Foreword

The history of Russian expanses of Taimyr, North-Siberian lowland, and the Central Siberian Plateau began in the early second decade of the 17th century. Sales people at that time already well explored the Yenisei river. They founded some cities on this great river. Among them was the city Turukhansk. Thence in search of new lands Russian pioneers came to the east. In 1626, at the confluence of the rivers Kheta and Kotuy founded the first Russian settlement - Pyasidskoe tribute-paying cabin. Then the Russian explorers reached the Central Siberian Plateau on the valley of Kotuy river, and in 1634 on the lake Essey (at 68 ° 30 'N) founded another tribute-paying cabin. And at the same time one of the pioneers explored the major right tributary of the Kotuy river - Kotuykan river.

Kotuykan river originates in the Anabar plateau and crosses from the south-east to north-west. Anabar plateau is located in the northeastern part of the Central Siberian plateau.

Geologically, the plateau Anabar unique. Anabar shield, geographically coinciding with the Anabar Plateau, built by so-called pre-Cambrian rocks. Here come to the surface some of the most ancient rocks - Proterozoic and Archean with ages 1.6-2 billion years, respectively, and 3 - 3.5 billion years. The history of the formation of these rocks geologists described as follows: for millions of years of Siberian platform drifted from the southern hemisphere to its current location in the northern hemisphere. Above it has long been a warm ocean. It accumulating marine sediments of various geological ages. As a result lifting the ocean floor most ancient sedimentary rocks came to the surface of the earth.

Kotuykan river over millions of years in these rocks cut through his valley, and created one of the most majestic scenery on Earth. The river has exposed geological strata in which you can read the history of the Earth and, as a time machine, go on for billions of years ago, in the past. This journey begins with a period of Proterozoic Riphean (1.6 billion years ago) - it's headwater Kotuykan. And ends with the Archean era (3 - 3.5 billion years ago) - Kotuykan estuary. Sandstone with imprints of the seabed and the stromatolites - the traces of activity of cyanobacteria - are visible evidence of this theory.

Temperature changes, water and wind have formed here a wonderful landscape. Numerous rock outcrops, reminiscent of medieval castles, rising to the sky. Must not a lot of imagination to populate their intelligent beings in the spirit "Lord of the Rings" or "Star Wars".

If we ignore the lyrics, then we can say that the Anabar plateau - one of the most difficult and environmentally friendly places on earth. This area is not affected human activities. Hundreds of kilometers around no settlements, so hunting and fishing are excellent. In rivers Anabar plateau, particularly in Kotuykan, home to Taimen (giant trout or siberian salmon).

Trip to the Anabar plateau in 2010

Travel company "Magic of Taiga" in August 2010, organized a trip to the Anabar plateau for the group of 7 people.

Fly to the starting point of the route - settlement Khatanga - in itself a grand journey. First a flight from Moscow to Krasnoyarsk - 3460 km, then a flight from Krasnoyarsk to Khatanga, with a stopover in Tura - 1900 km. The settlement Tura is located on the Lower Tunguska River, almost at the geographical center of Russia.

In the afternoon we continued our flight to Khatanga. While approaching the airport, the sky cleared. At the bottom expanses of tundra, sometimes on the northern slopes of the hills lying snowfields. Many small lakes and typical for the conditions of permafrost polygonal tundra.

In Khatanga was cloudy and 11 degrees Celsius.

Getting to the route by helicopter

That same evening we flew by helicopter Mi-8 in the direction of the river Kotuykan. Landscape from the top is not remarkable and seems deserted: rocky plateau Anabar, covered with yellowing tundra vegetation, occasionally cut through the river, whose banks are framed by green trees. But as soon as the helicopter fell to 200 meter and flew along the Kotuykan river, repeating her curves, our team began to look into windows. The river, glistening in the sun, wound among high banks covered with larches. Very beautiful views!

The helicopter landed near the estuary of a small stream which flows into the Kotuykan. Mosquitoes and midges there is little, though very close to starting a small wetland area. We were lucky - freeze before our arrival, killed mosquitoes.

The starting point of the route is very convenient - with a high and flat beach offers magnificent views of the Kotuykan. The first day we decided to relax – no rafting, only fished. Grayling in the river a lot, but biting is bad. Water poured into the river pretty - a month before our arrival was rainy and cold weather. This means that numerous streams carry with them a diverse fish feed. In pure water can be clearly seen as the fish goes for a spinner, but does not attack. Sometimes managed to accidentally catch a grayling of fin or tail.

In the evening I - the author of this report and Vitaly – photographer, climbed a neighboring hill. Such trips would become the traditional for us. We climbed up through the larch taiga with an undergrowth of dwarf birch. Were stones under his feet, covered with moss, blueberries and other plants. On the hillside grows a lot of fragrant bushes of rhododendron. When there is no wind, you can catch in the air it pungent odor.

At the top for many miles around the gray stone hills, separated by green gully. Around the silence and stillness. Acute lack of civilization. Probably the same feeling will have the astronauts who landed on Mars.

Character of the river

On the first day of rafting, our fleet - two rafts and boat support - easily drifted 37 km. The river itself carries rafts downstream at a speed of 5 to 10 km\h.

On the river Kotuykan no serious rapids due to the soft sedimentary rock, which erodes easily river.

Here can be dangerous rapid rise of water due to heavy rains. The rocky ground Anabar Plateau, permafrost and tundra vegetation thin layer can not hold a lot of rain water, which immediately rolled into the river, greatly increasing its level.

On the 8th day Vitaly woke up at 5 am, so at dawn to make a few good pictures. Because of this, he saved our team from the pursuit of the raft. During the night the water rose and not tied rafts have rocked on the water. Every detail kitchen: plates, cups and cutting boards were visible under the water three feet from the riverside. The only irreplaceable loss from floods - Teflon pan, which we left in the evening on the beach after frying fish. He swam away.

Stone guards of river Kotuykan

Gradually the banks became higher and steeper. Appeared the first stone outcrops. This is a laminated sandstone.

The stones have a wavy structure, very similar to the ripples in the sand, which usually occurs in shallow water. Their age is estimated at 1.6-2 billion years.

5 km below the confluence of the river Vyurbyur is one of the most beautiful monuments of nature - the meander. The river makes a big loop, turning 180 degrees. Peninsula outlined by the river is very picturesque: a red-brown cliffs rise from the water to the sky. On the rocks grow strangely bent larches. On some rocks we found several nests of peregrine falcon. Here, in July you can see these birds and their chicks.

In the evening we went to investigate and photograph the meander. On the slope were the magnificent stone towers - stone guards Kotuykan river. One of the guards has its own name - Knight. You do not need much imagination to see the mighty shoulders, and two standing firmly on the ground legs. Nearby stood a beautiful pinnacles, peaks and "flying" stones.

At the 5th day of the trip we saw the first blocks of stromatolites. Stromatolites - traces of activity of cyanobacteria, which are in the Archean era - roughly 3.5 billion years ago - became the first living organisms in Earth's ancient ocean, capable of photosynthesis.

They, according to the standard version, created by the Earth oxygen atmosphere. At the present time, being a significant component of the oceanic plankton, cyanobacteria are at the beginning most of the food chain and produce a significant portion of the oxygen (from 20% to 40%).

Closer to the estuary began to appear huge towers consisting completely of stromatolites. They are heavily riddled and carved by wind and water. They are easy to crumble, it was dangerous to climb on them.

Stromatolites have a semicircular shape and layered structure - like a cabbage. Weathering destroys large stromatolitic lumps into small pieces that are easy to exfoliate with a little effort. They crunch underfoot and broken. One gets the impression that you walk on shards of pottery in some deserted city.

Dzhogdzho river - one of the largest tributaries of the Kotuykan. It forms yet another beautiful meander. The river thousands of years trying to break through the narrow rocky jumper, a width not exceeding 50 meters, separates it from the river Kotuykan, but then turn away at 180 degrees, and only after 2 kilometers finally merges with Kotuykan.

This site is a lot of bones and skulls of reindeers. Perhaps the wolves chase here reindeers. Reindeers are trapped between the river and high cliffs and become easier prey.

In the estuary of Kotuykan the stone towers singly and in groups follow each other. Their shapes awaken imagination. One place not far from our camp vividly reminded me of the famous Gothic cathedral in Germany in Cologne.

And here we have Kotuy - one of the largest rivers in Evenkia. The river at this place is not much wider than Kotuykan. It originated in the central part of the Putorana plateau and flows through the wildest areas of Evenkia highlands. We landed on the left bank in the mile from the estuary of Kotuykan. It was our last camp.

Reindeers

The first time we saw a reindeer on the third day of travel. From that day they were our constant companions: were on the coast, crossed the river in front of the raft, were very close to our camp.

Wild reindeers are well adapted to the harsh conditions of life in the tundra and populate its territory up to the Arctic coast. On the Taimyr Peninsula is the largest herd of wild reindeers - about 600 thousand. In late summer, reindeers migrate to the south, and we just were on their way. In the spring, escaping from the midges, they go far to the north.

The most remarkable encounter with the reindeers was when we saw and photographed the rocks on the peninsula formed by a river meander. Suddenly a group of reindeers began to swim the river in our direction. Two large antlered male, several females and young reindeers climbed the hill and came straight at us. They slowly went just 30 yards from us, on the go eating the leaves of dwarf birch.

Soon there was another group of reindeer, which was held on the same path. Managed to make a series of remarkable photographs.

Before the major left tributary Kotuykan river – Elija river - there was another funny episode. Doe with young reindeer decided to swim across the river about 100 meters in front of my boat. The river at that place was about 50 meters. Swam to the opposite shore, the animal for some reason turned back and swam in the opposite direction. The unfortunate young reindeer swam after the mothers. I missed them only 10 meters. At this point doe looked at the approaching boat, and I saw her frightened eyes. An unforgettable experience!

We noticed that the deer do not like to climb up the steep bank and the approach of rafts just run forward along the water. Only when a bank becomes more gentle - go deep into the taiga. Or if they see a friendly bank on the other side, cross the river.

Fishing

We fished three species - whitefish, grayling and taymen(giant trout). Grayling caught more than they could eat, whitefish - less than desirable, and taymen were caught only 8.

On the first day of rafting together caught about 60 grayling. Fish from 500 grams to 1.5 kg. From it, we cooked a delicious soup.

Fillet of grayling or whitefish, cut into small pieces is best eaten with soy sauce, mixed with a little wasabi. Perfect appetizer to vodka!

On the 4th day caught taymen weighing 12-14 kg. It was photographed and released into the river. It was the biggest fish.

After 2 days was caught trout weighing over 10 kg. It was caught in the swift flow. Giant trout loves such places - the flow helps in the hunt for grayling.

Lithospheric base of Russian Academy of Sciences

On the river to be Lithospheric base of Russian Academy of Sciences, abandoned in the early 90s of last century. Residential wood house is suitable for housing. Only in the annexe to the house and on the porch roof leaks.

Inside the house everything was left untouched. And we seem to be transported in the last years of the Soviet Union. On the wall hangs Soviet pennant with Lenin, on the table - several Soviet journals. On the shelves are special books on geology. Next to them are maps of rivers and streams of the Anabar plateau. In a wooden box - a big bag of flour, corrupt some bugs. In a linen bag, hanging from the ceiling - salt, cereals and pasta. In another box - tinned meat produced in 1993.

In an annex to the house lies a lot of tools and materials. Near the house is petrol generator and empty 200-liter barrel of gasoline. At 50 meters from the house there is a helipad

On the bank of the creek is Russian bath.

The territory of the base slowly overgrown with young larches. Nature returns lost possessions. Capercaillie made himself a nest under a canvas canopy directly in the tray for washing sand.

Return to Khatanga

Final destination was Kotuykan estuary. Hovercraft took us from there.

Quickly loaded our equipment and sailed to Khatanga. All found a comfortable position in a chair and fast asleep. Therefore remained unnoticed settlement Kayak, located on the right bank of the Kotuykan river. Here is the northernmost Russian coal mine "Kotuy."

By 7 am we were in Khatanga. Before flying to Krasnoyarsk we walked on Khatanga.

Khatanga - one of the northernmost settlements in Russia. Population - about three thousand people. Khatanga in Evenk language means "big water", "much water". The settlement began in 1660 - 1670's. The main reason for choosing this location was not available for flood high bank with a good view of the river.

Taimyr region, perhaps the most cosmopolitan of all the northern districts. Of the 36 northern nationalities live here 6. This Dolgans, Nganasans, Nenets, Evenks, Evens and Enets.

Khatanga has a museum Mammoth. Unfortunately it was closed. But was opened museum of local history. There we saw the tusks of mammoths, musk ox skull, photographs, furnishings and household items of native and their beautiful traditional clothes.

Most of the buildings in Khatanga - two-storey houses. But there are several multi-storey buildings, one of which border guard hous, in another hotel "Polar". There is a school and a kindergarten. There are several cafes and a lot of small grocery stores.

At 16.00 flew to Krasnoyarsk. In the evening farewell dinner in the restaurant ended our wonderful trip.