Verkhoyansk District
Verkhoyansk is the coldest district of Yakutia, which is itself the coldest inhabited part of the world. Located in the Siberian Arctic, thousands of kilometres north of the nearest road, home to indigenous horse herders, reindeer herders and mammoth tusk hunters, it’s about as far off the unbeaten track as you can get.
Sacred kisilyakh rock pillars, Verkhoyansk District, Arctic Yakutia
Traditionally the Evenki indigenous people in the district have been reindeer herders and the Yakut have been horse herders, with Verkhoyansk horses often being considered the finest pedigree of the Yakut horse. These days, many people also give up their usual job during the short summer and head off into the tundra for three months to search for mammoth tusks, in which the area is extremely rich, hunting and fishing for survival while they do so. The tusks can then be sold to traders or shipped to Yakutsk, providing an invaluable supplement to many people’s income.
Other areas of interest for travellers include the stunning kisilyakh rock pillars, which adorn several mountain tops and can be up to 35 metres tall, the enormous sink hole that formed just over a decade ago and is probably the largest in Russia and the well-preserved gulag camp of Kestyor.
Verkhoyansk District can be reached by direct flight from Yakutsk to Batagay, or by driving around 1000km on a zimnik (temporary winter road on frozen river surfaces) in winter. There is one small hotel in Batagay.
