One of the few Russian analogs of the Dead Sea - Tuvan lake Dus-Khol will this year officially receive the status of a therapeutic - recreational location of regional significance. The government of the republic set a task for the appropriate agencies at a conference on 16 March, to prepare all the necessary documents  for securing this legal status. The new status will obligate the organs of administration  on all levels to provide more effective security and rational utilization of this unique lake, which has long been known all over the country for its therapeutic properties.

At Tuvan State University, a final meeting of Tuvan scholars  with representatives of South Korean educational canal EBC ltd. Production Purme took place. At this meeting, the guests shared their impressions of Tuva after a two-week stay in the republic. Remember that the guests arrived to the republic at the end of February to film a fifty-minute documentary film about Tuvan culture, shamanism and way of life.

The ridges of the Sayans can be translated into Russian as "million of ridges", and that is how I remembered the name of these mountains. In the grey times of long ago, a great catastrophe took place in the Sayan mountains, as they say.  When a terrible hurricane flew in from the direction of the Black Heaven, people and animals who lived in the region left those places, as they say. Places where berries grew were all destroyed, and mighty trees fell uprooted.

One shaman of heavenly origin conducted a ritual to stop the blows of the terrible hurricane, as they say. But suddenly a powerful  gust of the wind tore out the drumstick-paddle from the shaman's right hand.

The Supreme Lama (Kamby-lama) of Tuva, Tenzin Tsultim  called on Tuvan Buddhists to "pray for those who died" in the earthquake and tsunami in Japan", and to "wish them a good reincarnation, and speedy recovery to the country".

"Our hearts are filled with pain and compassion, and we are thinking about distant Japan every second",   the spiritual leader's statement, posted on the official site of Buddhists of Tuva,  reads.

"At this tragic time, the entire Tuvan nation will constantly pray for the brotherly nation of Japan", - emphasizes the Kamby-Lama.

The condition of the snow leopard population in the south part of Shapshal ridge and on the Tsagaan-Shibetu ridge in Tuva is favorable, but the main menace to the irbis still comes from poachers.

That is the conclusion reached by the experts of the expedition which took place with the support of the Altai-Sayan section of WWF after calculation of the numbers of snow leopard and mountain goat. The participants in the project, which ended on March 6, were workers of the "Ubsunur depression" preserve and inspectors from State Committee of Republic Tuva  for Hunting and Fishing.

Today is the birthday of the star of world ethnic music -  one of the most internationally famous Tuvan women - talented, inimitable Sainkhoo Namchylak. Lyudmila Okan-oolovna Namchylak - that is the singer's real name - started her life in a small Tuvan village in a family of schoolteachers in 1957. Her parents loved music very much, and played musical instruments when they were young. Her father had a pleasant baritone, and he often performed with musicians - amateurs in concerts in Tuva. Later the family moved to Kyzyl,, because the head of the family received a new position, and became apolitical supervisor of TASS in Tuvan television. On Sundays, he liked to teach his daughter to sing and dance. Her father also often read poems and verse to his wife and daughters. On one of such evenings, on the holiday of March 8, he dedicated a poem to his wife and to Sainkhoo, with many words which were incomprehensible to the little girl. She looked out the window, where a bridge was lit by yellow beads of street lamps, and thought: "When I grow up like Papa, I will leave over this bridge and go far away, and I will also read my poems."

The Head of Tuva and Speaker of the Parliament presented greetings to women for the holiday of  March 8 (International Women's Day).

"In the name of all men of the republic, I present greetings to all of you with the International Women's day!  On this spring holiday, we bring words of sincere recognition, love and respect to the better half of humanity - to our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters. Everything dearest to us is connected with the name of Woman, and Her eternal striving towards peace and goodness, - states the greeting.

Today,  Doctor of culturology, one of the chief researchers of the unique art of throat-singing, Zoya Kyrgysovna Kyrgys, is receiving birthday greetings. The founder and permanent head of the International  scientific Center "Khoomei", she dedicated the major part of her life to the study of Tuvan throat-singing.  Her monograph "Tuvan throat-singing" is also dedicated to this vocal phenomenon of Central Asian nomads; it is the final result of  25years of work, many field expeditions, as well as experiments in laboratories of Moscow, Sankt-Peterburg, and New York.

On March 6, the Maslenitsa festivities will take place in the national park with all the necessary  attributes of  seeing off the Winter:  Russian folk games and contests, including a competition in the fastest eating of pancakes. There will be a pillar with a prize all the way on the top, and the burning of Maslenitsa effigy. The example of  last year, when the Maslenitsa and Shagaa (Lunar new Year) fell to the same date and a competition in "tevek" was held,  turned out to be infectious. It was decided to continue the tradition this year. Only the status of the competition will be designated as "Championship" in "tevek" - the first in history.