The Yamal Peninsula

Indigenous Arctic nomadic culture has been better preserved on the Yamal Peninsula than anywhere else in the world. The Nenets nomads migrate endlessly across the Yamal Peninsula, whose name means “The Edge of the World” in their language. Two to five times a week, they pack all their belongings, tents and family onto hand-carved, wooden reindeer sledges and migrate to new pastures. This is truly one of the planet’s most spectacular events to take part in. Guests get to migrate with up to 11,000 reindeer, 100 sledges and 50 people snaking across the snowy landscape in a caravan up to 8km long.

The Nenets make their own reindeer fur clothing, live in reindeer-fur teepees and migrate thousands of kilometres on reindeer sledges every year. Many of the items they use in daily life are fashioned from different parts of the reindeer. Their favourite meal is raw reindeer meat and blood, which they eat and drink straight from the carcass. Their language is unrelated to Russian, their features are more Asian and they follow an ancient animistic-shamanistic religion. The Yamal Peninsula tundra is full of sacred sites, where reindeer are brought as offerings to the gods. Some are just a pile of reindeer skulls and antlers a metre tall. Others are huge areas with several piles up to four metres high, carved wooden idols and polar bears skulls surrounding them.

There are around 20,000 nomads in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, of which the Yamal Peninsula is the northernmost part. They are spread out over a huge area. Their lifestyle and extend to which they have preserved their extreme nomadic way of life various from district to district. We offer trips to several different districts. The cheapest to access Nenets are those easily accessible from Salekhard city, who do not actually live on the Yamal Peninsula. However, they have smaller herds than the Yamal Peninsula Nenets and do not migrate so often. 

The most migratory Nenets are those from the Yar-Sale area of the southern Yamal Peninsula, who move camp two to five times a week and cover up to 1300 km per year. The most isolated Nenets are those who live in the far north of the Yamal Peninsula, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest road and only accessible by helicopter.

All our Yamal Peninsula trips are tailored to the specific requirements and goals of our guests. All our guests are accompanied by our own guides, who have an anthropologist’s level of knowledge of Nenets culture and long-standing personal relationships with the families we visit. We usually work with the families who have the biggest herds (from 2,000 to 11,000 reindeer), unless guests specifically want to visit a smaller herd. Our guests always sleep in a chum (reindeer-fur teepee) with a nomadic Nenets family, with whom they eat all their meals.

These are genuine full cultural immersion trips. There will not be a fixed program for every day. Our guests will merely observe and immerse themselves in the daily life of the nomad camp. This can involve migrating to new pastures, herding reindeer, lassoing reindeer, slaughtering reindeer, cutting down trees for firewood, collecting snow for drinking water, making new sledge parts, sewing fur clothing, etc.

Please browse our five standard Yamal Peninsula itineraries below. We will always be happy to tailor them according to your requests or create a completely new itinerary just for you. About 50% of the trips we run are for photographers and film crews. We have organised the shoots for most films made about the Nenets over the last ten years.

For more information on Nenets culture, religion, language and history, please visit our dedicated Yamal Peninsula website: Yamal Peninsula Travel.

Indigenous Arctic nomadic culture has been better preserved on the Yamal Peninsula than anywhere else in the world. The Nenets nomads migrate endlessly across the Yamal Peninsula, whose name means “The Edge of the World” in their language. Two to five times a week, they pack all their belongings, tents and family onto hand-carved, wooden reindeer sledges and migrate to new pastures. This is truly one of the planet’s most spectacular events to take part in. Guests get to migrate with up to 11,000 reindeer, 100 sledges and 50 people snaking across the snowy landscape in a caravan up to 8km long.

The Nenets make their own reindeer fur clothing, live in reindeer-fur teepees and migrate thousands of kilometres on reindeer sledges every year. Many of the items they use in daily life are fashioned from different parts of the reindeer. Their favourite meal is raw reindeer meat and blood, which they eat and drink straight from the carcass. Their language is unrelated to Russian, their features are more Asian and they follow an ancient animistic-shamanistic religion. The Yamal Peninsula tundra is full of sacred sites, where reindeer are brought as offerings to the gods. Some are just a pile of reindeer skulls and antlers a metre tall. Others are huge areas with several piles up to four metres high, carved wooden idols and polar bears skulls surrounding them.

There are around 20,000 nomads in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region, of which the Yamal Peninsula is the northernmost part. They are spread out over a huge area. Their lifestyle and extend to which they have preserved their extreme nomadic way of life various from district to district. We offer trips to several different districts. The cheapest to access Nenets are those easily accessible from Salekhard city, who do not actually live on the Yamal Peninsula. However, they have smaller herds than the Yamal Peninsula Nenets and do not migrate so often. The most migratory Nenets are those from the Yar-Sale area of the southern Yamal Peninsula, who move camp two to five times a week and cover up to 1300 km per year. The most isolated Nenets are those who live in the far north of the Yamal Peninsula, hundreds of kilometres from the nearest road and only accessible by helicopter.

All our Yamal Peninsula trips are tailored to the specific requirements and goals of our guests. All our guests are accompanied by our own guides, who have an anthropologist’s level of knowledge of Nenets culture and long-standing personal relationships with the families we visit. We usually work with the families who have the biggest herds (from 2,000 to 11,000 reindeer), unless guests specifically want to visit a smaller herd. Our guests always sleep in a chum (reindeer-fur teepee) with a nomadic Nenets family, with whom they eat all their meals.

These are genuine full cultural immersion trips. There will not be a fixed program for every day. Our guests will merely observe and immerse themselves in the daily life of the nomad camp. This can involve migrating to new pastures, herding reindeer, lassoing reindeer, slaughtering reindeer, cutting down trees for firewood, collecting snow for drinking water, making new sledge parts, sewing fur clothing, etc.

Please browse our five standard Yamal Peninsula itineraries below. We will always be happy to tailor them according to your requests or create a completely new itinerary just for you. About 50% of the trips we run are for photographers and film crews. We have organised the shoots for most films made about the Nenets over the last ten years.

For more information on Nenets culture, religion, language and history, please visit our dedicated Yamal Peninsula website: Yamal Peninsula Travel.

Yamal Peninsula tours