In the Evenen camp we had another opportunity to rest and plan how our adventure should continue. The Evens offer to take us on horses to a river that they say has enough water and leads to the settlement from which we came here.

If this river were as dry as the Sobopol, given our slow speed with our luggage, it would take us two weeks to reach the settlement of Batagay-Alyta. Our return flight would also be close. But at least we have enough supplies.

We vote for traveling with horses. However, it takes until noon until the nomads are ready. Until then, we can still take part in the buffet in the dining tent.

At lunchtime you can start with riding horses for Uli and me, a pack horse and a guide who is also on horseback.

They want to take us to a place where we can paddle the Tara Sala river. Hopefully we can get to Batagay-Alyta via this river on our own. If that’s not an adventure.

We left the Evenen camp late today to get to the start of our next stage. We have an enormous advantage: it won’t be night. We have all the time in the world to achieve our goal.

Apart from the fact that it gets cold at some point and the mosquitoes become extremely aggressive in the evening.

All that matters at the moment is that we get back somehow.

The journey with the horses is incredibly beautiful. We cross mountains, ride across vast plains and through shallow rivers. Coniferous forests are slowly beginning to appear again. Uli cannot ride and his horse constantly breaks away or simply stops. The guide then ties Uli’s horse to the tail of the pack horse.

Fortunately, I can ride and let my horse trot behind the group or trot around a bit in the area. I always go to Uli to exchange cameras or take good photos.

I will remember this day as the most beautiful of the trip.

In the evening, after about thirty kilometers, we reach a point where the river seems to be deep enough. The nomad packs up the horses and we drink his tea. We offer him some of our vodka, to which he doesn’t say no – he downs everything that’s left in the bottle in one go.

There he goes, our good Russian stuff. We pay the man, whereupon he rides home happy and drunk and we set up our camp.

We try our luck fishing, but nothing bites. Now we are really alone again in bear country and now have the task of covering a hundred kilometers on our own.

Time and distances have completely different dimensions here in the wilderness.

A kilometer is suddenly a long distance with all the obstacles that there are to overcome and the hardships that you have to overcome.

It only adds up in days because everything is happening slowly. Time stands still. It is very, very quiet in this part of the world.

The landscape shines in the most fantastic colors. Tomorrow the challenge of the river awaits us again. Will we finally sit in the boat, or will we have to laboriously drag the kayak and luggage across the gravel? We’ll know tomorrow.