Yamal Peninsula: most accessible Nenets

5 days
From $1089
All year round

Tour Overview

This is our most affordable tour to the easiest Nenets who are easiest to access from Salekhard city. This tour is good for people who have little time and limited budget to visit remoter, more traditional and more migratory Nenets with bigger herds. These Nenets can be reached in one day's overland travel from Salekhard, so they are not on the Yamal Peninsula but are in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region. They usually have herds of a few hundred reindeer and do not migrate very often. They are slightly Russified due to their proximity to Salekhard but still, everyone wears traditional clothing every day and they all live in traditional fur tents (chums). So if you have a limited budget, little time and just want some photos of traditionally-dressed Nenets in their traditional environment this can be a good option. You are, however, unlikely to migrate with them, unikely to see anything associated with Nenets rleigion and unlikely to see a really big reindeer herd.

Highlights

  • Living in a traditional chum (reindeer-fur teepee) with a family of Nenets reindeer herders for three nights
  • Getting involved in the daily life of the encampment
  • Observing a herd of several hundred reindeer
  • Trying traditional Nenets cuisine of reindeer meat and Arctic fish such as chir and muksun.
  • Seeing the Northern Lights if you are lucky
  • Crossing the Arctic Circle
  • Enjoying the winter wonderland scenery of the forest tundra or Polar Ural Mountains
  • Enjoying our most affordable adventure to the Nenets nomads
  • Travelling for a total of only 5 days to and from Moscow

Itinerary

Day 1: Fly into Salekhard and travel to Nenets encampment

Guide meets you upon arrival at the airport of Salekhard, capital of Arctic Siberia’s Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region. We head north from here to an encampment of nomadic Nenets reindeer herders. How we get there depends on their exact location and snow conditions at the time. We may use a 6-wheeler Trekol all-terrain vehicle, snowmobiles with attached sledges or a combination of the two. Overnight with a nomadic family in their chum (reindeer-skin conical tent). Go out at night to spot the Northern Lights if desired.

Day 2: Immersion in the daily life of the Nenets

Immerse ourselves in lives of the nomads, herding reindeer, making sledges, eating meat and fish, sewing fur clothing, etc. These nomads are among the most traditional tribal people in the world. They wear clothing made of reindeer fur, sewn using reindeer sinew as thread, and live in conical teepees made of reindeer fur and known as chums. They migrate up to 800km every year, transporting their chums and all their possessions on home-made, wooden, reindeer-drawn sledges. They speak a language completely unrelated to Russian and sacrifice reindeer to the gods of an ancient shamanistic religion. Overnight with nomadic family in their chum. Go out to look for Northern Lights at night if desired.

Day 3: Immersion in the daily life of the Nenets

Live with the nomads, eating and sleeping in their chums (reindeer fur teepees). There will be no fixed itinerary for these days. Guests will merely observe and take part in the daily lives of the nomads and immerse themselves in this ancient culture. Daily life could include herding reindeer (up to 1,000 in one herd), lassoing reindeer with reindeer rawhide lassoes, slaughtering reindeer then eating the raw meat and drinking the blood (the Nenets’ favourite meal),  cutting trees for firewood, collecting ice or snow for water, making new sledges, sewing fur clothing, and so on. Overnight with nomadic family. Go out at night to hunt for Northern Lights if desired.

Day 4: Return to Salekhard

Return to Salekhard in the evening. Overnight in hotel.

Day 5: Fly home

Day 5: Transfer to Salekhard airport. Fly out to Moscow Domodedovo, arriving at 10 a.m.

Price

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Price includes:

 

  • All transport and transfers on Yamal
  • Accommodation in Salekhard in twin ensuite rooms. Single supplement $85 per person.
  • All meals while with the nomads
  • English- and Russian-speaking guide with knowledge of Nenets culture and religion on the level of an anthropologist
  • Fees to the Nenets for hosting us
  • Letter of invitation for 30-day Russian tourist visa
  • Satellite phone for emergency calls

 

Price does not include:

 

  • Food in Moscow or Salekhard. Meals in Salekhard can be added for $70 per person.
  • Transfers, accommodation or guiding in Moscow. This can be included at extra cost if so desired.
  • Flights or train tickets to and from Salekhard. These can be included in the price if so desired.
  • Personal travel insurance or medical insurance
  • International flights
  • Personal expenses
  • Western clothing or equipment. You will need a sleeping bag, western boots, very warm western clothing and so on. Boots, trousers and jacket rated down to -45°C can be rented from us in Salekhard for $70 per person. Sleeping bags rated down to -60°C can be rented for $65 per person. Prices include delivery to and pick up from your Salekhard hotel.
  • Satellite phone for personal or work-related calls. You can purchase minutes for $2 per minute.
  • Expenses such as extra accommodation, flights, etc caused by bad weather, flight delays or other force majeure situations.

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