throat singing and nomadic culture 

August 01 ⇾ August 15

In addition to our regular group departures to Siberia, we also offer tour services for private travel parties and lone wolves alike. As a traveller-oriented boutique operator, tailored trips and bespoke adventures are our bread and butter. Get in touch for more info on our customised journeys to Siberia! 

DAY 1 - Barnaul

  • Meet-and-greet at Barnaul Regional Airport and transfer to our hotel of choice in central Barnaul.

  • We'll spend the entire day touring Barnaul, the capital of Altai Krai (not to be confused with the namesake republic further south).

  • Barnaul is exactly our cup of tea and we couldn’t have asked for a better start to our tour: a quintessentially Soviet city full of grandiose monuments, Lenin statues and WWII memorials as well as remarkable examples of socialist architecture and public art (mosaics and bas-reliefs).

  • In the evening we'll go out for a musical concert either at the Philharmonia or at the Orchestra of Russian National Music Instruments.

  • If you are more into independent venues, we will assist to a show of one of the many young Russian indie bands enlivening the town's nightlife.

  • Dinner and overnight in Barnaul.

DAY 2 - Topolnoye

  • Right after breakfast we will start our trip to one of the most interesting area of the Altai Krai: after a 3-hour drive southwards we will find ourselves surrounded by the beautiful highlands of the Altai mountains.

  • After a lunch at a small family-run dairy factory, we'll then continue our trip to the picturesque village Topolnoye: the people of this village are descendant of the Old-Believers who separated in 1666 from the official Russian Orthodox Church; most of them moved to the secluded corners of Siberia in the 17th century and have kept living in a traditional way for centuries.

  • During your time in the village we’ll have the unique chance to meet with local farmers and artisans, who will share with us their food, their home and the mystic secrets of their endangered culture.

  • Dinner and overnight in Topolnoye.

DAY 3 - Karakol Valley

  • After breakfast we will drive to the border between the Altai Krai and the Altai Republic proper.

  • Along the way we will visit the world-famous Denisova Cave: a true Eldorado for palaeontologists as this is the very place where a fossilised phalanx of a girl’s finger was found and the subsequent DNA-analysis showed that it belonged neither to the extinct Neanderthals nor to Homo Sapiens, but represented a separate branch within the evolution of our species.

  • After lunch we will eventually enter the Karakol Valley, a sacral place among the Altai people, the Turkic-speaking Mongolic nation of shamanistic traditions constituting the titular ethnicity of the autonomous republic we've just entered.

  • We will stay for the night at a local family and learn about the traditions and the rituals of Altai people.

  • In the evening we will also meet the local kaichi (shaman-cum-dance-cum-singer) and enjoy a concert of throat singing accompanied by national musical instruments such as the topshur and the komyz.

  • Dinner and overnight in the Karakol Valley.

DAY 4 - Chuisky Trakt

  • In the morning we will enjoy some sightseeing around the Karakol Valley: ancient petroglyphs, Scythian burial mounds and mysterious monoliths.

  • We will also pay our respect to the Groundhog Monument, erected to thank the fluffy rodent for having saved - with its flesh - the local population during the WWII famines.

  • We will then travel along the Chuisky Trakt, a stunning road that National Geographic named as one the world's best drives.

  • During our journey we will, of course, stop at several picturesque tiny Altai villages of traditional wooden yurts (also known as ails) and Soviet nostalgia such as Boochi, Bichiktubom and Kupchegen.

  • Dinner and overnight at a local guesthouse along the Chuisky Trakt.

Day 5 - Kosh Agach  

  • We'll continue our drive down the Chuisky Trakt and cross en route the Kurai Steppe, a very beautiful intermontane basin where you can admire, depending on weather conditions, impressive views of the mighty Chuisky Ridge.

  • Exiting the Kurai Steppe we will explore the coloured mountains of Kyzyl-Chin, also known as Mars, and the melancholic Altai town of Chagan-Uzon.

  • Besides the usual stops for food, toilet and photography, we'll break the long haul by visiting stunning natural attractions, such as the Blue Geyser Lake and the Red Gate rock formations, as well as a few more Altai villages and towns like Aktash and Chibit.

  • We will then enter the Chuya Steppe and head to the end-of-the-world settlement of Kosh-Agach, where we will tour the market full of smuggled goods from Mongolia, the traditional wooden mosque of the local Kazakh community and the mandatory Lenin statue.

  • Dinner and overnight in Kosh-Agach.

Day 6 - Chuya Steppe

  • Today we will explore the Chuya Steppe: we will pass along the River Yustyd, home to ancient burial mounds, and stop at the remote hamlet of Kokoryu, which hosts a mummified head of a Sarmatian warrior.

  • During our time in steppe, besides admiring the breathtaking and slightly surreal sceneries, we will also get acquainted with the Kazakh culture visiting the extremely remote Kazakh villages of Jana-Aul and Tashanta.

  • Dinner and overnight in Kosh-Agach.

DAY 7 TO DAY 8 - Tuva Track

  • We’ll leave Kosh-Agach in the early morning hours and set off for the most adventurous segment of our journey: the mythical Tuva Track, a surreally remote 4x4-only trail connecting southern Altai with western Tuva.

  • The bumpy and scenic drive along the Tuva Track will take us across an untouched landscape of whitewater streams, idyllic grasslands, imposing mountains, challenging passes, natural springs, solitary summer bivouacs and scant yak herds.

  • Under normal weather and “road” conditions it’s possible to travel the whole length of the Tuva Track in ca. 10 hours; we have, however, decided to throw in an extra day to allow for some buffer time in case of floods and/or breakdowns.

  • Exiting the most challenging section of the track, we will fist reach the tiny settlement of Kyzyl-Khaya and then move further west to the notoriously hostile village of Mugur-Aksy before eventually reaching the vast flatlands of Western Tuva.

  • Meals and overnights in traditional guesthouses.

DAY 9 TO DAY 10 - Western Tuva

  • From Mugu-Aksy we’ll travel further north to Ak-Dovurak, a surreal Soviet urban reality lost in the Tuvan plateau: concrete apartment blocks, socialist monumentalism, and buddhist stupas.

  • The next two days we’ll be entirely devoted to the untamed natural and cultural landscapes of the Tuvan Wild West.

  • Highlights of your stay in Western Tuva will include: horse herders settlements, nomadic encampments, shamanic encounters, mutton intestines and lots of Soviet melancholia.

  • Dinners and overnights in Ak-Dovurak.

DAY 11 TO DAY 12 - Kyzyl

  • From Ak-Dovurak we’ll move east to Chadan, a traditional Tuvan town renowned for its horse culture, and then onto Kyzyl, the national capital.

  • We’ll spend two nights and a full day in Kyzyl, a pleasant Soviet provincial capital with a unique Mongol flavour: Buddhist temples, socialist monuments, brutalist architectures, shaman houses, interesting museums and exotic bazaars.

  • The daily schedule will vary depending on whether you are going to travel to Tuva during Naadym (midsummer folk festival, exact dates vary from year to year) or outside the festivity period.

  • The festival program usually includes: throat singing concerts, handicraft workshops, horse races, archery competition, folkloristic parade, wrestling sessions and a best-yurt contest among representatives from the seventeen administrative provinces of Tuva.

  • Even if you do not travel to Tuva during Naadym you will still have the opportunity to pay a visit to the local shaman and witness khuresh (wrestling) and khoomei (throat-singing) performances: a truly mesmerising spectacle of ancient traditions and mystic rituals.

  • Meals and overnights in Kyzyl.

DAY 13 TO DAY 14 - Todzha

  • Early start from Kyzyl for the long overland journey to Todzha, an enchanted and secluded semi-autonomous area in the far north of the republic: a unique world of endless taiga, nomadic traditions and shamanic rituals.

  • Besides the routine stops for food, photography and physiological needs, we’ll break the long haul at the traditional village of Boyarovka.

  • In the afternoon we’ll eventually reach Toora-Khem, a picturesque wooden village functioning as the administrative capital of Todzha.

  • We’ll check-in at a local guesthouse and spend one-and-half day exploring the many natural and cultural wonders of mysterious Todzha.

  • Highlights of your stay in the area will include: otherworldly mountain lakes, boundless forests, traditional villages, reindeer herders and authentic shamans (and we do mean the real deal, not the dressed-up actors you may meet in those kitschy, touristic and irremediably fake ethno-complexes so popular among Russian tourists).

  • One overnight in Toora-Khem (DAY 13) and one back in Kyzyl (DAY 14).

DAY 15 - FAREWELL TO SIBERIA  

  • After sharing a last Tuvan meal together, we'll take care of your transfer to Kyzyl Regional Airport.

  • Possible tour extensions to this itinerary include: Transbaikal and/or Yakutia.

  • End of the tour.

3990 €

INCLUSIONS
Double/twin-room accommodation (breakfast included), private transport in Siberia (car/minivan), all entrance fees, English-speaking guiding service, 24/7 on-site and remote assistance.

EXCLUSIONS
Single supplement, international flights, main meals (lunches and dinners), extra drinks, visa fees (if required), tips, travel insurance.