Verkhoyansk Kisilyakhs 6 days / 5 nights

🌄 Day 1. Arrival in Verkhoyanye

06:00 Meeting at Yakutsk airport.
07:20 Flight from Yakutsk to Batagai village (Verkhoyansk ulus).
10:10 Arrival in Batagai village, departure for the excursion.
– Excursion to the permafrost crater “Batagai crater”.
The Batagai thermokarst crater is the world’s largest permafrost depression that appeared due to human activity: after logging the taiga, the heat balance was disturbed, and the ice-bound land began to subside. Due to global warming, the giant crater grows every year, exposing permafrost layers more than half a million years old! We will walk along safe routes along this grandiose bowl, see traces of recent landslides and find ourselves at the site of work of world paleontologists. Underfoot in the ancient mud are Ice Age artifacts — fragments of mammoth, bison and other animals’ bones.
– Return to the village, lunch at the “Tuostaakh” cafe.
– Departure to Betenkes village. Stops at the pass along the way, where there will be a real “Shaman Tree”, photo session on the panorama of the Chersky ridge.
– Arrival in Betenkes village.
– Visit to the historical and paleontological museum of the village.
The museum houses rich paleontological, archaeological, historical and biological exhibits. The surroundings of Betenkes are known for their rich Quaternary finds (including the Khaastaakh site with remains of an ancient bison and a fossil wolverine, as well as Ulakhan-Sullar and Oskordokh). Local finds reflect the ancient fauna of the mammoth fauna of the North.
– Departure by motor boats along the Adycha river to the Tuostaakh tourist base. Stop at the historical area “Mammoth Mountain” along the way.
It is often called “Mammoth Mountain” due to the colossal amount of fossil remains of mammoth fauna that are washed out from the coastal cliff. In the Yakut language it is officially called Suullar Khaya (Yakut: Suullar khaya — “Falling / sliding mountain”). Here, remains of woolly mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, bison, musk oxen, wild horses, cave lions and even rare fossils such as the skull of an ancient saiga or bones of a small cave bear are regularly found.
– Arrival at the Tuostaakh tourist base, accommodation.
– Dinner, acquaintance. Purification and blessing ritual for a good journey.
– Fishing on the river, rest.

🌄 Day 2. Tuostaakh – Kisilyakhs

07:30 Breakfast at the tourist base
09:00 Acquaintance with the natural riches of the Tuostaakh area
Үс кут тирэх маһа — a tree symbolizing support for the three components of the human soul (Үс кут: Буор кут, Ийэ кут, Санаа кут) in the traditional Sakha philosophy.
Хомус маһа — the growing place of the tree species associated with the spirit of the national musical instrument — the khomus.
Доруобуйа маһа — the tree of strength and healing, to which participants of spiritual and health-improving rituals at the foot of the sacred mountains turn.
Visit to the exhibition of tourists of the natural riches of Tuostaakh. Baachaan’s balagan.
– Conducting the purification ritual.
– Lunch.
– Departure by motor boats to the “Kötöt” camp at the foot of the Kisilyakh mountain.
– Excursion, ascent of the sacred mountain of the Verkhoyansk Kisilyakhs (distance to the first rocks – 7.5 km).
Here rises one of the most mysterious ridges of Yakutia. The Kisilyakhs are 25 kilometers of pure natural magic. More than 120 million years ago, tectonic plates collided and raised these rocks from the bottom of an ancient ocean, and the harsh arctic frosts and winds completed the work, turning the rocks into giant stone sculptures. The silhouettes of these remnants so resemble frozen people that it seems you have entered a city of petrified giants.
– Setting up a tent camp on the mountain plateau, dinner.
– Sunrise on the sacred mountain.

🌄 Day 3. Verkhoyansk Kisilyakhs

09:00-10:00 Breakfast on the mountain, spiritual and health-improving activities.
10:00-13:00 Excursion to the stone sculptures of the Verkhoyansk Kisilyakhs.
For centuries, frost and wind have sharpened these rocks, turning a huge ridge into a gallery of giant sculptures. Take a closer look: nature with astonishing precision has recreated in stone the silhouettes of people, animals and sacred phenomena.
Our route is a journey through 4 thematic worlds, where each rock has its own name and grants special energy:

• World of Family and Birth: We will see the central sculpture Урааҥхай сахалар (Sakha People), symbolizing the resilience of northerners, as well as the stones Таптал (Love), Оҕо (Child) and the deity Айыыһыт, whom people ask for family happiness.
• World of Strength and Spirit: Here we will be greeted by the severe face of Буойун төбөтүн (Warrior’s Head), as well as the energy stones — Күүстээх киһи (Strength), Доруобуйа (Health) and Өй (Knowledge) for strengthening mind and body.
• World of Earthly Goods: Places where people make cherished wishes and ask for good luck in business at the stones Баай (Wealth), Байанай (Master of the Taiga), Дьол (Happiness), Баҕа санаа (Wishes) and Айанньыт (Traveler).
• World of Nature and Cosmos: A gallery of bizarre images — from animals (Эһэ Bear, Баҕа Frog, Кыыллар Beasts, Үс хайаҕастаах Bird’s Nest) to symbols of the Universe, such as the antenna stone Куйаар, Сардаҥа (Sun Rays), Күрүлгэн (Age of Aquarius) and the majestic Олоҥхо (Ancient epic).
• At the Хомус Тааhа rock we will hold a traditional Yakut purification and blessing ritual.

– Lunch on the mountain.
– Excursions on the mountain with photo session.
– Dinner on the mountain, rest.

🌄 Day 4. Return to the tourist base

08:00-09:00 Breakfast on the mountain.
10:00-16:00 Return to the tourist base, excursion at the “Turtle” rock along the way.
– Late lunch, return to the tourist base, rest, fishing, walk in the nearby area.
– Dinner, rest.

🌄 Day 5. Turuuk Khaya

09:00 Breakfast at the tourist base.
– Departure by motor boats to the Turuuk Khaya camp up the Tuostaakh river.
– Rest on the islands. Excursion on the mountain. Conducting the ritual. Photo session in national costumes. Gathering medicinal herbs.
– Lunch in nature.
– Fishing, picking blueberries on the “Chyychaagalaakh” island.
– Return to the tourist base.

🌄 Day 6. Return to Yakutsk

05:00 Early breakfast
– Departure by motor boats to Betenkes village.
06:00 Departure from Betenkes village by car to Batagai village.
11:20 Flight from Batagai to Yakutsk.
12:10 Arrival in Yakutsk.