although Nil himself was transferred in 1853 to the position of Archbishop of Yaroslavl and Rostov, his offspring continued to function and develop.
The spa was run by a monk sent by the archbishop. There was no permanent doctor here. The patients came on the advice of their doctors and used the baths at their own discretion. Hot water of about 40 degrees flowed in a small stream from a crack in the granite; she was escorted along an open chute to the bathroom building - a simple hut with three rough wooden boxes-baths. There was no cold water supply, and spa guests had to wait until the water cooled down. The resort could accommodate 20 people at the same time, according to the number of rooms in the guest house. But despite such Spartan conditions of treatment, the resort was very popular, it was considered a special chic to visit here. And no wonder. Glory to him in the circles of the Irkutsk nobility was created by the governor-general himself and the Decembrists who were released after hard labor and settlement, who were allowed to live in Irkutsk. It is documented that there were princes S. Volkonsky and S. Trubetskoy, the Bestuzhev brothers. In the Nerchinsk prison for many years they were in shackles day and night, they worked in the mines in the mines. The subsequent reference to a settlement in the Petrovsky plant, in a swampy area, also did not add to their health. And the water of the Nile Desert was able to heal the joints crippled by the shackles, restore mental health.
Over the following years, the Nilova Pustyn continued to be a favorite place for the recovery of the local secular, spiritual, and merchant elite. After 1917, it was recognized as a resort of local importance. During the Great Patriotic War a hospital was set up here. In subsequent years, the resort developed and expanded. Some decline occurred at the end of the last century, but now modernization is underway. Most recently, a new building was built for the bathroom building, which also housed numerous rooms for physiotherapy, massage and other procedures. Here, vacationers are provided with the restoration of physical health.

For mental health, most of them go to the Nilovsky datsan, located 4 km from the resort, upstream of the Uhe-Ugun, at the foot of the sacred Buryat mountain Burkhan Baabay.

Burkhan Baabay is the Father, the Highest deity who has chosen the mountain as his residence. The inhabitants of the Tunkinskaya valley also call it Shargay noyon. According to legend, the god Khan Shargay Noyon, the head of all the gods sitting on the tops of the Sayans, descended from heaven here to protect the Tunka from the nomads. The armed god was accompanied by four war horses. With their hooves they dug up the slopes of the mountain so that white sand appeared there. This sand was considered and is considered curative. From ancient times, amulets for warriors were made from it, it was used as a means of giving male strength and longevity. Now climbing the mountain is prohibited and no one collects sand. But still, the mountain remains a place of reverence and admiration. Its healing and protective power is believed today in the same way as many centuries ago. At the foot of this mountain is the Nilovsky datsan. The history of the datsan began in 1868, when the first prayer building was built. However, it is in our days that the datsan has become one of the most revered religious places in Buryatia. In the summer of 2003, the Buddhist stupa Namzhal, the Longevity Stupa, was erected here. All the republic collected money for its construction. The stupa was consecrated by the highest lamaist leadership. Now services are periodically held in the datsan and a lama is received daily. Some of them are professional specialists in Tibetan medicine. The payment for the reception at the lamas is not fixed. Whoever can, pays as much.
In Buryatia, especially in the Baikal region, Lamaism and shamanism are very closely intertwined. Therefore, one should not be surprised that a Buddhist datsan was built next to an ancient cult shaman's place. As the lama told me in the datsan, it doesn't matter what religion you are. It is important that you pray from the heart and turn the prayer wheels only clockwise.
The road to the datsan is a true immersion in the mighty and majestic beauty of the Siberian taiga. On the left, the Ukhe-Ugun river lives up to its name with its flow, which means “big water” in Buryat. It either flows rapidly through the gorge, foaming on small rapids, or it spreads quite widely and shines like a mirror.

Well, the circle has been completed. In front of me is the Namzhal Stupa, and behind it is the sacred mountain. “The purpose of building a stupa is long-term health for the elders and the absence of a barrier to the life of the young,” reads the text next to it. In general, there are many tablets with statements of famous Buddhist figures on the territory. As for the stupa of Longevity, with its energy it is designed to improve the health of visitors.

Charged with this energy and thanked God - the lord of this place, I go back to the Nilova desert. Walking along the river, I think about how great it is to sunbathe here in the summer on its rocky shores and that I may come back here someday, but for at least a week ... I fall asleep late at night to the sound of the river, and I wake up in the morning from the cries of taiga birds.
Again at 8.45 bus. Now to Irkutsk. I am leaving this amazing place, which was so penetratingly described in the middle of the 19th century by the Irkutsk writer and local historian N.S. Shchukin, and which has practically not changed over the years: “A fast, high-water river noisily makes its way between huge stones, so that if you stand on the shore, you can’t hear the words of the speaker. On the opposite shore, a dilapidated cliff with blocks of huge stones hung... .

One can see the formidable peaks of the Mandryk granite ridge, covered up to half the height with snow .... The river, as it were, breaks out of a dense forest and boils with white foam.

In my soul there is harmony, unity with the Universe, nature, myself and gratitude to the people who were able to save this unique place almost in its original state.