Tura – Cherenda. Beautiful Taiga

We were offline for one moth and couldn’t share our pictures, but we’re coming back to civilization and here are some of the moments from the last month.

After a nice stay in Tura we continued on going North. After a few days drive on “zemnyk”, we reached Cherenda, a small village of a few hundred people. On the way, we survived the temperature of -56°C and a few more truck failures: we lost oil from the engine, and some other serious problems appeared. But Northern lights appeared unexpectedly and made us forget all the bugs, that didn’t let us enjoy our trip.

The road to Cherenda was not only beautiful because of wonderful landscapes, but also because of some interesting people we met. Many hunters live in tents by “zemnyk”, so they can sell elks to buyers who are driving back and forth. Hunters live in tents, where they have a small fireplace, some food and sleeping space on the elks’ fur.

After reaching Cherenda, Oleg left us there and together with Sania went to his little hut by the Diupkun lake, around 120km away from the village. It took him a week to go there and come back for us, as he had to make a path through the woods. It’s been 30 years since Oleg started to spent his days and hunt by the Diupkun. “I live here, I fly here, there is no better place for me,” – says Oleg in his sincere smile.

While waiting for Oleg, we had some rest and some adventures in Cherenda. Berta flew to Enisej, the most northern village on “zemnyk” by helicopter. Pilot Jurij invited her to the cabin and served tea with salmon sandwiches.

Meanwhile, Giedrius and Zilvinas were solving truck problems. All week was full of comunication with locals. While Berta was hanging out with kids and her new best friend Sperdon, Giedrius got into some serious business with elder guys, celebrating The Day of Army. We also visited Evenks’ graveyard and recorded an old lady, singing in Evenks’ language.

Berta started to drive Tatra, so now all three can drive in a row, if  stubborn Tatra goes at all. We drew a bit away from Cherenda and spent one night by the Kotuj river, photographing “zemnyk” there. While Zilvinas was photographing, his hand got extremely cold and he almost couldn’t feel it at all. Then our new friend, hunter Konstantin was passing by. He told Zilvinas to put his hand into the pants – the wormest place one could find. The hand got better immediately and now we know where to put our hands, when it gets too cold and gloves don’t help.