Kobylya Golova

Kobylya Golova is a narrow hilly peninsula about four kilometres long on Olkhon's western side, between the straits of Maloye More and the Olkhon Gates. It reaches far into the lake and ends at the cape of the same name: a high, sheer rock, already cut off by a narrow channel, that from afar resembles the head of a huge swimming creature, while the peninsula's wavy ridge plays its body. Its Buryat name is Khorin irgi; local tales gather around the rock, and the peninsula long served as a landmark for boats of Maloye More. In winter people walk here over the ice from the shore; in summer they arrive by boat or on the land trail over the pass. The place is quieter and humbler than the neighbouring Shamanka — and that is its value: from the tip both straits are visible, and the water by the rocks is clear to the bottom. Close to the rock the water is deep and stony: do not swim right under the cape.