They ride their reindeers, live in tipis like the Indians do, and hunt the wild animals of the taiga. You find them in the forests and the mountains all over Siberia – from Ob River in the west to Kamchatka in the east; and from the Chinese border in the south to cold Yakutia in the north. The hunting and nomadic Evenks are the most widespread ethnic group in Russia with a population of about 35.000, surpassed only by the Russians themselves. In the summer of 2008 I tried to find the Evenks in the remote Kalar Mountains, approximately 700 km northeast of Lake Baikal in the northern Chita province. The friendly school director in the Evenk village Chapo-Ologo helped me with transport to the mountains to a Russian mining village. From there I had a 80km struggle to the Evenk’s camp through swamped, Siberian taiga with countless river crossings. I only found what turned out to be the coming winter camp of the Evenks; unfortunately I did not find the Evenks themselves (the information I had got from the village was innacurate). However, as it appears from the photos there are always lots of adventures to be had on a trip through the Siberian taiga – even when you do not find the nomads!
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 Chara River in the village Chapo-Ologo. |
 Evenk children in front of the school in Chapo-Ologo. |
 The main street in Chapo-Ologo. |
 Chapo-Ologo. |
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 A toothless Evenk in Chapo-Ologo. |
 The friendly school director in Chapo-Ologo (right) and her friend. |
 The Russian mining village in Kalar Mountians. |
 Visiting Boris in the Russian mining village. |
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 Boris gave me a lift in his tank 15 km towards the Evenk camp. |
 The cockpit of Boris’ tank. |
 Boris had to repair the tracks of his tank several times. |
 The view was great from the top of the tank. |
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 Ready to hike the last 80 km to the Evenk camp. |
 A lonely Evenk on fishing trip; I met him in the taiga. |
 A primitive hut in the taiga. |
 Inside the hut. |
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 The Russian coniferous forest (taiga) stretches through all Siberia. |
 The river China which I had to cross several times. |
 An abandoned cabin (earlier used by the Evenks in the winter). |
 Countless creeks run into large rivers which end thousands of kilometres further north in the Polar Sea. |
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 The view towards Bear Creek. |
 Full moon. |
 The area where the Evenks use to have their winter camp. |
 I found lots of signs of life
(this is the framework of
a tent)
in the Evenks’ coming
winter camp,
but not the Evenks themselves! |
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 Dried reindeer hoofs. |
 The Evenks are building storerooms on poles covered by metal to protect their food from bears and other wild animals. |
 In the camp there were newly built cabins for the coming winter. |
 The Evenks had left three dogs in the camp. |
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 Reindeer antlers and a pair of old trousers. |
 On my way back to the Russian mining village I ran into heavy thunder rain. |
 Sun after rain. |
 Mist in the morning after heavy rain the day before. |
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 The water raised in the rivers due to the rain, and often it became a problem to cross them. |
