Terney Voyage Tips and guide

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Terney (Russian: Терне́й, ter-ney) [1]^{[dead link]} is a Russian city and the administrative center of Terneysky District of Primorsky Krai, on the coast of the Sea of Japan in a small bay of the same name.

It is the second most populated settlement of Terneysky District after Plastun.

The bay on which Terney is located was discovered on June 23, 1787 by Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse on his way from Manila to Avacha Bay along the coast of what he called "the Tartary of the Manchus" (la Tartarie de Mantcheoux) and named, in French, Baie de Ternay. It was here that the French explorers became convinced that the coast visited by Maarten Gerritsz Vries in the Castricum in 1643 (i.e., in fact, the east coast of Hokkaido and Sakhalin) was not the mainland, since they French were now at the same latitude as the Dutch had been a century and a half before, but the location looked entirely different. La Perouse's sailors were impressed with good fishing in the area. They explored the area around the bay, but did not see any live residents. They did, however, find a native grave, and upon opening it saw that the dead wore clothes made of Chinese fabrics and decorated with Chinese coins, which indicated that the local tribes had some commerce with the Chinese or Manchu. The present Russian settlement was founded in September 1908.

Terney has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb/Dwb), almost cold enough to be a subarctic climate (Dfc), which is most unusual for a place so far south and is due to the influence of the cold Oyashio Current which not only makes summers up to 6˚C (11˚F) cooler than in Harbin but also causes a marked seasonal lag, so the September is on average warmer than June. Despite the fairly heavy rainfall due to orographic influences from mountains near the Pacific, Terney is much sunnier than nearby cities on Sakhalin.

There are three ways of getting in from Vladivostok.

The most convenient way is to have a flight from Vladivostok to Plastun village by Vladavia airlines. You can buy it on the website of this airline company. The flight takes place every week on Monday mornings; one-way ticket costs about 30$. The same price is for a transfer to Terney (about 60 km). But because of bad weather conditions the flight may be delayed for several days up to 1 week. This is the worst thing about this flight.

You can take long-distance bus from Vladivostok bus station to Terney (you can get there by public bus (~ 10$) or by taxy (~ 80$). It leaves twice a day (07 30; 15 30) regularly. One-way ticket costs 35 $, the route (700 km) lasts 14 hours. It is also a great thing to see the landscapes of Primorye. The bus is never delayed and but the trip is rather long. This variant is suitable for those travellers who are not afraid of long-hours crossings in old and not very comfortable buses. Also you should be aware that all information on bus station is only in Russian and all ticket managers and bus drivers speak only Russian.

It is possible to ask for a personal transfer on a comfortable car (max. number of places is 5) from the airport to Terney. It is also a quite sustainable choice. In this case you’ll see natural, urban and rural view while crossing the region. One-way trip will cost about $850 for the whole car (the price includes fee for the driver, payment for the driver's accommodation and the cost of gasoline). Journey will take 9 hours (about 700 km.)

The Upolnomochenny Bay is a paradise bay with a shingly beach, beautiful cliffs and rocks, underwater table-land with rich biological world. Here you can walk along seaboard hills, from each of them opens a fantastic view on the sea, the embayed coast and precipitous cliffs. During a walk along the beach to Cape Mosolov weird forms, new colors, geological paintings on stones, coastal caves and small waterfalls occur behind almost every rock shelve.

A lot of birds breed and rest on stones in the sea, in the main cormorants, gulls, terns, grebes, loons etc. If you're lucky you can see sealeries (Phoca vitulina largha), seals allow people to come very near. Also it is great to climb the mountain Abrek (625 m) which is not far from the Bay. By catching fish, gathering winkles, sea scallops and laminaria (sea cabbage) a tasty dinner is arranged. The sea in August and in the beginning of September is warm (about 22°C) you can swim with a mask and admire the original underwater world and after take the sun on the beach. A sea voyage on a motor boat from the Bay along the Abrek coast is a great finish of the trip. Rocks of different height and form, stacks, scatterings of stones, the summit of the Mountain Abrek, rocky beaches and slopes covered with oak forests, lone pines and larches on cliffs, seals, shorebirds, ghorals (Nemorhaedus goral) – all this slips by your eyes and remains memorable long and maybe even forever.

The route takes course in the gorge where Rhododendron fauriei a relict of the preglacial vegetation is growing. This vegetation prevailed in the Sihote-Alin Mountains in the Neogene Period. In the continental Far East it has preserved only in one gorge, where it forms underwood in the pine-spruce forest.

This plant has a life form of a big shrub or a small tree with the height of 6 meters; his leather-like leaves have the length of 20 sm and his flowers are about 4 sm in diameter. Rododendron blooms in the middle of July. Flourishing Rododendron, a tropical flower with big white flowers by sight on an abrupt slope in a coniferous forest appears to give an unusual impression. As every relict of another climatic conditions its contemplation leads to thoughts that how complicated and interesting the history of each vegetation formation is and how fragile and in the same time stable the vegetation word is.

Sikhote-Alin is a great place to make art photos of the natural world. Exotic plants and animals, sophisticated sea sceneries, infinite mountains, lonely trees – all these can be become a subject of your photos. We invite professional and non-professional photographers to have a photo session in this wild and beautiful place.

Hike in the UNESCO World Heritage area of Russian Far East, climb highest mountains of the Sikhote-Alin, explore the remote pathless wilderness forests, coastal ecosystems, rivers and lakes.

Our hiking routes are laid in all types of natural communities: virgin beaches and coastal meadows, oak and linden forests, pine-broadleaved forests, coniferous forests, draft pine and mountain tundra communities. Our programs include visiting the most interesting and magnetic places of the Middle Sikhote-Alin. Some trips include walking for many days through the virgin taiga forest, climbing mountains, crossing rivers. You can get the sense of a real forest man or woman and also learn or improve your skills of self-sufficiency in forest. The route content varies so as the level of its difficulty; depending of tourist wishes they alter from easy walks to multi-days sportive routs that require stamina and good physical form.

The flora of the Middle Sikhote-Alin is composed of 1076 species of vascular plants. Many herbs, bushes and trees have esthetical value. About a hundred of them have medicinal properties.

Among the most known officinal plants are Manchurian aralia, spiny eleuterococcus (Eleutherococcus senticosus), dragon arum (Arisaema), devil's-club (Opiopanax elatus), Pacific bergenia, meadowsweet (Filipendula palmata), Chinese Schizandra, Korean pine, Ajan spruce, Amur linden, actinidia kolomikta, tansy north, Daurian mint, Sakhalin raspberry and many others. Everyone who wishes to can gather, properly dry them up and then prepare herbal teas that strengthen the immune system or have other beneficial effect on the whole organism or on some organs.

The coastal zone of the Sea of Japan is very beautiful. Rocks, stacks, cliffs, underwater banquet-tables, precipices, waterfalls and summits of the close mountains, estuaries of the rivers, seals, concentrations of sea birds and flying predatory birds – all these pass in front of your eyes when you travel on a motor boat on the sea.

It is a great luck to meet an orca jumping from the water or a ghoral on the closest cliffs. A voyage is carried out in a fully equipped according to the safety arrangements boat, only when sea is calm and only with a certified instructor.

Birdwatching means observing birds with a naked eye or with binoculars and listening to their singing. Avifauna of the Middle Sikhote-Alin comprises more than 340 species. Each natural complex is characterized by a set of its representatives. In pine-broadleaf forests birds that depend on the Korean Pine - nutcracker, nuthatch and Siberian Jay play leading role. In oak forests live nuthatch, warblers (Phylloscopus occipitalis), Blue Nightingale, gray thrush, blue flycatcher, etc.

Paleo lagoon lakes, being the richest wetlands, are of giant importance for migrating birds. They provide nursery inhabitant for capelin, redeye, East Siberian char, flatfish, taimen and other fishes, and an abundance of invertebrates that in turn provides a substantial benefits for travelling birds. Flying to or from arctic and subarctic nestling grounds in North-Eastern Siberia, more than half a million geese, ducks (24 species), swans and shorebirds arrive at Blagodatnoe lake each fall and spring, pausing to feed up for several weeks. Forested riverbanks are favorable breeding grounds for such Far Eastern endemics as mandarin and scaly merganser.

The fauna of owls is very diverse - in the Sikhote-Alin mountains 8 species have been found. The rarest and requiring protection is the fish owl. On the coast you can see white-tailed eagle and Steller's sea eagle, osprey lives near rivers, in the forest it is possible to watch found crested eagle. The most interesting and unique species of birds that you may hear or see on the route are: black stork, Japanese snipe, golden eagle, blue hill pigeon, Siberian spruce grouse, blue stone robin, mountain grouse, black crane, Ussuri plover, black hawk, Far East curlew, scaly merganser, oystercatcher, whooper swan, mandarin duck, crested eagle, Steller's sea eagle (wintering), white-tailed eagle, crested honey buzzard, pied harrier, peregrine falcon, buzzard (Butastur indicus), osprey, white owl, brown hawk-owl, starling Japanese, eagle owl, fish owl, stilt, great white heron etc.

Animal watching means the observation of wildlife as well as exploring the traces of their activity, the study of biology, ecology and ethology of different animals. The Sikhote-Alin Mountains are a place where mix northern and southern species, distant species due to their geographical origin. The species composition of mammals in the Middle Sikhote-Alin is very diverse and represented by 72 species of animals, among them 11 species are marine mammals.

Coastal ecosystems possess a great diversity of wildlife. In spring on the coast you can often see red or sika deer, which come to the sea to drink salt water. In the twilight and at night time foxes and raccoon dogs examine sea wastes on the beach. Coastal meadows are a favorite habitat for a roe deer. In the coastal oak forests one can meet wild boars, especially during the harvest of acorns. Abrek cliffs are a home for Amur goral. This is a rare, endangered species, numbering not more than 600 - 750 individuals. In the marine waters seals live (Phoca vitulina largha); year-round seal rookery is located on the cape Schaslivy and on the Northern Cape. In the autumn months on rockeries accumulate up to 400 individuals. Predatory mammals compound in the Middle Sikhote-Alin 17 species. Family Mustelidae has the greatest diversity of species (otter, sable, yellow-throated marten, badger, columns, etc.). Large carnivores are represented by brown bear and Asiatic black bear, Siberian tiger, lynx and wild cat. Experienced and qualified instructors will tell you different facts of biology, ecology and ethology of animals, and also show traces of their activity. On the trails there are often animal tracks, excrements, wild boars diggings. Less frequently you can meet moose bites, tiger marking trees, ant-hills turned upside down by a bear and his scratches made on fir trees and also wild cherry trees twisted by Asiatic black bear. You can hear the "woof" of roe deer, red deer whistle, in the fall - the roar of red deer in the state of estrus and if you're lucky - the roar of Amur tiger. If you walk quietly, you can find hoofed animals - red deer, roe deer and other small mammals - badger, raccoon, fox, sable, Siberian squirrel etc. It is great in winter to follow tracks of mammals, to study their diurnal variation and behavior.

We can offer a health improvement program for people who want to improve their health and well-being while being in nature. The program includes morning yoga, daily hiking trips, voyages and auto visiting the most beautiful sights of the Sikhote-Alin, swimming in the sea and lakes and evening relaxing or medical massage made by a professional. This healing program is accompanied by natural and very tasty food (fresh caught fish, seafood, natural vegetables, home eggs and milk food, herbal teas, honey, pine nuts etc.).

We propose for everyone living in a private house in Terney village with good and comfortable conditions (fireplace, shower, all necessary household appliances and a computer with access to Internet). You will breathe fresh air, drink pure and tasty water, eat natural food and while being in trips fill with the beauty of the nature. In result your health and soul harmony will elevate.

Fishing. In the rivers of the Middle Sikhote-Alin are constantly inhabited by trout, flax, grayling, river bull-trout, here are spawning chum salmon, cherry salmon, bull-trout, Pacific lamprey and Asian candle fish. In the sea’s shallow water live catch flounder, bull-calf, redeye etc.

We propose help in organizing fishing activity for experienced fishermen and also we can teach this type of activity everyone who wants to. So you will be able catch a salmon fish yourself and then prepare salty fish and caviar and take them home as souvenirs. The best time to do fishing is from June to November.

In Primorye there are several rivers for rafting. Among them the Kema River, it has in its course obstacles up to 5 category of difficulty. In the middle of the river, where there are several difficult rapids competitions are organized so as kayaking and rafting.

We are ready to help tourists to get with their equipment to the river.