Как добраться. Транспорт
Пропуск на посещение территории заповедника и его охранной зоны
оформляется в здании визит-центра, расположенного по адресу: п.
Волочаевский, Орловского района, Ростовской области, ул. Подстанционная,
5. До Волочаевского можно доехать автобусом Ростов-на-Дону —
Подгорное, в пути от Ростова - 7 ч. О попадании на остров на лодке нужно договариваться с администрацией заповедника.
Описание (английский)
Vodny (Water) Island is a part of the Rostov Nature Reserve that is
made up of four separate territories running west to east in the
Orlovsky and Remontny districts of Rostov Province in southwestern
Russia. The sections of the reserve (Ostrovnoy, Starikovsky, Krasny
Partizansky, and Tsagan-khag), separated by 5-25 kilometers, are islands
in the Manych-Gudilo Reservoir or adjacent lands. Water Island is 12
kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide, and it is non-residential.
Infrastructure is not rich there: a small brick house and a system of
iron drinkers, constructed by the workers of the Rostov Nature Reserve.
Green
hills of the Rostov Nature Reserve are home to about 50 mammals, many
of which are small herbivores and the animals that prey on them. Jerboa
(Allactaga jaculus), grey hamster (Cricetulus migratorius), pygmy
ground squirrel (Spermophilus pygmaeus), and European hare (Lepus
europaeus) seek shelter in the wide-open steppe in underground dens to
escape predation by Corsac fox (Vulpes corsac), wolf (Canis lupus), and
raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides). Rostov Nature Reserve is
situated along one of the three major migratory routes for birds in
Russia. The inaccessible islands of the reserve provide perfect nesting
and stopover grounds for ducks and other waterfowl.
Vodny Island is surrounded by the saline waters of the Manych-Gudilo
Reservoir. It is the largest Island in the Manych-Gudilo Reservoir. It
formed in 1953, when construction of the Nevinnomysky Canal transformed
the depth of the Manych River.
After the construction of the Nevinnomysky Canal local landscape
started to change rapidly. The water came all of a sudden and cut
several hundred sheep and a dozen horses from the herd. At first, the
shepherds were trying to transport sheep caught in a trap on the boats,
but then left this idea, determined to pick up the rest of animals when
water freezes. But unlike sheep, horses did not go back to local people.
In
1950 the farmers realized the real value of the island. 5,000 sheep and
a few dozen horses could live there from spring to autumn, the wolves
could not come to the shore, and food for the horses was free. A special
ferry that ran twice a day was built specially for horses’
transportation. However, soon one problem appeared: because of the
disruption of the hydrological regime, the water started to gain salt
quickly. According to local residents, to the mid-1950s, it was
impossible to drink this kind of water. That is why State Farm decided
to drill a self-flowing artesian there that gave water to sheep and
horses. Last sheep and, therefore, people left the island in the late
1980s. Since that time only some horses have lived there. Young people
moved to the cities, the old have passed away or left too. Now vacant
houses are populated by refugees from the North Caucasus.
Today the nature reserve maintains herd numbers at about 100-150 animals
by capturing some of the young horses. The rest of the creatures remain
wild and are afforded protection by the strict rules of the Rostov
Nature Reserve.
The Rostov Nature Reserve protects some of the last virgin steppes on
Earth, remnants of open grassland that have never been plowed. A herd
of wild horses inhabits the largest island in the protected area,
filling the hooves of now diminished or extinct large herbivores that
used to maintain steppe ecosystems. The horses are hearty and never
leave the island, even when frozen ice forms a bridge to the mainland.
The wild horses have taken on the role of saiga antelope (Saiga
tatarica) and tarpan – the ancestral wild horse, large herbivores that
historically maintained steppe habitats. Saiga numbers diminished
rapidly in the last part of the 20th century, while the tarpan is now
extinct in the wild.