In Yakutia, on the banks of the Lena River, you can find the Lena Pillars Nature Park. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for its uniqueness, and it is a familiar name to all nature lovers and travelers. However, the park includes two types of "pillars": not only the Lena Pillars, but also the Sinskiye Stolby. The AirPano team did a shooting here, and this photo walk will allow you to appreciate their scale and magnificence.

The Lena Pillars flank the river for 40 km (25 mi). Being up to 200 m (656 ft) high, they resemble a stone forest or a Gothic castle with sharp spires. With erosion, weathering, crustal movement, and drastic changes in temperature, nature has creatively shaped the Cambrian limestones to form this impregnable wall over millions of years!

Paleontologists have found bones of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses and other prehistoric animals in the area, and archaeologists continue to study the site of ancient people, their tools, jewelry and rock paintings. No wonder the Lena Pillars are shrouded in legends. The locals consider them frozen deities: they are still, waiting for their time, so that one day they can return to people and teach them how to live in harmony with nature. Another story is about a dragon that was fought by a young warrior to save a beautiful girl. The dragon was almost defeated, but at the last moment hit the ground with its tail and turned everything around into stone. Finally, the Yakuts have a story about a Bigfoot living here - they call him "Ulmesh". He can attack hunters, or he can help them.

The Sinyaya Pillars were named after the Sinyaya River, a tributary of the Lena River. They are as beautiful as the Lena Pillars, and their reflections in the morning silence are especially spectacular. Arches, stone bridges and red sandstone towers are bizarre formations that make it hard to believe that it was nature, and not some eccentric architect, that created them.

During the day, depending on the light, the Sinyaya Pillars look different, and during the fog season, they turn into a fairy-tale fortress. They are most often shrouded by fogs in the fall, but AirPano cameramen got lucky, and you can see July fog-covered pillars.

As is the case with many nature parks, getting to the Lena Pillars and Sinyaya Pillars is not easy. You can't do without a boat, and as for the Sinyaya River, due to its shallow depth, you can only travel there in kayaks or water jets. Our virtual tour makes it easier and will probably encourage you to see this beauty for yourself!

Photo by Stas Sedov

16 September 2022