Diary Entry
We only have a short stretch ahead of us through the riverbed to the source. This time we have to carry our luggage over the pass ourselves. It’s very tiring, but we can do it. Exhausted, we reach the camp of the Evens, who, as announced, have come to meet us.
And then we finally see reindeer! We immediately notice the large herd of reindeer herded on the plain by children.
While a few boys, no older than ten, run around the herd and wave, a girl of about fourteen rides around the herd and gives the children and the animals direction. We recognize the girl. She was with the Evenish family in the back of the truck that brought us here to the nomads.
Finally we see reindeer!
We greet people and are immediately asked to eat in a tent. We set up our tent and are invited back for dinner. The children arrive and a mother in a traditional skirt seems to do nothing all day other than cook food that is available in the dining tent in case anyone is hungry.
There’s ibex with noodles; We give the children gummy bears that we took with us for similar encounters. The little ones play happily with us.
We are invited straight to dinner!
We are trying to establish contact with Konstantin, who strangely stopped responding. Communication with the Evens is poor. Since people themselves speak Russian poorly, Google doesn’t help us either.
The nomads have their own language. We can at least explain the most important things with the chunks of Russian and hands and feet.
They offer us horses again and explain that they could take us to another river, the Tara Sala. This leads back to Batagay-Alyta and should still have enough water. But is that true? This information could also be outdated as quickly as the water drains away without further snow or rain.
Do we take the expensive truck with Konstantin or do we take the risk of riding part of the route on horses and then managing the rest of the way to the next settlement on our own?
Before we lie down, I play the guitar in the polar night twilight and attract the children again. Our future path is uncertain. We probably have no choice but to return to Batagay-Alyta and see what happens from there. Maybe we fly to the Lena and paddle a part of this huge river to another settlement?
There are still 120 kilometers between us and the nearest civilization in Batagay-Alyta. We decide to sleep and make the decision the next morning.
In the wilderness, every decision has serious consequences
The night is still light, but I can’t sleep much. Out here, decisions have serious consequences. In the wilderness you are truly alone. If you hurt yourself, you are alone. Every risk poses a threat to life. That’s why we had to turn back at Sobopol.
But the journey cannot end like this. We don’t want to just wait here and take the truck back like a taxi. We will accept the Evens’ offer and take the horses. Then we will see what the Tara Sala offers us.
