Members of the public Association «Pavlodar House of geography» this summer started the project «Bizdin taza uymiz - Our clean house». It is implemented as part of the mini-grant competition of the National project «Birgemiz: Taza Alem», thanks to a grant from the Republican public Association «Zhas Ulan» from the city of Nur-Sultan. Their campaign is aimed at clearing rivers and forests of human waste.
Recently, volunteers collected seven bags of garbage on their way from the village of Ayttym to Pavlodar. Then they held a clean-up in the forest near the Usolka, when about 50 bags of waste were collected. Now they set out on their way along the river from the regional center.
Three members of Pavgeo-geography teacher Pavel Leonov, journalist Akmaral Yessimkhanova, and cartographer Anastasia Sasko- cleaned up garbage left by evil people who throw plastic, metal, broken glass, and paper on the shore and into the water. They traveled in an inflatable boat for two days, cooked their food on a fire, and spent the night in tents.
«We rowed without using a motor. Along the way, we talked with fishermen and cleaned up garbage, setting a good example. Participants of rafting passed a little more than 40 kilometers along the river for a day and a half, on Sunday at lunch they finished in the village of Michurino», said Pavel, who was in charge of such an expedition.
«During the rafting, we were convinced, of course, what a great and beautiful Irtysh is. It also became clear that there are more people who litter and fewer who clean up after themselves. Thank you to Nastya and Pasha for the company. Pasha-special thanks for the delicious food on the river water», Akmaral added.
«Rafting on a river gives you the opportunity to observe what is happening around you, see how the trees are preparing for autumn and change the color, listen to the cries of gulls and just admire the beautiful scenery around. Very often on the way we met motor boats, rivermen friendly welcomed us and wished us good luck. Although there were not many of us, we were not bored at all: we played in cities, talked about countries and travel, discussed movies and even sang a little song, - Nastya added to the children's story. - During our stops, we found the garbage left by the persons. What could be safely destroyed on the spot, we eliminated at the stake for two days. The rest of the garbage was collected in bags and dumped in the city in the designated area».
How can I repeat this path? You can launch an inflatable boat on the Irtysh River from any place. Our "Trinity" made it near the house of investors, which is located on Lugovaya street, 16. You row downstream past the village (Pavlodar microdistrict) of Zhana aul and the village of Pavlodarskoe to the village of Michurino. Here you can pick up any car that can fit a deflated boat in the trunk. Just don't leave any garbage behind when traveling along this beautiful river: let the Irtysh stay clean!
Anton Sergeev
Photo By Pavel Leonov