Siberia from North to East. Part 3 : Along the Yenisei

[GM]

So here is the third thread about the trip I've just done in Siberia.
You can see the first pics about Norilsk here :Siberia from North to East. Part 1 : Norilsk
And the pics about Dudinka here : Siberia from North to East. Part 2 : Dudinka

So we took the boat at Dudinka to go up the river as far as Ienisseisk (or Yeniseisk). The terminus for the boat was actually Krasnoyarsk, even more to the south.
It was a 4 days trip (about 1,500 or 2,000 km). As we were heading down to the south, each day was shorter and warmer than the one before. We went through areas of very low density, with only taïga in sight and, no more than two or three times a day, village of a few dozens houses.

1- In the command cabin (we could enter it thanks to our guide who knew the vice-captain of the boat) :


2- The vice-captain :


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4- A village in sight :


5- Each time we came along a village where the boat couldn't properly stop (because there wasn't a quay), half-dozen of little motor boats headed towards the boat to take (or bring) a passenger or some goods


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9- Hours laters, arriving at Igarka by a semi-polar night (day ?). there is a quay this time. Igarka is somewhat a big town for the region :


10- Not to many pics of Igarka. It was too dark :


11- Some pics of the inside of our boat (this is the first class where I had the luck to have my cabin) :


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13- Second day on the boat :


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17- I forgot the name of this village :


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22- First cows seen in my trip :


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24- The taïga :


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26- The fucking vastness of the taïga :


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39- Stopping at Tururhansk :


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50- In this village lost in the middle of Siberia, by a hot afternoon with an air filled by mosquitos, entering this church where three veiled women were singing incomprehensible (for me) prayers, surrounded by hundreds of icons... this was a very special moment. I did not take pics of the inside :


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54- The local school :


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56- Playground :


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59- A double rainbow !


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61- Sunset :


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76- These young guys with full beards are actually "Old Believers". They are some kind of "Amish" but within the Orthodox Church. They live in very isolated areas of Siberia :


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91- The river was narrower and the flow faster at this point :


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95- Stopping at Vorogovo :


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98- People from the village were selling food and drinks to the passengers and crew of the boat :


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104- A very blurry pic of our sailors, but it's the only one I took :


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110- A flock of seagulls is following us since Dudinka !!!!


111- The engine room :


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115- The vice-captain, also a Cossack of high ranking, showing us his traditionnal whip and sabre :


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120- I almost forget to say that our boat is named after a famous soviet soldier, Alexander Matrosov :


Next thread will be about the end of this boat trip and the towns of Podtesovo and Ienisseïsk.

[El_Greco]

Incredibly fascinating stuff! I bet its quite a pain to sort such a trip out.

[MIBO]

Congratulations!

Definitely one of the most unique and fascinating trips shown here on SSC. I am very very impressed!

I do have a couple of questions. People in this little town in the middle of nowhere use the river as the sole mode of transportation? I guess...no vegetables? What do people do in those towns (looks more like 10 houses put together randomly)?
Isn't it quite depressing? Did you manage to talk to people over there?

Again congratulations for the pictures, and awesome trip from a region I always wanted to visit!

[GM]

Originally Posted by MIBO

Congratulations!

Definitely one of the most unique and fascinating trips shown here on SSC. I am very very impressed!

I do have a couple of questions. People in this little town in the middle of nowhere use the river as the sole mode of transportation? I guess...no vegetables? What do people do in those towns (looks more like 10 houses put together randomly)?
Isn't it quite depressing? Did you manage to talk to people over there?

Again congratulations for the pictures, and awesome trip from a region I always wanted to visit!

The river is the main mode of transportation, there are also some local airports here and there. There isn't any road which connects these towns to the rest of the country.
I guess most of the people in these towns live from agriculture, with maybe some hunting and fishing. These towns live in quasi-autarky.
I did not really manage to talk to people from these little villages, since the boat never stopped for more than an hour, and since I don't speak Russian (except from basic words, and people there don't English, nor French).

[Chadoh25]

Great photos!

[Jennifat]

Another intriguing thread, GM!

It must have been surreal slowly seeing the landscape change from featureless tundra to thick forest...from a boat. What a strange and captivating adventure.

How do the people who live in these tiny settlements travel at the times of the year when the river is impassible by boat or snowmobile (when the ice is still too thin or breaking up)?