Venture to the real frontiers - the most eastern part of Russia, its extreme North - one of the so few wilderness areas still remaining, where the ancient traditions are still alive. To the northern land inhabited by Eskimo and Chukchi, the people who live today the same way their ancestors did centuries ago... Stay with Chukchi reindeer herders to feel their culture, old beliefs and present concerns. Experience local activities and try reindeer and dog sledding, leather embroidering and ice-angling. Explore Chukotkan wilderness by snowmobile. Get lost in the stunning Arctic nature, with its endless tundra, majestic mountains and vast ice-stricken seas. Learn about Chukotka’s past – daring Arctic exploration, sad GULAG history and perestroika times.
Be The First, come to unknown Chukotka to encounter the original lifestyle of the indigenous people of the Russian North and to discover a spectacular northern land in its full magnificence...
To see the video of the Swiss expedition, which renders the true spirit of Chukotka, click here
Day 1, Mon
1 pm – arrive by an overnight flight from Moscow* in Anadyr. Upon landing, the local border officers will check your copy of Chukotka permit (the original is with your guide outside), and the moment you step out of the plane, you are in the borderline area of Russia – Chukotka, formerly inaccessible, impossible to visit for foreign visitors. Get your luggage and meet your English-speaking activity instructor. After receiving the luggage, have a transfer by mini-bus along the road and across the frozen Anadyr Bay to the city of Anadyr (appr 40 min). Check-in at the Anadyr hotel *** in double-rooms. Lunch in a restaurant downtown.
In the afternoon, go for a walking tour of Anadyr, a multi-colored northern town on the shore of the sea – the largest town and the capital of Chukotka Autonomous District.
Back in the hotel, try on the snowmobiling outfit.
Dinner in the restaurant downtown. Night in Anadyr hotel*** (twin-basis).
Day 2, Tue
After breakfast at the hotel, put on the snowmobiling outfit. Have a walk to the Anadyr Bay where you will meet your snowmobiling instructor/s. Undertake safety briefing and instructions and learn/practice snowmobiling in vicinity of Anadyr town – go to Mihail’s Mountain or on the Anadyr Bay (4-6 hrs).
The fitness level and snowmobiling skills of the tour participants can be very different, but the task for today for everybody is to develop (or master) the snowmobiling skills on different types of terrain and get ready for tomorrow’s long and challenging trip. Lunch as a light field snack (i.e. sandwiches, coffee/tea outdoors).
Return to the hotel before the dark. Free time in Anadyr.
Dinner in the restaurant downtown. Sort and re-pack the luggage for tomorrow (what stays in Anadyr at the reception and the necessary minimum that goes on the trip). Night in Anadyr hotel (twin basis).
Day 3, Wed
Bring your luggage, which you take along on the trip, downstairs before the breakfast. After the morning meal, get properly dressed – a full day of snowmobiling in Chukotkan vast expanses is ahead of us.
Check-out from the hotel. Help your guide pack the luggage in snowmobiling sleds and onto the snowmobiles.
Set off from Anadyr and start now a real Chukotkan adventure with 170 km snowmobiling in the endless magnificent white tundra, towards the settlement Uelkal. Depending on the snow quality and group snowmobiling skills, this trip can take from 8 to 12 hours. Stop on the way for warming up with exercises, taking photos. Pass as quickly as possible the midway section notorious for its bad weather (winds, local snowstorms). Lunch as a light field snack on the way.
Arrive in the evening in Uelkal, an Eskimos (Inuit) settlement located on the shore of the Bering Sea. Meet the Director of the local Culture Club that hosts us today (culture clubs in Russian settlements run a number of activities for the local population). Have a dinner and rest.
Night in Uelkal in the sleeping bags on the camping mats in the common hall of the local club.
Day 4, Thu
After breakfast, help your instructors pack and load the luggage. Continue snowmobiling 100 km (4-6 hrs) in flat tundra, among the challenging harsh snowdrifts and on the sea (Bay of the Cross, Bering Sea). In the beginning of the day, next to Uelkal, you will pass the impressive radar installation, the echo of the Cold War, once upon a time covering the western half of the US area. In the second part of the trip, if the weather is clear, take a notice of the dramatic change in the landscape - from tundra to spectacular mountains surrounding the Bay of the Cross. Lunch as a light snack on the way.
In late afternoon, arrive in Egvekinot settlement nested between the mountain range and the sea. Check-in at the comfortable cottages for 3 to 6 people.
Visit the local museum – a perfect place to start the acquaintance with the area. Museum’s small but interesting exhibitions on Chukotka ethnography, geology, and the history of the Egvekinot area. The museum staff will tell you many interesting facts about the political exile, GULAG prisoners’ labour used in construction of the local road, and Egvekinot role in WW II.
Dinner in the café and overnight in the comfortable cottages in Egvekinot (twin and single basis).
Day 5, Fri
Today will be a relaxed day with activities around Egvekinot.After breakfast, we can go on the snow of the Bay of the Cross to see how the locals are doing their crab and sea urchin fishing. You can also visit the downhill station and enjoy the descent on the slopes of Chukotkan mountain (extra fee for equipment/lift on the spot). Lunch in the café.
In the afternoon, we will visit the local museum again - this time for the crafts workshop. Make with your hands a traditional Chukchi souvenir – with Chukotkan always-changing weather, we will definitely need luck during our trip.
There will be some time remaining for a walk on your own around Egvekinot (one can walk up to the mountain behind the settlement to have a grandiose view over the Bay of the Cross and the settlement, or walk along the shoreline to the Orthodox chapel.
Dinner in the café and overnight in the comfortable cottages in Egvekinot (twin and single basis).
Day 6, Sat
After breakfast, re-pack to take along for a few days the minimum luggage and warmest clothes. Today we start a 2-days trip to the reindeer herders. Head by snowmobiles along the road built by GULAG prisoners to Amguema settlement (90+ km, 3-6 hrs), stop in the beginning of the way to re-fuel the snowmobiles at the local gas station. We will also make a stop when crossing the Arctic Circle marked by an arch, a favourite place of the locals. If the weather is fine, the landscape is stunning – gorgeous mountains are all around. If the weather is bad, these 90 km can become a challenge, especially the short but mischievous midsection of the road Egvekinot-Amguema, which is notorious for winds (the 35 km through the narrow valley acts as an aerodynamic pipe). Lunch as a light snack on the way.
In the afternoon, arrive in Amguema, a national Chukchi settlement, the village that today, with its new Nordic cottages, looks rather modern. For today, we will stay in this settlement.
Tonight we will visit either the local school (the pride of Amguama dwellers) or a local family to get introduced to the everyday life of the locals.
Dinner will be cooked by your activity instructor. Spend the night in the sleeping bags in the common space (sleeping bags, camping mats and beds); shared sauna with shower (open to locals).
Day 7, Sun
After breakfast, get on the snowmobile and set off towards the reindeer herders’ camp in the open tundra (3-7 hrs depending on the location of the herders at this particular moment). Lunch as a light field snack on the way. Arrive in the reindeer herders’ camp. Today we are hosted in yaranga (Chukchi traditional tent, teepee-type). Meet your Chukchi hosts and have the traditional tea and dinner consisting of reindeer meat, get involved in an unhurried discussion. The herders are happy to have guests and news; they enjoy meeting new people who introduce themselves and talk about their families and life.
After dinner, be ready to experience the day schedule of Chukchi herders who go to bed early and wake early together with the sun. Night in yarangas, in sleeping bags in the pologs (deer skin-curtained departments for 4-5 persons)
Day 8, Mon
After breakfast in yaranga, walk by foot or snowmobile to the reindeer herd (depending on the herd distance from the Chukchi camp). The hosts will pick some reindeer who are trained for sledding. See how to approach and catch the deer correctly – and you can try it yourself. After the herders harness the reindeer, you will experience the reindeer sledding. First go one after another in sleds tied after the Chukchi herder’s sled, and afterwards you can - if you feel capable of steering the deer – try mushing the reindeer sled on your own. Go to one of the numerous lake and rivers to fish in the traditional way - drill a hole through the thick ice on your own and try your luck. Spend the rest of the day together with your Chukchi hosts in yaranga.
Night in yarangas, in sleeping bags in the pologs (deer skin-curtained departments for 4-5 persons)
Day 9, Tue
After breakfast, thank and say good-bye to your Chukchi hosts. Set off by snowmobiles back to Amguema. This time the way is familiar, and the time permits to stop more often and take in the landscape. Lunch as a field snack on the way. Arrive in Amguema and enjoy a proper shower or sauna (might be shared with locals) after your 2 nights in the cold and yaranga.
An entertaining event awaits us in the evening in the local Culture Club - the children’s national dance performance, scheduled specially for you but open for any local from Amguema.
Dinner cooked by your activity instructor and night in the sleeping bags in the common space (sleeping bags, camping mats and beds).
Day 10, Wed
Today is rather a relaxed day. Sleep in late, enjoy breakfast cooked by the activity instructor. We are leaving by snowmobiles back to Egvekinot. Unhurried snowmobiling with stops in the mountains and on the Bay of the Cross, beautiful views. Lunch as a snack on the way.
Arrive in Egvekinot in early evening and finally enjoy fully the comfort.
Dinner in the café, night in the cottages (double- and single-basis).
Day 11, Thu
After breakfast, the group will go for a radial snowmobiling trip to the mountains (70-100 km).
If you thought that your trip is coming to an end and you have seen the most of Chukotka, you are mistaken. The landscape is strikingly different - picturesque valleys, dramatic mountains. And snowmobiling feels different in a mountainous area. If the snow conditions and group skills allow, we might venture to the legendary Junction Point of the Arctic Circle and the 180th Meridian (the line where dates change). Lunch as a light field snack.Dinner in the café, night in the comfort of the cottages in Egvekinot.
Day 12, Fri
After breakfast, pack your luggage and help your instructors load it into the snowmobile sleds.Leave by snowmobiles for Uelkal (100 km), the settlement of Eskimos sea mammal hunters that we did not really see or explore on the way to Egvekinot. Today we will have more time for Uelkal, We are again hosted by the local culture club, and you can enjoy a proper discussion with the locals and feel the difference of the settlement dwellers from what you have experienced in Amguema.
Try the national sea snacks (out of whale/seal/walrus) and take part in an excellent concert of the national dance by the local Eskimos dancing group.
Night in Uelkal in the very basic conditions (sleeping bags, camping mats in the common hall of the local club).
Day 13, Sat
After breakfast, the last day of snowmobiling is ahead. Depart snowmobiling Uelkal-Anadyr (170 km, 8-10 hrs). If the weather and visibility are fine, enjoy high speed snowmobiling and the feeling of a flight across the tundra. If the weather is not fine or snow very hard-packed, be ready to face the challenges Chukotka still has in store, and bring yourself together to overcome them all on the last difficult section of the itinerary.Arrive in Anadyr in the evening, check-in at the Anadyr hotel. Dinner in the restaurant and night in Anadyr hotel (twin basis)
Day 14, Sun
This is a reserve day to catch up with the standard programme schedule in case of a bad weather and delays earlier during the tour.If the ideal schedule was kept and no delays occurred, enjoy the leisurely morning in Anadyr. Breakfast in the hotel.
Have a short transfer by car out of town to see the recently opened dog farm (breeding Chukotkan sledding dogs). Go for a short ride with the musher in the dog sled.
Free time for walks around Anadyr on your own and souvenir shopping.
Farewell dinner in the restaurant downtown. Night in Anadyr hotel (twin basis)
Day 15, Mon
After breakfast – free time in Anadyr. Check out at 12, and have a transfer to the airport. Departure by flight to Moscow. Arrival in Moscow (Domodedovo airport) in the late afternoon of the same day.
Attention: the above itinerary can be changed on the spot due to the weather conditions (snowstorms, frosts, strong wind, etc)
