ALMATY – A team of young naturalists from Almaty took first place in the Rodniki (“Springs”) international competition of projects on ecology and local history held in St. Petersburg in December 2013.
Young naturalists from Kazakhstan, Russia’s Yakutia, Chuvashia, the Sverdlovsk region and St. Petersburg took part in the competition. Their projects were evaluated on relevance, practicability and their informative and educational value.
The team of young naturalists from the Almaty Education Department presented a project on the Semirechye region authored by the department’s Ecological Studies Club leader Yelena Udartseva. The project depicted how to put up a tent, navigate the region’s terrain, make a fire and cook soup. It also described the springtime needs of animals and the budding process of trees and flowers and made a plea for nature in the area to be cherished.
“We have been to many parts of Kazakhstan: Charyn Canyon, the Kulsay lakes, the Singing Dunes. [We] travelled to the Trans-Ili Alatau. Hiking is my main method of training and education; exploring nature, people learn more about themselves,” Udartseva said.
Kazakhstan’s young naturalists were offered a varied cultural programme in St. Petersburg and visited the Hermitage, the Kunstkamera, the Zoological Museum and the Oceanarium, among other sightseeing activities.
