Many deservedly attracted to their banks the taiga Siberian beauty - the Mana River. The Krasnoyarsk Territory, through whose territory it flows, is rich in various reservoirs, but this tributary of the Yenisei gathers crowds of fans of wild beauty, lovers of extreme rafting and nature reserves.
Location and characteristics of the aquatic artery
The right tributary of the Yenisei is the Mana River, originating in the ridges of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the Mansky and Kuturchinsky White Mountains. It carries its waters from Lake Mansky along the northern slope of the East Sayan, mostly in the direction of the northwest, crossing the taiga and flowing into the Yenisei 30 km upstream of the capital of the region - the city of Krasnoyarsk. Its total length is 475 km, and the flow speed ranges from 7-8 km / h in the upper river to 4 km / h in its lower reaches. The Mana River receives over 300 tributaries of various sizes into its basin. The largest of them are Mina, Krol, Kolba, Zherzhul, Beret, Urman. In the mountainous part for almost a kilometer, the river flows underground. The upper reaches are quite winding and rapids, the lower reaches are suitable for shipping.
Natural conditions
The Mana River flows over a large area of karst rocks with good solubility. Its upper reaches are fed mainly by snow and rainwater; downstream, the underground saturation of pure cold (up to 10 degrees Celsius) water rich in minerals (hydrocarbonate) is of greater importance. Numerous similar springs with natural drinking enriched water are present in the entire basin.
The shores are rich in vegetation similar to the forests surrounding the city of Krasnoyarsk. The Mana River will please fans of coniferous air - on the coastal territory you can see pine, larch, cedar, spruce, and fir. Of deciduous trees, birch, aspen, willow, mountain ash and bird cherry are often found. The waters of the river are rich in taimen, sterlet, lenok, pike, grayling, burbot, perch, ruff, roach, dace, loaches, minnow, minnow and round goby.
Not far from the mouth (20–40 km), the border of the Pillars Nature Reserve runs along the right bank.
Conservation attraction
The Mana River is known for a very interesting natural formation to be protected, located on the northwestern spurs of the East Sayan on the right bank in its lower reaches.
This reserve is known all over the world thanks to four rocky ridges with impregnable walls - Mansky Pillars, belonging to the syenite rock-outcrops. Millions of years old, wind and rain have sharpened stone, creating picturesque sculptures resembling huge (up to 100 meters high) animals, fabulous grottoes and through arches. Many rocks in this state reserve have their own names - Golden Eagle, Feathers, Vultures, Grandfather and the like.
Tourism
Most outdoor enthusiasts come here for river rafting. From May to September, numerous rapids of different difficulty levels attract crowds of extreme tourists. The entire pool lies within the mountainous terrain, which makes the tributaries of the tributaries very porous and creates an abundance of waterfalls, narrow valleys are characterized by steep slopes, the water surface is full of islands, rich in sharp turns, the bottom is dotted with pitfalls, rifts and shoals, there are shivers. The upper reaches have two thresholds related to the 3-4 category of difficulty - Soboliniy (“Trumpet”) and Bolshoi Mansky, where the local water slalom championship is held every year. On sports vessels you can sail only from Yulievsky mine, the lower reaches are accessible for small water-jet transport.
For the supporters of a more relaxed pastime, the Mana River offers the appropriate rest - you can take a walk, swim, fish, spend the night by the fire, for which hundreds of citizens flock to the rocky isthmus “Perekop” for the weekend.
Man-made monument of history
Another attraction testifying to the heroic working past during the difficult war years is the winding section of the railway, called the “courage route”, laid in the difficult year of 1942, after which the work of some of its construction developers was equated with a feat on the front line.
The route has a complex trajectory - it crosses the river three times, spreading high reinforced concrete arches of railway bridges and entering the Mansky tunnel, which has the longest length on the Abakan-Tayshet branch.
Thus, the Mana River, which decorates the Krasnoyarsk Territory, is rightfully considered a tourist resort, attracting not only residents of the regional center, but also guests from other regions.