Goose ford. Taldin caves

Tavdinsky caves are one of the main attractions in Altai. The massif includes about 30 caves, forming a whole system connected to each other by underground passages. Enter the grottoes, you can only round the impregnable rocks. Currently, there is a complex for tourists, and the caves have become accessible to visitors. If you happen to visit these parts, be sure to visit the caves. People used to live there. Archaeologists managed to find small objects: household utensils: fishing accessories, bronze jewelry and dishes.

Researchers believe that the cave complex could serve as a sanctuary. In the caves found a shamanic staff made of roe deer horns.
In the mid-19th century, cave grottoes served as a haven for the Old Believers, called the “Hidden Ones”, who were a radical trend. According to legend, Kolchak, who was leaving the Red Army, hid his gold reserves in them, which he managed to take out before the revolution.

The peoples of Altai have a beautiful legend about the cave system. According to legend, there lived a witch, at the same time a hansha named Tavda. She imposed an exorbitant tribute. Tavda accumulated countless riches consisting of furs, gold, precious stones, but one day, in the possession of the witch, settled a family consisting of a married couple, Kata and a man with a sonorous name Manzherok. The man was famous for the art of potter, the second half, weaved fishing nets. Tavda had a desire to impose a burdensome levy on the family, and when the hour of payment came, the witch received a levy in the form of one jug from one net for fishing. The witch decided that the “subjects” mocked her, making fun of her stinginess, then the hook, which had magical power, knocked first his wife and her husband: Manzherok turned to a deep lake, Katyn to the fast-moving Katun river, and the witch, burdened with the weight of indomitable anger, fell on the earth’s firmament. In the town, as the legend says, cave grottoes were formed. They probably contain the treasures of Tawda.

This is the “Tradition of antiquity of the deep” is told by the indigenous inhabitants of Altai. It's a beautiful story, isn't it?