Gone Fishing

It is hard to pinpoint exactly where the Volga Delta begins, but just past Volgograd (the city formerly known as Stalingrad), the landscape along the banks of Europe’s largest river system changes radically. Deciduous and coniferous forests suddenly give way to wide-open spaces and southern sultriness, and the typical gray rooftops you see throughout the rest of Russia take on an orangish tint.

It is at this point you realize you’re in the steppe.

Soon sand dunes and desert appear, along with the occasional storm, which is what gives those roofs their orange color. Surprisingly, the deeper you go into this baking, seemingly lifeless steppe, the closer you come to a region of Russia that is among its richest in water, flora, and fauna.