Yakutia – Russia’s Winter Wonderland Package

Package Overview

Discover Yakutia - a faraway place that plays host to ethereal polar nights and the northern lights, permafrost tundra and vast expanses of taiga forest. About 40% of Yakutia lies above the Arctic Circle, and much of it remains wild, pristine and largely unspoiled by development. One of Siberia’s most ethnically diverse regions, Yakutia is home to the Turkic-speaking Yakuts, many of whom still practice shamanism and nomadic lifestyles. The region is blessed with spectacular wildlife and is renowned for producing some of the cleanest diamonds on Earth. If you are searching for a unique and genuine Russian winter experience, this is the place to be.



Ride like a Siberian on the short, stocky and powerful Yakut horses as you venture to a rural house farm surrounded by taiga forest, and explore the Treasury of Yakutia Exhibition Center where superb collections of gold nuggets, platinum, silver, and large natural diamonds are stored. You will also have the opportunity to meet the famous blue-eyed Yakut Laika dogs, wander through the extraordinary underground gallery - the Kingdom of the Permafrost, and enjoy drinks at their famous ice bar.Flights, travel insurance, visa, optional excursions, individual transfers, tips

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Day wise Itinerary

• Day 1 : Welcome to Moscow

  Arrive in Moscow for a meet and greet with your guide. Transfer to the hotel, where we’ll spend a restful night before the long journey to Yamal in the morning.

• Day 2 : Flight to Salekhard

  Transfer to the airport for a flight to the town of Salekhard (2h 30min). With a population of around 43,000, Salekhard is the administrative centre of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region.
  
  Here we board an all-terrain vehicle for a drive for up to six hours over the frozen surface of the River Ob to Yar-Sale village on the Yamal Peninsula. The river is the only way to access the village – either by boat in summer or by driving the ice in winter.
  
  Yar-Sale was the first trading post built on the Yamal Peninsula by the Russians in 1927. Before that, there were only nomadic Nenets and no settlements at all. These days, over 50 per cent of Yamal’s Nenets are still nomadic, and most have relatives in small villages like Yar-Sale who live
  sedentary lives and provide accommodation to nomadic relatives during rare village visits.
  
  At Yar-Sale, we’ll spend the night in either a local Nenets guesthouse or a small private hotel.

• Day 3 : Yar - Sale Village

  Travel through the vast tundra in wooden box sledges attached to the back of a snowmobile to an encampment of nomadic Nenets reindeer herders. Unlike many nomadic tribes in Russia and the world-over, the Nenets are have largely retained their traditional way of life and are famed for having longest nomadic migration routes in the world.
  
  They wear clothing made of reindeer fur, sewn using reindeer sinew as thread, and live in conical tents made of reindeer fur and known as chums. Across a single year, the Nenets may migrate up to 2,000km, transporting their chums and all their possessions on home-made, wooden sledges, accompanied by herds of reindeer up to 10,000 strong.
  The Yamal Nenets speak a language completely unrelated to Russian and practice an animistic religion based on deep reverence for nature, paying tribute to the spirits that inhabit the natural world through reindeer sacrifices and shamanistic rituals.

• Day 4 : A Date with Nomads

  For the next 5 days, you’ll be living with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their Chums (tepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Instead, this is a uniquely immersive experience, where guests observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads.
  
  Assisted by the expert Nenets, your tasks could include herding reindeer and lassoing the animals using rawhide lassoes. As one of the few sources of available food, reindeer are butchered at the camp as needed. The meat is divided up and eaten (usually raw) and the Nenets are also partial to drinking reindeer blood (partaking in this practice is optional!)
  
  You’ll also have the chance to involve yourself in the preparations for making a new campsite, sledding into the forest to cut trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, helping to build new sledges, sewing fur clothing and other activities essential for survival. It’s not all work
  though. There will be plenty of time for relaxation and be socialising with your hosts and other members of the community.
  
  * Duration of the camp stay can be extended to seven days upon request.

• Day 5 : A Date with Nomads

  For the next 5 days, you’ll be living with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their Chums (tepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Instead, this is a uniquely immersive experience, where guests observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads.
  
  Assisted by the expert Nenets, your tasks could include herding reindeer and lassoing the animals using rawhide lassoes. As one of the few sources of available food, reindeer are butchered at the camp as needed. The meat is divided up and eaten (usually raw) and the Nenets are also partial to drinking reindeer blood (partaking in this practice is optional!)
  
  You’ll also have the chance to involve yourself in the preparations for making a new campsite, sledding into the forest to cut trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, helping to build new sledges, sewing fur clothing and other activities essential for survival. It’s not all work
  though. There will be plenty of time for relaxation and be socialising with your hosts and other members of the community.
  
  * Duration of the camp stay can be extended to seven days upon request.

• Day 6 : A Date with Nomads

  For the next 5 days, you’ll be living with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their Chums (tepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Instead, this is a uniquely immersive experience, where guests observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads.
  
  Assisted by the expert Nenets, your tasks could include herding reindeer and lassoing the animals using rawhide lassoes. As one of the few sources of available food, reindeer are butchered at the camp as needed. The meat is divided up and eaten (usually raw) and the Nenets are also partial to drinking reindeer blood (partaking in this practice is optional!)
  
  You’ll also have the chance to involve yourself in the preparations for making a new campsite, sledding into the forest to cut trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, helping to build new sledges, sewing fur clothing and other activities essential for survival. It’s not all work
  though. There will be plenty of time for relaxation and be socialising with your hosts and other members of the community.
  
  * Duration of the camp stay can be extended to seven days upon request.

• Day 7 : A Date with Nomads

  For the next 5 days, you’ll be living with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their Chums (tepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Instead, this is a uniquely immersive experience, where guests observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads.
  
  Assisted by the expert Nenets, your tasks could include herding reindeer and lassoing the animals using rawhide lassoes. As one of the few sources of available food, reindeer are butchered at the camp as needed. The meat is divided up and eaten (usually raw) and the Nenets are also partial to drinking reindeer blood (partaking in this practice is optional!)
  
  You’ll also have the chance to involve yourself in the preparations for making a new campsite, sledding into the forest to cut trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, helping to build new sledges, sewing fur clothing and other activities essential for survival. It’s not all work
  though. There will be plenty of time for relaxation and be socialising with your hosts and other members of the community.
  
  * Duration of the camp stay can be extended to seven days upon request.

• Day 8 : A Date with Nomads

  For the next 5 days, you’ll be living with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their Chums (tepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Instead, this is a uniquely immersive experience, where guests observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads.
  
  Assisted by the expert Nenets, your tasks could include herding reindeer and lassoing the animals using rawhide lassoes. As one of the few sources of available food, reindeer are butchered at the camp as needed. The meat is divided up and eaten (usually raw) and the Nenets are also partial to drinking reindeer blood (partaking in this practice is optional!)
  
  You’ll also have the chance to involve yourself in the preparations for making a new campsite, sledding into the forest to cut trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, helping to build new sledges, sewing fur clothing and other activities essential for survival. It’s not all work
  though. There will be plenty of time for relaxation and be socialising with your hosts and other members of the community.
  
  * Duration of the camp stay can be extended to seven days upon request.

• Day 9 : Back to Yar - Sale Village

  After saying farewell to our hosts in the Nenets campsite, we make the return journey to Yar
  Sale, again travelling by a snowmobile-driven sledge. Back at Yar Sale, we’ll spend the night in a local Nenets guest house.

• Day 10 : Salekhard City Tour and Reindeer Herders Festival

  Today, we’re back on board the all-terrain vehicle for the return drive along the solid ice of the Ob River. On our return to Salekhard, we’ll be put up in a comfortable hotel in town for the night.
  
  Today we’ll enjoy a free day in Salekhard, a town founded by Russian settlers in 1595 after the conquest of Siberia. Highly recommended is the Shemanovskiy Yamal-Nenets District museum, which focuses on Yamal’s regional culture and natural history, including a fascinating exhibition
  on mammoth remains discovered in the region. Visit the 16th-century fortress of Obdursk, the first Russian settlement built in the area, and wander the market square where the nomads come to sell meat, fish and furs.
  We can also arrange a day trip to the abandoned village of Polyarniy in the Polar Ural Mountains. *this is a free day, which we save in case of bad weather and delayed with a transfer from Yar-Sale.

• Day 11 : Salekhard City Tour and Reindeer Herders Festival

  Today, we’re back on board the all-terrain vehicle for the return drive along the solid ice of the Ob River. On our return to Salekhard, we’ll be put up in a comfortable hotel in town for the night.
  
  Today we’ll enjoy a free day in Salekhard, a town founded by Russian settlers in 1595 after the conquest of Siberia. Highly recommended is the Shemanovskiy Yamal-Nenets District museum, which focuses on Yamal’s regional culture and natural history, including a fascinating exhibition
  on mammoth remains discovered in the region. Visit the 16th-century fortress of Obdursk, the first Russian settlement built in the area, and wander the market square where the nomads come to sell meat, fish and furs.
  We can also arrange a day trip to the abandoned village of Polyarniy in the Polar Ural Mountains. *this is a free day, which we save in case of bad weather and delayed with a transfer from Yar-Sale.

• Day 12 : Fligh to Moscow and Departure Back Home

  On our final day, we fly back to Moscow from Salekhard, ready for your departure back home or on to your next adventure.

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Inclusions

• Hotel
• Sightseeing
• Accommodation
• Hotel accommodation in Moscow, Salekhard and Yar Sale
• Homestay accommodation in chums (teepees) with local Nenets families
• Meals
• All meals during staying with nomads, prepared together with the hosts
• Some meals during our stay in Salekhard and Yar Sale
• Transportation
• Internal flights (Moscow - Salekhard - Moscow)
• Airport transfers
• All transportation on tour (6wd truck, snowmobiles, sledges)
• Guides
• Experienced local English-speaking tour leader
• Anthropologist guide, experienced drivers, local hosts
• Activities and sights
• Activities and experiences according to the tour program
• Other
• Rental of a full set of Nenets reindeer fur clothing (mittens, thigh high boots and knee-long jacket)
• Arctic safety equipment
• Tents, cooking equipment, first aid kit
• All permits required for the region
• Russian visa support document (invitation letter)
• Russian visa can be arranged by 56th Parallel for an additional cost (for Australian citizens only).

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Exclusions

• Flights, travel insurance, visa, optional excursions, individual transfers, tips

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Price & Rates

* Mentioned prices may vary depending upon date of travel, hotel availability, surge pricing and seasonal rush.

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Package Start From

• Moscow, Russia, Europe

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Terms & Conditions

Payment Terms & Methods :
* Some Advance Percentage of total booking amount
* Airfare/Transport fare to be paid full at one time in advance.

Cancellation & Refund Policy :
* Upon cancellation, refund will be made after deducting the Retention Amount.
* Retention Amount varies as per the number of days left before your package start date.

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