Journey to the Evens-reindeer herders of the Verkhoyansk mountains and to the Pole of Cold

Day 1.

Arrival at Yakutsk. Purchase everything necessary for the next days of the tour from local stores. Departure to the village of Khandyga. Part of the way will pass on the ice of the Lena river, on a specially cleared and marked ice track. By the end of the day, arrival in Khandyga-the administrative center of the Tomponsky district of Yakutia, a small village on the banks of the Aldan river. Dinner at a local cafe.

Accommodation in a private cozy village hotel.

Khandyga is one of the coldest places in the region, where temperatures can drop to -67.8°c.

Day 2. Handyga-Poplar. Verkhoyansky ridge.

Departure to the" capital " of reindeer herders of the Tomponsky district-the village of Topolinoe. The first 100 km of the route will pass along the Kolyma highway, which is also called the road on bones, since Gulag prisoners who died during its construction were buried directly under the roadbed. After turning onto the road to the village of Topolinoe, the road will climb higher and higher along the Tompa river to the Verkhoyansky ridge with each kilometer. Stop at the Olchansky pass 30 km from the village in the sacred place of Evenkov, where you can enjoy a stunning panoramic view of the Verkhoyansky ridge. Arrival in the village. Accommodation with local residents.

Day 3 and day 4. Festival of reindeer herders of Yakutia.

Participation in the annual regional festival of reindeer herders of Yakutia. As part of the festival, you will have the opportunity to see a reindeer sled race, a competition in lasso throwing, sled jumping and Yakut national wrestling hapsagai, a women's Republican nomadic family competition "Mistress of the plague, save your hearth!", a song contest "White nights of Anabar", a Northern all-around sports contest. Among the guests of the festival will also be reindeer herders from Finland, Norway, Sweden and the Far North of Russia. In the afternoon of the 4th day, a concert of local ethnic groups. Disco.

Day 5. Preparation for departure to the camp.

On this day, you will have the opportunity to walk around the village of Topolinoe, visit the local Museum, school, ice storage, as well as see the remains of the political prisoners ' camp with the preserved watchtower, while your escort Benjamin will go to pick up the deer in the taiga to the place where he left them on arrival in Topolinoe. He will drive them to the hut with the paddock, where you will arrive the next day. The evening bath. Dinner in a rural cafe. Overnight with local residents.

Day 6. Departure to the deer camps.

Departure from the village. Arrival at the corral to the team of deer left by Benjamin the day before. You can participate in the formation of a team of domestic and wild deer, where you can feel like a real reindeer breeder, catching a wild deer in a lasso. Everyone will have their own personal reindeer sledge, which will take you to the camps in 4-5 hours. There will be several stops along the way where you can warm up. The goal of the walk will be to get used to and learn how to manage the team. Upon arrival to the camps, accommodation in tents heated with wood stoves. For more than a century, reindeer herders have been moving in this way. With the sun setting, you may even be able to see the Northern lights. Warm blankets will keep you warm in tents, no matter what the weather is outside.

Day 7. Packsteads. Walk around the camp.

A hearty reindeer breeder's Breakfast: bread cakes cooked on the fire, deer meat, deer stew, sweet tea with cookies. The food of reindeer herders is quite monotonous and, perhaps, it will be the same for dinner. But fortunately for us, the trip will not last for months, and this is a small price to pay for an amazing opportunity to plunge into local realities, see the life of a reindeer herder from the inside and lose some weight.

Reindeer herders always have a lot to do, even though the polar day is very short. You will see for yourself. In search of places rich in lichens, deer are scattered across the taiga area and it is not so easy to gather them all together. After collecting the reindeer, the herders bring them back to the tents, harness and saddle those with whom they will spend the day, the rest, having received their portion of salt, stay for a while near the tents and again disperse. The rest of the day can be devoted to preparing firewood or river ice – the main source of drinking water. The frost in these places is so strong that the rivers freeze to the very mouth.

Day 8. Walk along the frozen river .

Walk on a reindeer sled to the place of migration of herds of deer. The road will run along a frozen river winding through the valley. The higher you go up the river, the narrower the valley becomes, and eventually it turns into a wide plateau that rises to the pass. This pass divides the herd into 2 parts-male producers and young on the one hand, and female vazhenok on the other. Nature has provided so that males shed their horns immediately after the mating period – in October-November, and females only in may, just before the birth of the fetus ( so as not to injure the newborn). Thus, during the entire gestation period, they can protect themselves from males when they interfere with their lichen production.

Continue to the ruins of abandoned camps that are part of the GULAG system. Only the remains of watchtowers and a barbed wire fence can testify to what happened in these places. Return to the camp.

Day 9. Herds. Walk around the camp.

Third day in the camp. While the reindeer herders are collecting reindeer sleds, you will have a great opportunity to walk through the taiga and climb one of the nearby mountains, where you can enjoy a stunning view of the camp and a small part of the Verkhoyansky massif. From the height, you can see the return of reindeer herders with sledges. After returning to the camp, a photo session with deer and Evenks.

Day 10. Return to Topolinoe.

Although the food of reindeer herders is quite monotonous, we will take care to diversify it in advance. After the deer are found again and collected with your help in teams, we secure our belongings and return to poplar, where we will spend another night before returning to civilization. On arrival bath. Overnight in the long-awaited warmth.

Day 11. Departure to the village of Khandyga.

The road back will be quite long, but with numerous stops for stunningly beautiful photos. Overnight in Khandyga in a small private hotel.

Day 12. Departure to the Pole of cold.

Early morning departure from Hundige to the Pole of cold, located in 400 km to

East. The route will take either an unpaved road or the infamous Yakutsk-Magadan highway, called here "the road on bones".

In 2010, the Russian government announced the start of construction of the Kolyma Federal highway connecting Yakutsk and Magadan in order to develop the Northern regions of Siberia and access to mineral deposits. In some places the trail intersects with the old road, built by prisoners of the Gulag. During the construction of the highway, most of the graves of prisoners and guards of the Gulag, bridges, the remains of barracks and watchtowers were destroyed. However, even that small part of the remaining ruins preserves the memory of tens of thousands of people who died here.

In the second half of day arrival in the village of Oymyakon. Accommodation in a warm house with local residents. Dinner

NB: Here you can also see the filming locations of the film "the Wolf" by the famous French film Director Nicolas Vanier.

Day 13. Oimyakon.

Excursion to the village of Oymyakon - one of the" Poles of cold " on the planet, as well as the most severe place on Earth, where a permanent population lives. The minimum temperature recorded here is-75°C. In March, of course, it is not so cold, but still in the morning the temperature fluctuates between -25°C and -35°C. Lunch with local residents. In the afternoon, you will have the opportunity to visit a farm with local cows, as well as see a concert of children's folklore ensemble in a local school. Dinner and overnight with local residents.

Day 14. The Village Of Tomtor.

In the morning, a meeting with the head of administration - Rosalia Petrovna Kondakova, who will give you a certificate of visiting the pole of cold. After lunch, visit the village of Tomtor. The program is quite extensive: an excursion to the ethnographic Museum and the Gulag Museum, a visit to an old mine converted into a huge glacier. Return to Oymyakon in the evening. Dinner and overnight with local residents.

Day 15. Departure to Khandyga.

In the morning, departure to the village of Khandyga. The road back again will pass on the ice of the Lena river, among the stunning mountain scenery of the Verkhoyansky ridge. By the end of the day, arrival in the village. Dinner in a cafe of Uzbek cuisine. Overnight in a small private hotel.

Day 16. Arrival at Yakutsk.

On the way back to Yakutsk, check in to the village of Churapcha, where you can visit a small private Museum that boasts famous people of the region, but also tells some sad pages in the history of the former USSR (the Museum - for completion to Alexey)

Arrival at Yakutsk. Dinner at restaurant. Overnight in a comfortable hotel.

Day 17. City tour of Yakutsk.

Excursion to Stalitsa of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Visit to the ethnographic Museum, the exhibition of Diamonds, of the Museum of Mammoths. In the evening, a farewell dinner at the restaurant. Overnight at the hotel.

Day 18. Departure from Yakutsk.

Transfer to airport.