Itinerary

Day 1
Arrival in Yakutsk and transfer to the Hotel Sterkh. After breakfast at the hotel, embark on a tour of Yakutsk, including the LSG (Tower of TYGYN, wooden first stockade construction built by Cossack Pyotr Beketov, the founder of Yakutsk), the OLD TOWN area, old churches, and a visit to the Institute of Permafrost and Mammoth Museum. You will return to the hotel after the tour and will be free for the afternoon. You will be independent for lunch and dinner. B

Permafrost Institute
Permafrost Institute, founded in 1961, is a part of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Science. It is a unique scientific institution researching how permafrost exerts influence over nature and life processes. Led by Geographic Sciences Phd candidate, Mark Shatz, your excursion in the Institute’s underground laboratory will be enlightening.

Mammoth Museum
The museum was founded in 1991 as a scientific and cultural center. It is designed to study mammoth fauna and its habitat during the Ice Age. It is the only specialized museum of unique paleontological exhibits in the world. Fossils of mammoth and mammoth fauna are valuable prehistoric relics and considered a national treasure.

Day 2
Early breakfast at the hotel. By 4WD minivan, transfer to Tyreykh-Yuchugey via the famous Verkhoyansky Ridges. En route, you will stop for lunch at a road-side café near Khandyga. Dinner, also en route, will be at the meteor site of Vostochnaya. Continuing to Yuchugey, accommodations will be with a local family, two participants per room.

This automotive route courses north through central Yakutia, crossing over the frozen rivers of Lena and its tributary Aldan. The Verkhoyansky Ridges is a unique road built by GULAG prisoners during the Stalinist era. Carved bridges, barracks, and other remains of concentration camps are found along the route, as well as magnificent landscapes, great mountains, fast rivers, and vast reindeer pastures. Additionally, solar flares and clear skies permitting, witness the full display of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) flowing over the mountains in a sky full of stars. Your transfer will take 15-17 hours over a road 890 km long. BLD

Day 3
Yuchugey is a compact settlement of Even reindeer breeders, with a population just above 300 people. After breakfast, undertake an excursion around the village and get acquainted with Even lifestyle, traditions, and culture. Lunch of traditional Even cuisine.

After lunch, participants will learn to gather the reindeer, prepare them for the trip, how to drive them by sled, as well as ride their backs. Dinner will be with the families, followed by preparing and packing for the main trip. BLD

The sled is pulled by a pair of reindeers and each participant is given a personal sled. All equipment and luggage goes on the sleds. Accompanied by snowmobile, the trip can involve 8-10 sleds, with 20-30 reindeer. The sleds and reindeer are typically tethered as a caravan for travel, with participants driving a caravan or sled.

Day 4
Travel by reindeer sled to the campsite Yurdyk Sis, a distance of 31 km, taking about 5 hours. Lunch will be en route. Upon arrival at the campsite, participants will assist in setting up camp. You will take part in the process of putting up a tent in snow, learn how to spend a night in the open space, without fear of frostbite, how to keep your reindeer safe from predators, and how to prepare food. Your experienced guides will teach and show you what they have gained from their ancestors. Dinner and night at the campsite. BLD

Yurdyk Sis is a passage in the mountains, the highest point between Yuchugey and Tomtor. Translation in English means “High Passage”. Accommodations are in traditional tents with stove. The floor of the tent is made of larch branches, which, once heated by the stove, give off a wonderful smell of spring. Over the tree branches the floor is layered with reindeer skins.

Day 5
Continue by reindeer sled to a place called Ulardyr, a distance of 26 km, taking 4-5 hours. Lunch will be en route. From Ulardyr, the group is taken by minivan and transferred to Tomtor, 7 km, 15 minute drive. You will arrive in Tomtor early evening. Accomodation and dinner will be with local families. BLD

Ulardyr – a point near Tomtor, is an old campsite for Siberian explorers and nomads who traveled by reindeer sled. Ulardyr is known for reindeer pastures. The camp site is situated 1 km from a federal road, the famous Kolyma Track.

Day 6
After breakfast, explore Tomtor, which has a resident population of around 1,000. During World War II, Tomtor was one of Russia’s transit airports through which planes from America were brought to the war theater. At times, Tomtor was home for up to 100 war planes, waiting for better weather. Tomtor is also known as the “Cold Gateway”. From here, Santa Claus and Russian Ded Moroz begin their winter journeys, bringing winter to people. Every year at the end of March, they meet together at the Pole of Cold festival. You will visit the museum of ice figures, winter houses of Chyskhan (the symbol of Cold) and Santa Claus, and the Gulag Museum. Lunch will be at the local cafe. After lunch, participants can try ice fishing by net at the river Kuydusun, as well as observe the fish under the ice, utilizing a special technique of the local fishermen. In the evening, transfer by minivan to Oymyakon. Accommodations and dinner in Oymyakon will be at a guesthouse. BLD

Day 7
After breakfast, explore Oymyakon, the town with the lowest recorded temperature on earth: minus 72.1C. You will visit the horsebreeders farm to observe the unique Yakut horses, which remain out-of-doors through the entire winter. The Yakut horse is the descendant of the Lensky horse, which is the original horse of the north that lived thousands of years ago, along with the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. Unlike the mammoth and rhinoceros, the horse survived and developed into the species of today. You will become acquainted with the life and traditions of the horsebreeders, and possibly have the opportunity to ride a Yakut horse. Return to guesthouse for lunch with the Mayor of Oymyakon, followed by the traditional Yakut greeting ceremony, a folk concert exhibiting the culture of northern people, and “Certificate of Visiting Pole of Cold, Oymyakon” awards ceremony. Dinner and night at the guesthouse in Oymyakon. BLD

Day 8
In the morning, transfer by car to Khandyga. Lunch will be on the road. Dinner and accommodations at the hotel in Khandyga. BLD

Day 9
After breakfast, transfer by car to Yakutsk. Lunch will be at a roadside cafe. Arrive in Yakutsk in the evening, with dinner and accommodations at the Hotel Sterkh. BL

Day 10
Transfer for the airport. Departure from Yakutsk. B

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