Altai Territory, as a resort area, is not limited to the offer of classic services of health resort organizations. A unique tourism product in the field of wellness is actively supported and promoted -pantotherapy on the basis of health centers and maral breeding farms in the region.

Therefore, in almost all sanatoriums in our region, appropriate programs have been developed that allow you to recuperate and raise your vitality in a short time. The basis of pantotherapy is antlers - young non-horny horns of Altai marals.

Their main value is mineral salts, complex organic compounds, enzymes, high concentrations of hormone-like substances, vitamins and amino acids. For many centuries, antlers have been a favorite product used in oriental medicine for the manufacture of various medicinal mixtures with a strong healing effect.

China and Korea are well aware of their wonderful properties; it is not for nothing that these countries are the largest buyers of antlers on the world market.

Antlers are used in the treatment of diseases of the blood, cardiovascular system, brain, with weakening of immunity, overwork, depletion of the nervous system; antler preparations increase the tone of the body, give a noticeable rejuvenating effect, and help prolong life.

An indicator of their therapeutic effectivenessis, among other things, their price on the world market. For many years Altai maral antlers were valued 1.5-2 times more expensive than any other antlers (New Zealand, American, Korean, Chinese). This is due to the fact that they give a health-improving result that has no analogues in the world.

The reason for such healing power is that the Altai maral is endemic. An ecologically clean habitat (mountain conditions, climate, fodder base of medicinal mountain herbs and clean water) also plays an important role. The Altai Territory has an amazing diversity of flora, represented by more than 2 thousand species, including about half of the plant species belong to the medicinal group.

In addition, uniquemineralogical and organic composition of soils in the Altai Territory, features of the continental climate, creating conditions for intensive sap flow and abundant release of flower nectar, the presence of ecologically clean areas provide a high concentration of nutrients in plants. Therefore, attempts to breed marals in other regions led to a drop in the quality of antlers.

The dissemination of information about the healing power of antler reindeer breeding products among the population contributed to the formation of a new segment of the consumer market in the field of health tourism, and now we can say that pantotherapy has its adherents, who every year during the cutting of antlers rush to Altai to take antler baths.

All-the-year-round pant-health centers operate inAltai, Soloneshensky, Charyshskyand other areas of the Altai Territory, including on the basis of maralniks. In addition, most maral farms have seasonal accommodation facilities.

Photo: V. Kirichuk, V. Stepanyuk