Trans-Yamal off-road trips

money and who want a really serious adventure. This winter road is an extension of the 275km dirt track, mentioned above, that runs up the western coast of the Yamal Peninsula. In summer there is no road beyond 275km. However, in winter a rough winter road (little more than tracks through the snow) grants potential access to Seyakha, the northernmost village on the Yamal Peninsula. It is so remote and so rarely travelled that for safety you need to take two all-terrain vehicles and allow 4 days one way for the trip. On the way you will of course pass lots of Nenets encampments.

• However, the fun does not have to stop at Seyakha. Although there is no zimnik north of Seyakha, the Yamal Peninsula continues for hundreds more miles. There are no permanent settlements there, but there are plenty of Nenets nomads. These are of course the remotest, most isolated encampments and those who have best preserved the ancient Nenets religion, culture, legend songs and so on. It is also an area where travellers may have the chance to see polar bears. The Yamal Peninsula’s most sacred site, known as Seven Chums, is also located here on the northern coast of the peninsula. It is made up of seven huge hills of reindeer skulls and antlers, each about 3 metres tall. The area around them is covered with polar bear skulls and carved wooden idols. No foreigners have ever visited, although one Russian anthropologist made it here several decades ago.
• Even further north is Beliy Island, which can also be accessed by driving across the ice. It is also home to polar bears and some very impressive sacred sites.
• The Gydan Peninsula winter road. The Gydan Peninsula is the next peninsula east from the Yamal Peninsula, on the other side of the Gulf of Ob. It is the easternmost part of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region and is right on the border with the Taymyr Peninsula, a completely separate province of Russia. This winter road runs north from the eastern Yamal town of Noviy Urengoy up to the extremely remote village of Gyda. You will likely pass a number of Nenets encampments on the way. However, the Gydan Peninsula Nenets, unlike the yamal Peninsula Nenets, are slowly starting to give up their traditional chums (reindeer-fur teepees) in favour of wooden cabins on sledge runners that the reindeer pull during migrations.

We have one standard itinerary for a Trans-Yamal overland trip (see below). It includes both zimniki and complete off-roading in the tundra. It takes guests to three different encampments of Nenets nomads: one in the Polar Ural Mountains, one near the region’s largest muskox herds and a third near the Nadym zimnik and the remains of some very well-preserved gulag camps.

However, we are also happy to organise tailored expeditions. These can be following the ice roads and winter roads described above or they can be completely off-road. If you want to continue north from Seyakha to Beliy Island, this is no problem. If you want to do this then drive across the frozen Gulf of Ob to link up with the Gydan Peninsula zimnik, this is also no problem. Please get in touch with us for more details.

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The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region has only one asphalt road that runs 110km from Kharp village – Labytnangi (the town with the railway station) – Salekhard (the town with the airport) – Aksarka village. In fact it is more like two roads, as in the middle you have the mighty River Ob, across which there is no bridge. In summer you cross by ferry and in winter by driving on the ice.

The Yamal Peninsula has no asphalt roads, but it does have one dirt track that runs from Obskaya village (between Labytnangi and Kharp) 275km up the west coast of the peninsula. Up to 189km it is passable by most 4×4 vehicles. After that it is passable only by serious all-terrain vehicles.

However, in winter a network of temporary winter roads opens up. These are known as zimniki in Russian. Some zimniki are on the surface of frozen rivers (ice roads). Others are on land and made of compacted snow and ice (winter roads). On all of our trips to visit the Yar-Sale Nenets, we travel for one day by zimink then a second day completely off-road through the tundra to reach the nomad camp. For our budget trips we usually do not need to drive on a zimnik, as these nomad camps are located closer to Salekhard town.

Examples of zimniki in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region which we use on trips:

• The ice road running north-east from Salekhard to Yar-Sale village. The first 60km of this trip are on asphalt from Salekhard to Aksarka village. Then it is 180km of ice road to reach Yar-Sale. In summer there is no permanent road. You can reach Yar-Sale only by boat or by flying. This ice road is useful in November – December and in April – May, when the Yar-Sale nomads are camped on the Yamal Peninsula not far from Yar-Sale village.

• The winter road running 350km east from Salekhard to Nadym. From about 100km onwards this runs parallel to the 501 Salekhard – Igarka Railway of Death. This was a 1500km railway that Stalin tried to build along the Arctic Circle using gulag victims for labour. It was abandoned after his death but the railway tracks remain, as do many of the gulag camps and bridges. Some camps have up to twenty well-preserved buildings that can be explored, along with watch towers, barbed wire fences and so on. This winter road is useful for trips we run from January – March, as it runs right through the area used by Yar-Sale herders for their winter pastures.

• Yamal’s southern ice road. This runs south from Salekhard along the River Ob and provides access to villages of the Khanty indigenous people. The Khanty are ethnically and linguistically completely separate from the Nenets. Their traditional way of life has always been hunting and fishing on the River Ob. However, the northernmost Khanty have also picked up nomadic reindeer herding from the Nenets. We can arrange trips to visit encampments of nomadic Khanty reindeer herders, although to an untrained eye they look almost identical to Nenets encampments.

• The northern Yamal Peninsula winter road. This is for those with time, money and who want a really serious adventure. This winter road is an extension of the 275km dirt track, mentioned above, that runs up the western coast of the Yamal Peninsula. In summer there is no road beyond 275km. However, in winter a rough winter road (little more than tracks through the snow) grants potential access to Seyakha, the northernmost village on the Yamal Peninsula. It is so remote and so rarely travelled that for safety you need to take two all-terrain vehicles and allow 4 days one way for the trip. On the way you will of course pass lots of Nenets encampments.
• However, the fun does not have to stop at Seyakha. Although there is no zimnik north of Seyakha, the Yamal Peninsula continues for hundreds more miles. There are no permanent settlements there, but there are plenty of Nenets nomads. These are of course the remotest, most isolated encampments and those who have best preserved the ancient Nenets religion, culture, legend songs and so on. It is also an area where travellers may have the chance to see polar bears. The Yamal Peninsula’s most sacred site, known as Seven Chums, is also located here on the northern coast of the peninsula. It is made up of seven huge hills of reindeer skulls and antlers, each about 3 metres tall. The area around them is covered with polar bear skulls and carved wooden idols. No foreigners have ever visited, although one Russian anthropologist made it here several decades ago.
• Even further north is Beliy Island, which can also be accessed by driving across the ice. It is also home to polar bears and some very impressive sacred sites.
• The Gydan Peninsula winter road. The Gydan Peninsula is the next peninsula east from the Yamal Peninsula, on the other side of the Gulf of Ob. It is the easternmost part of the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Region and is right on the border with the Taymyr Peninsula, a completely separate province of Russia. This winter road runs north from the eastern Yamal town of Noviy Urengoy up to the extremely remote village of Gyda. You will likely pass a number of Nenets encampments on the way. However, the Gydan Peninsula Nenets, unlike the yamal Peninsula Nenets, are slowly starting to give up their traditional chums (reindeer-fur teepees) in favour of wooden cabins on sledge runners that the reindeer pull during migrations.

We have one standard itinerary for a Trans-Yamal overland trip (see below). It includes both zimniki and complete off-roading in the tundra. It takes guests to three different encampments of Nenets nomads: one in the Polar Ural Mountains, one near the region’s largest muskox herds and a third near the Nadym zimnik and the remains of some very well-preserved gulag camps.

However, we are also happy to organise tailored expeditions. These can be following the ice roads and winter roads described above or they can be completely off-road. If you want to continue north from Seyakha to Beliy Island, this is no problem. If you want to do this then drive across the frozen Gulf of Ob to link up with the Gydan Peninsula zimnik, this is also no problem. Please get in touch with us for more details.

Overland trips across Yamal