It happened! Part 3. Izhevsk.
A trip to Izhevsk to see Altay
Over the past two years, I’ve started traveling very often for one or two days. I choose the train so that the night there and back is spent on the train, and I have one day in the city. And in that mode, the first city for me was Novosibirsk, and then things took off. And now I travel like that not only to see manuls, but also to theaters — active weekends) All right, that’s a digression. Now to the point!
Altay is the younger brother of Miya and Klyon. The son of Karaganda and Markiza. A famous recluse and the owner of a gorgeous house with a BALCONY!
https://manulization.ru/manuls/altay.html
Izhevsk is not located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, so the logistics are not the easiest. And the direct train does not run every day.
November 4, 2025!
I go in and immediately ask the guard where the manul is. And he tells me — over there, but he never comes out. Good heavens! An encouraging start. I walk up and there’s no one there. How can that be :( And then a woman starts admiring him! I ask her — where is he? She says — there, up above, on the balcony! Well of course, he’s not just on the balcony, he’s also hidden behind a little fence there. What a sly one. Completely shut off from people. But there’s nothing to hold against him — he’s not in a house!)))
With my eyesight, of course, it’s very hard for me to examine him in detail without a camera lens. He kept looking through the diamond-shaped gap in the fence. Sometimes he would lift himself up, and you could see the top of his head.
So Altay sat on the balcony for several hours. The zoo closed early, and by then he was probably being fed without visitors around. From the balcony, Altay surveys lots of goats and sheep — dreaming that they’ll all end up on his dining table)
On the way back, first by commuter train, then by train. At night on the train I had to change seats three times, because there was no lower berth for the full route. But would such difficulties stop a manul fan?)
There was absolutely no time for a quick look around. Only enough for dinner. A reason to come back!
Comments 13
The enclosure is awesome! I’ve been envying Terem for a very long time already; I want one like that myself 😹
And the manul figure by the enclosure is there so there’s someone to take photos with if Master Altai, His Brightness Karagandovich, doesn’t deign to come out onto the balcony.
— ... but he never comes out. Good heavens! An encouraging start.
I hear the phrase at Timoshenka’s enclosure almost more often than anything else:
— He never comes out.
Just today I heard it no fewer than five times, while looking straight at Timoshenka. And there I am, standing and looking at Timosha, Timosha looking at me, and right nearby, two steps away, people are standing and condemning the cat for the fact that he never comes out.
Pavel Burov, People are people...
The zoo looks cozy. So neat.
Thank you, that was a very interesting story.
I didn't know there was a new subspecies of Pallas's cat🤔
Wow I had no idea Altay had such a fancy house!! 🤩 What a spoiled kitty!
mnamosyna (rachael), the luxurious brother of the Japanese progenitor Klen deserves a private tower 😀
Altai is such a handsome boy, round and neat🥰 It would be nice to open a little window for him, or a passage out of the house, so he wouldn’t have to climb onto the balcony through the roof after all—he’s getting on in years. And what a magnificent Christmas tree!
mnamosyna (rachael), a caption is inserted automatically, saying that this is a manul)
Lynx, 🤭😅😅
Thanks for the story! 🤗
While waiting for Altai on the balcony, you can count all the goats 😅
Thank you for the wonderful story! It was a pleasure to read! The spirit of manulpilgrimage was conveyed really well! 😻
It seems they sometimes close his little house so he walks around more. When we were there a few years ago, the window on the balcony was always open, and he preferred to stay in his little house and came out only when the zoo closed 😂
How cool Altai is! He has such a light coat and such a surprised expression on his little face, just like his brother Innokenty.