Back Reminder for tourists   1. Custom Clients are responsible for home country regulations. Also they are responsible to follow the Russian Customs Regulations and other foreign customs regulations as well. You must use airline-approved lockable gun case and it will be regarded as one bag. A client is obliged to register a gun according to home customs rules. It is forbidden to export anything of historical or cultural value. Such objects can be exported if you register the object with the Ministry of Culture and obtain "spravka". The taxes to be charged on such items are usually about 100 percent of the value of the item. Souvenirs bought on the souvenir markets and in other shops are not problematic. As for caviar and consumables you should not face any problems taking caviar out of Russia, as long as it is in a standard commercial can. There is 5 liter limit on the amount of vodka taken out of Russia. Undeclarated currency or udeclarated valuable property can be confiscated upon entry, or departure. In the event of having something confiscated upon entry, you will normally be issued a receipt for the item. This receipt, or "kvitansiya", in theory, entitles you to reclaim th item at a later date, with proper documentation. When departing with sabers, swords, and other such souvenirs, confiscation is possible depending on the documents that came with this purchases. It is best to avoid buying weapons as souvenirs. You will need to fill customs form/declaration for Russia. Fill out only the front and only the pertinent areas of your Russian Declaration. Keep your entry declaration with your papers as you will need to show it as well as the exit declaration when you leave.   2. Airlines Do not forget to take with you your passport for travelling abroad with visa, air ticket and other documents necessary for entry to the territory of Russia. The registration for the flight negins two hours ahead the flight and finishes 45 minutes ahead the flight. All your baggage will be checked. You may take a bag of not more than 10 kg to the board of the plane. The norms of free weight limits depend on direction of the flight and class of your ticket. The over weight charges are paid in accoedance with baggage tariff. There is nominal 5% surcharge for hunters with guns for internal flights. There is a baggage tag which is held out to the each bag of your luggage and detachable tag wich they stick into your ticket. You need to keep this detachable tag to get you laggage upon arival. As hunters normally depart with heavy bear hides, the overweight and additional bag charges out of Russia are to be anticipated. You need to have extra money with you to pay for it.   3. Money It is now illegal for stores, restaurants and other places to accept foreign currency so you will need to exchange US dollars for rubles. You will be taken to commercial money exchange (located in hotels, airports, banks, etc). A manager will help you. Try to avoid exchanging money on the street, the few cents on the dollar that you might be gained is not worth the risk as you could be paid in older, nearly valueless rubles. Because of the constantly changing economic and business situation, you should have several hundred dollars for emergency layovers at about $100 a much of that would be for entertainment, excursion, etc. Tips and gifts. As a rule after the tour the personel is given tips and gifts. A manager is normally given beginning from $50; the guides for their services on bear in averange are given beginning from $200; an interpreter - beginning from $50; a cook - $30-50. If your guide has done a great job, and you are inclines to provide a special gift, knifes and binoculars, other hunting equipment, seem an appropriate gifts. Tip amounts reflect your approval or disapproval of how your guides and others perform their tasks and it is your personal consideration how to reimburse them.   4. CITES We provide you with hunting tag, CITES Permit, Veterinary Certificate. Only one CITES for one bear will be ordered for you. Normally its value is $300 for hide and skull. You should list hide and skull under description. The common name for Brown Bear is ursus arctos. Remember: if you want to harvest more than one Bear should inform about it beforehand to issue anover CITES for it. Any Wolf, Lynx, Sheep and others require CITES! If you want to take with you another trophy as a hide of sable, wolverene, otter, lynx we would ask you to apply for it beforehand.   5. Others Do not forget to include a waterproof bag or trash bag liner for your bear hide and a plastic bag for the skull. Take small thermos or flask (250-300 ml) for drinking during the passages. Use the named tags to indetify your bear hide. You may have a chance to shoot some ducks, geese or maybe even a blackcock. As the guides if they are in season in the particular spot you are hunting and what it would cost to shoot these. they may even be able to lend you a shotgun, remember to reimburse them for shells used. Do not hesistate to ask the manager, a guide or an inerpreter id there are any questions or any problems.    © 2002-2004, "Olga" travel company.