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A Siberian Odyssey
12:17 p.m. EST Dec 4, 2003
Husband and wife adventurers Mikael and Titti Strandberg, along with their dog Sigge are just a few months away from embarking upon an epic journey through Siberia stretching over 3500km. Also joining them for this expedition will be a young guy, a great outdoor talent, and good hunter, Johan "Delta" Ivarsson.
The husband and wife team is no stranger to such long adventures. In 1997-98 they traveled 3000km through Patagonia by horse and more recently in 2000 they explored all clans of the Maasai, 1000 km through East Africa.
In the later part of the eighties and into the 90’s Mikael bicycled through all parts of the world – from Chile to Alaska, Norway to South Africa, and from New Zealand to Cairo. All together that’s almost 90,000 km. For some of those journeys, Titti joined him.
The couple just sent through a description of their upcoming journey, what they plan on doing, how they plan on doing it, and what they are expecting along the way. The couple even plans to camp out for the next several months behind their house in Särna, Sweden to get used to the freezing cold temperatures they expect to face in the northern reaches of Russia. Below is the first of three parts describing the couple’s planned journey. In this first section the Strandberg’s describe the area and terrain they are expecting to encounter:
“Minus 98.7 degrees Celsius is the lowest temperature that has ever been recorded on Earth. The thermometer that did so was positioned just beyond the estuary of the River Kolyma in northeast Siberia. There, the permafrost is one and a half kilometers deep and the remains of mammoths over 10,000 years old have been found, almost perfectly intact. For much of the year, daylight is nothing more than a faint glow on the horizon in the middle of the day.
The Goal
At 94 kilometers per hour, howling winds of unimaginable ferocity sweep over these empty spaces where polar bears weighing up to one ton wander among the ice fields, sustaining themselves on seals, fish and the occasional reindeer. The only people who manage to survive here are the Chukchi, hunters who also tend reindeer. They are perfectly adapted to survive under these extreme conditions. There is also a very isolated research station: the Northeast Siberian Research Station in Cherskii, near Ambarchik Bay, where three Russian researchers live throughout the year. Not only do they carry out research into the cold climate and the tundra, they also hunt and fish in order to survive, just like the native peoples. This is where Expedition Siberia 2004 will end.
1/12th of the earth’s land surface
For most people, Siberia is synonymous with cold, deportation, prison camps and limitless expanses. It is certainly big. Siberia accounts for one twelfth of the earth’s land surface and is almost 14 million square kilometres in size. It takes seven hours to fly from its most westerly point in the Urals to its most easterly outpost on the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Most of Siberia consists of flat tundra and far-flung expanses of wooded taiga, mountainous and undulating in places, with deep ravines. Here it is still possible to encounter small groups of people who have never heard of Stalin, the Second World War or Perestroika.
So cold that even trees explode!
The average winter temperature is minus 35 degrees Celsius, but it often dips to minus 60 degrees. At such times mercury freezes solid and brandy becomes the consistency of syrup. It is so cold that trees explode, blue sparks fly from falling timber and when somebody exhales, their breath is transformed into a shower of ice crystals, followed by a tinkling sound referred to as “the whispers of the stars”.
Where they shipped the prisoners off too
This icy whisper was experienced by almost three million prisoners deported to the most feared of Stalin’s work camps: the Kolyma Gulag, the Auschwitz of the Soviet Union. Only a few percent of those sent there between 1937 and 1953 survived. The others starved, froze or were worked or beaten to death in the dreaded gold mine. Most of them first entered this land of gold and death via the harbour of Magadan on the Sea of Okhotsk. That is where our Siberian Expedition will star.
“We plan to traverse Siberia from the south to the north over the course of a year, beginning in the late spring of 2004 – a distance of 3,500 kilometres. Parts of our journey will take us through areas that are little known, where there are neither roads nor people: a landscape dominated by the taiga, the largest contiguous forest area in the world, where freezing polar temperatures and permafrost reign supreme.
Following the river
The River Kolyma meanders for 2,500 kilometers to the East Siberian Sea in the north and we intend to follow it as much as possible. We shall travel on skis, by foot and on snowshoes through a landscape that is almost permanently white with snow, taking with us what we need in rucksacks and on sledges. If it is possible, and if the River Kolyma is free from ice, we may try to travel by boat or canoe if we can find one along the way, doing all the paddling ourselves of course. We will follow the River Kolyma because there happen to be a few permanent settlements along its banks where we expect we can buy meat, both dried and fresh, as well as milk. We also hope to be able to provide ourselves with food by fishing and hunting.
Encounters with wildlife
There is a great variety of fish in the river, such as pike, salmon trout, char and other fish of the salmon family. The river is also a source of food that attracts to itself the game that is in the area, of which there is an abundance: brown bears, elks, wild reindeer, wolves, foxes, hares, bighorn sheep and forest birds. Polar bears and seals are common in the far north.
The dangers and the risks
There is no doubt that ours will be a classic adventure. Physically, an extreme challenge awaits us. It is a demanding journey, lasting at least a year, through areas of extreme cold, deadly dangerous icy winds and vast snowfields several metres deep, pack ice, open water and areas where the ice is not to be trusted. Great distances will be covered in solitude, in places where the chances of meeting another human being are remote and the risks of suffering severe frostbite are great.
A cold winter and a buggy summer
A long and very dark winter will hamper our progress, while the brief summer will plague us with hordes of mosquitoes and gnats. At all times we must be on our guard against marauding polar bears and brown bears. No help can possibly reach us. If there is an accident, we shall have signed our own death warrants.
Preparation for the extreme cold
Although many difficulties will beset us, the severe cold will be greatest danger. In order to prepare ourselves, we moved to Särna in the north of Dalarna County in 1999. This is a village at the foot of the Scandinavian mountain ranges. There is thick forest cover, swamps, meres, lakes and rivers. Särna also lies in one of the coldest spots in Scandinavia: temperatures have been known to drop to minus 56 degrees Celsius, although the average winter temperature is around minus 20.
The local culture revolves around hunting and fishing. These activities, and trekking in the mountains occupy all our leisure time throughout the year. Our daily life in this isolated area is also made up of long winter months, solitude, and exposure to the elements and hard physical labour. Särna is also at the southern foot of Sapmi, as the Lapps, or Sami, refer to their territory.
A miniature Siberia
The culture of the Lapps closely resembles that of the native peoples we expect to become acquainted with in Siberia. Reindeer management, animism, shamans, hunting, fishing and the knowledge of how to survive in extreme conditions are common denominators. Särna is, in some ways, Siberia in miniature. During the five coldest months of the next winter, 2003-2004, we intend to sleep in a tent behind our house.
We are choosing to travel in this adventurous manner since we realize, after sixteen years of expeditions all over the world, that the purpose of the journey cannot be achieved in any other way. The purpose is namely to document, in a down-to-earth, positive and fair manner, parts of our world that are unknown at the present time but very important for our future.
Meeting people along the way
It is, moreover, a means of travel that takes you up close to things in a manner that is non-aggressive, close to nature and, as a rule, healthy. As for the people we meet along the way, we have noticed that it is very easy for them to relate to the hardships we endure, since their daily life is usually governed by physical labor, the capriciousness of the forces of nature and the eternal hunt for food. This immediately enables us to gain admission to their lives.”
In this installment of Mikael, Titti, Johan ‘Delta’, and Sigge the dog’s upcoming expedition to Siberia, they write about the purpose of the expedition and the types of people and culture they are expecting to come across on their yearlong journey. In Part’s I and II, the team wrote about how and where of their expedition.
The purpose of Expedition Siberia is as follows:
“The main aim is to use words, pictures and film to make a record of this unknown part of our world. This is a vital task, since in the course of our extensive research work we have realized that not even the Russians or the Siberians themselves have a comprehensive picture of the area along the Kolyma River. The obstacles are the cold, the distance, the size and the isolation. The area is untouched, remote and unknown. Nonetheless the area is as rich in gold, oil and mineral deposits as the rest of Siberia.
The answer to life?
This part of the world is one of the few remaining places on earth that is virgin territory. This is a genuine journey of discovery. We also believe that it is in this untouched area that the answers to many of the questions asked by modern men are to be found: What are we doing here? What is our task? How do we find calm, harmony and satisfaction in our lives?
Making such a record is a task that is not only vital, but urgent. It concerns both the harmony and insight available to future generations as well as knowledge not only about this unique area of tundra and taiga that is as yet untouched, but also the equally unique people who live there. It is surely only a matter of time before someone begins attempting to exploit the riches of the area.
The effect of modern man
When that happens, the changes will be dramatic and mostly for the worse. Where such activities have already taken place in Siberia, the effects on nature in those areas have been disastrous. Some places are ecological catastrophes where everything is dead and ugly. With the arrival of modern society, the native peoples have ended up in a no-man’s-land between their own culture and the new one. The result has been alcoholism, social deprivation, violence and spiritual and cultural meaninglessness.
Excitement and adventure
We shall do everything in our power to make a realistic record of how we and the people we meet experience the daily life and dreams of this area, but we will primarily focus on what is positive. We want our work not only to be educational, but also to inspire hope, motivation, energy and enormous joie de vivre! It goes without saying that there will be a large helping of excitement and adventure as well…
Brown bears and wolves
We shall also record the adventures and personal hardships we endure. There is an ever-growing need for dreams, excitement and adventure. It is almost a prerequisite for feeling good nowadays. We shall therefore record how we endure the cold, how we deal with the polar bears we meet, how our dog Sigge copes with brown bears and wolves, what we do about our various mishaps, how we cross pack ice and open water and how we survive by hunting and fishing. That in itself will be a great adventure.
The bonds that hold together a relationship
The same can no doubt be said of our relationship. Will it survive such extreme conditions or not? That is the question we are most often asked at our lectures, which indicates how important it is. This record of our journey will therefore be made in the personal manner for which we are so famous and that has been so successful. For that reason our personalities will be very noticeable, as will our sense of humor.
The four native groups
During the course of our journey we shall meet at least four groups of native peoples: the Chukchis, the Evenks, The Yakuts and the Yagahirs. They are closely related to the Eskimos Lapps, Tibetans and American Indians as far as their culture, way of life, animistic religion and language are concerned.
Nonetheless there are great differences, which very much depend on how well or how badly they have managed to withstand Russian colonization, the dramatic changes in Soviet society and the current industrialization of Siberia. Most of them have done military service or attended Soviet schools, can speak Russian and have adopted the mores of Russian society to some extent. But far from all of them, however – particularly those who still live along the isolated, freezing and inaccessible River Kolyma.
The Chukchis
The Chukchis are the most isolated and least influenced minority in Siberia. They are semi-nomadic, live in tents of reindeer skin and survive by hunting and by fishing from kayaks. In addition they manage their tame reindeer in an ancient fashion and do not even use dogs to herd them. They carry out their tasks bareheaded and without gloves whatever the temperature. They were the last of the Siberian native peoples to bow to the sovereignty of the encroaching Russians as they colonized this vast area in the sixteenth century.
The Evenks
Of the four peoples, the Evenks most closely resemble the Lapps of Scandinavia. They ride, milk and tend their tame reindeer in the same way as the Lapps. They live by hunting and fishing.
The Yakuts are semi-nomadic hunters and reindeer herdsmen and are those who have adopted Russian culture and the habits of Soviet society to the greatest extent. Originally they come from the Turkic-speaking parts of Asia and have founded the state of Yakutia-Sakha, which has yet to achieve full independence.
The Yagahirs
The Yagahirs are a people on the verge of extinction: only 500 Yagahirs remain. They also survive by hunting and fishing.
We feel it is important that during the course of our journey we should record how the original inhabitants of Siberia live, think and view the world around them and the future. Why do many of them still prefer their traditional way of life? Why have those who have adopted modern ways chosen to do so? How do they survive the extreme cold? There is much knowledge to be gleaned from them.
The murderers and criminals
Along the Kolyma there are also people who do not fit in to conventional society: recluses, fugitives, researchers, pioneers, former prison camp inmates, criminals, murderers and refugees. We want to describe these originals and misfits, their view of life and their circumstances. We want to find the Siberian temperament. Even they can provide a perspective on the way of life of modern man.
We also want to ascertain how the area has been affected by the enormous changes in society that have been the result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is generally considered to be a transition from a dictatorial rule that was exercised over the populace from the cradle to the grave, to the current Russian chaos of every man for himself. But perhaps the question should be: Have the people along the Kolyma been affected by ninety years of Soviet rule in any way whatsoever?
A unique and idiosyncratic journey
We expect that there will be great international interest in our journey. We know that we have a large and faithful audience of all ages. Expedition Siberia will be a unique and idiosyncratic journey through a world that for a long time has merely terrified and agitated most people in the West. The time has come for the truth to be told!
Husband and wife adventurers Mikael and Titti Strandberg, along with their dog Sigge are just a few months away from embarking upon an epic journey through Siberia stretching over 3500km. Also joining them for this expedition will be a young guy, a great outdoor talent, and good hunter, Johan "Delta" Ivarsson.
The husband and wife team is no stranger to such long adventures. In 1997-98 they traveled 3000km through Patagonia by horse and more recently in 2000 they explored all clans of the Maasai, 1000 km through East Africa.
Images courtesy of Siberia.nu:
Image 1: Titti and Mikael Strandberg and friends walking through Maasailand in Africa.
Image 2: Johan
Image 3: Sigge the dog
Image 4: The Strandberg’s house in Sarna
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