The Yenisei meridian. Two-week tour: Yenisei Cruise, Putorana Plateau, Dixon

Breakfast. 

Excursion to the Krasnoyarsk Pillars National Park.

It was founded in 1925 on the initiative of the residents of the city to preserve the natural complexes around the picturesque syenite remnants — "pillars". 

Currently, its area is 47,219 hectares. 

The main attraction of the park are the rocks. 

The name "Pillars" is common to all rocks, although all rocks and even some stones have their own names. 

There are directly "Pillars" — rocks open to tourists, and "Wild pillars" — rocks located deep in the park, access to which is limited. 

Return to the hotel. 

Lunch at the Krasnoyarsk Hotel. 

Free time. 

Supper.

Early breakfast. 

06:20 transfer to the Krasnoyarsk river station. 

Boarding the passenger ship "A.Matrosov", accommodation in 2-bed cabins of the first class (in the cabin there is a washbasin with hot and cold water, upholstered sofas, a wardrobe, (amenities: shower and toilet room on deck). 

Breakfast. 

The passage of the Kazachinsky threshold is the most impassable section on the Yenisei near the village of Kazachinsky (233-240 km from Krasnoyarsk). 

Its length is 4 km. 

It is formed by rocky ledges, rocky ridges of the Yenisei Ridge, crossing the riverbed along its entire width. 

The vessels are conducted upstream by the only special motor ship in Russia, the Yenisei tourer, moving by stretching a cable laid along the bottom of the river. The Yenisei riverbed narrows to 350 m at the threshold, and the ship's passage is up to 70 m. 

But how beautiful the Cossack threshold is, for all its severity! 

Many artists have repeatedly painted his views. 

The threshold originates at Kamenny Cape. 

The water in the Yenisei is noisy and foaming at the rocks. 

The high hills of the river banks fascinate with their beauty, beautiful cliffs are visible, ending at the water's edge, for example, the Eagle rock on the left bank. 

On the right bank there is an amazingly beautiful island with the name Islets, and behind it the picturesque Zaostrovskaya bayou. 

Lunch. 

The ship passes by a large transshipment pier and the village of Strelka, which stands at the confluence of two large Siberian rivers, the Yenisei and the Angara.

Supper.

Arrival in the city of Yeniseisk.

Yeniseisk is located on the Yenisei Plain, on the left bank of the Yenisei, below the confluence of the Angara River, 330 km north of Krasnoyarsk. 

The city of Yeniseisk is called an "open-air museum", the urban development includes 94 architectural monuments. 

The complex of the Transfiguration Monastery and four churches are unique examples of Siberian Baroque, built in the middle and second half of the XVIII century. They are close to the Russian temples of the previous century in terms of planning and spatial structure and picturesque decor. 

The stone civil buildings of Yeniseisk are mainly two–storey houses along the main street, on the embankment and central squares. 

The continuation of the path.

Breakfast. 

Stop in the village of Yartsevo.

In 1605, the Ket Cossacks founded a winter camp near the mouth of the Sym River, on the site of which the village of Yartsevo was subsequently formed. 

Part of the population of the village are Old Believers. 

Lunch.

The stop in the village of Vorogovo is one of the southernmost settlements of the Turukhansky district. 

Small markets are organized by local residents on the marinas. 

The goods here are mainly from the section "taiga exotics" - fish, mushrooms, wild berries, mead and the famous blueberry liqueur. 

The Osinovsky threshold is located 40 km from the mouth of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River (509-511 km from Krasnoyarsk). 

The legendary narrow canyon, which is overcome with great difficulty. 

The passage through the threshold is narrow (700 m) and winding. 

Two steamers cannot separate, and the traffic here is one-way. 

The mighty Yenisei enters the Osinovsky cheeks by the threshold - the most picturesque area in the lower reaches of the river. 

The high granite banks form a corridor with a height of 50 m. 

After 20 km from the threshold, two islands appear around the bend. 

The first one looks like a ship. 

Covered with sparse fishing line and with a single pine tree on top, it is called "The Island of the Ship".

It rises 50 m above the water. 

Beyond it, 150-200 m away, is the island of Barochka. 

To the left of the Baroque stands the large stone island of Monastyrsky, overgrown with powerful trees. 

In the old days, fugitive monks of the Spassky Monastery were sent here into exile. 

This is one of the most picturesque places on the Yenisei. Immediately after the island, the Yenisei turns sharply to the left and receives the waters of the Podkamennaya Tunguska. 

Supper. 

The stop in the village of Bor is located on the left bank of the Yenisei, 3 km below the mouth of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. 

The modern history of the village began in 1946, immediately after the Great Patriotic War, with the construction of an airport on the left, high and steep bank of the Yenisei, opposite the mouth of the Podkamennaya Tunguska River. 

The dual-use airport was a strategic transport center, located almost exactly in the center of the USSR and Russia. 

An air defense military unit was located on the territory. 

Then the village became the center of geological exploration expeditions. 

The border of the Central Siberian Reserve is located from the village of Bor at a distance of 60 km, where the first strong point, the Koms cordon, is located. 

The administration of the Central Siberian Biosphere Reserve is located in the village of Bor.

We pass: S. Chulkovo, V. Imbatskoye. 

Breakfast. 

We pass: S. Surgutikha, S. Vereshchagino. 

Lunch. 

We pass: S. Kostino. 

Supper. 

In the evening, stop in Turukhansk.

It is located at the confluence of the Lower Tunguska with the Yenisei, 1,474 km north of Krasnoyarsk. 

The population is 4.8 thousand inhabitants.

Founded in 1607 as a winter quarters, since 1619 it has been inhabited by settlers of the burnt-out city of Mangazeya.

The former Turukhansk became the village of Staroturukhansk, and the modern village with the name Turukhansk (the administrative center of the district) was previously named Novoturukhansk. 

In the 19th and 20th centuries, it was a place of exile (including I. V. Stalin in 1914-1916). 

The landmark of the village is the Trinity Church (late 18th — early 19th century). 

There is a fish factory, an oil and gas exploration expedition, a river port, an airport, a museum of revolutionaries Y. M. Sverdlov and S. S. Spandaryan in Turukhansk. 

Here you will see the right tributary of the Yenisei - the Lower Tunguska.

In the 17th century, Russian explorers named the river Nizhnyaya Tunguska. 

Tunguska – because Tunguska (modern Evenki) lived on its shores, and the definition of Nizhnyaya distinguished it from the other two Tunguska. 

At night, crossing the Arctic Circle (Kureika river).

Breakfast. 

Arrival in Igarka - the city is located on the shore of the Igara bayou of the Yenisei, 1,330 km north of Krasnoyarsk. 

It is located beyond the Arctic circle, in the permafrost zone. 

It got its name from the channel on which it was located, and that, in turn, was named after the local fisherman Egor Shiryaev, whose name the locals turned from "Egorka" into "Igarka". 

Now it is a port accessible to ships from the Yenisei Bay, there is also Igarka Airport, used for transporting cargo and work shifts to oil fields. 

Lunch. 

Supper. 

Arrival in Dudinka at 21:00.

Transfer to the hotel, accommodation in 2-bed rooms.

Breakfast. 

Excursion to the "Taimyr Museum of Local Lore". 

Sightseeing tour of Dudinka is the coldest (rarely, but sometimes up to -57° Celsius) and the northernmost (69°21' s) city on the planet.

It is located on the right bank of the river. The Yenisei River at the confluence with the Dudinka River, named after the first Russian artisan Dudin, who settled here in the first half of the XVII century, just above the mouth of the river. 

And the city got its name from the name of the Dudinka river. 

According to another version, the name of the city came from the Russian transcription of the Evenk words "dugin" (channel, island between channels, mouth of the channel) and "dugu" (cape of the river). 

Room release. 

Departure to Norilsk, accommodation at the Talnakh hotel. 

Lunch at the hotel.

Sightseeing tour of the city of Norilsk.

Supper.

Breakfast. 

Transfer to the pier, boarding a boat on the Norilka river. 

Departure by boat to the Putorana Plateau, Lake Lama (5 hours on the way). 

The Norilsk or Norilka River flows in the Taimyr Dolgan-Nenets district. 

The length is 57 km. 

The bridge over the Norilka River is noted in the UNESCO collection "Bridge Building of the World" as "the northernmost of the large bridges in the world beyond the 69th parallel".

Lakes Melkoe, Lama, Keta, Glubokoe, Sobachye, Nakomyaken and numerous small lakes in the tundra play a regulatory role in the river's water regime, smoothing out floods. 

Next, our path lies along the Talaya River, we climb up to the island of Melkoe, which is located about 25 kilometers east of Norilsk. 

The lake is located in a wide basin between the western spurs of the Putorana plateau. 

The lake is connected to Lake Lama by the strait or, as the locals call it, the Lama River (Lamochen) with a length of 18 km. 

The shores are mostly flat, swampy in places. 

The bottom is mostly sandy. 

On the map of Asian Russia, published in 1911 by the Russian General Staff, Lake Melkoye was called Lake Bystrovskoye, although the locals did not know the name of this. 

Here is the famous Lake Lama – northern Switzerland, Taimyr Lake Baikal, the polar Ritsa. 

This is perhaps the most beautiful and famous lake of Taimyr. 

Even his name is similar to the rest of the northern hydronyms. 

The lake is located in a deep mountain depression. 

Its basin is of tectonic origin. 

According to scientists, the lake is about 100 million years old. 

The name of the lake comes from the Tungusic-Manchurian word "laamu" - sea, ocean; Evenk "lamu" - sea, big water. 

By the way, the same name – Lama – Evenks, who lived much further south, called Baikal. 

Excursion to the waterfall "Southern Neralakh". 

Lunch. 

Excursion to the waterfalls of the Vitamin river.

There are thousands of cascading waterfalls of different heights and beauty on the territory of the Putorana Plateau. 

Sometimes it seems that you have entered the land of waterfalls. 

In each canyon, water is pouring from all the ledges. 

Because of its noise, you can't hear conversations. 

Departure by boat to Norilsk. 

Accommodation at the Talnakh Hotel. 

Late dinner.

Breakfast (lunch box). 

Room release. 

Transfer to Alykel airport. 

Departure to Dixon.

Dixon Airport is located on an island 5 km from the main part of the Arctic village.

Transfer to the village of Dixon. 

Arrival, accommodation at the hotel. 

Lunch. 

Sightseeing tour of the village.

Excursion to the cargo terminal of the seaport. 

The Diksonsky district includes Severnaya Zemlya and Cape Chelyuskin, the northernmost points of Eurasia. 

During our trip, we will visit the monuments of N. A. Begichev, the researcher of the Taimyr Peninsula. 

In 1908, at the mouth of the Khatanga and Anabara rivers flowing into the Laptev Sea, he discovered two islands, subsequently named after him – Bolshoy Begichev and Maly Begichev; to the Norwegian sailor P. Tessem (a member of the R. Amundsen expedition). 

June 24, 1918 Roald Amundsen sailed from Oslo on the ship "Mod", heading for the coast of Taimyr. 

There were 9 crew members on the ship. 

On September 9, the Mod was trapped by ice off Cape Chelyuskin, Amundsen himself fell off the side, breaking his left arm in two places, 5 weeks later he was almost torn apart by a bear, and on December 10 he was poisoned by carbon monoxide due to a malfunction of a kerosene lamp. 

Tessem and young Knudsen, who were sent by mail to Dixon, never returned to their homeland, the remains were found only in 1921-1922. 

Memorial of glory to those who died during the Great Patriotic War during the famous Northern Battle. 

We will visit the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. 

In Christianity, St. Nicholas is revered as a miracle worker, is considered the patron saint of sailors, merchants and children. 

"This harbor is the best on the entire northern coast of Asia, and over time it will be very important for Siberian trade," wrote Adolf Nordenskiold, the conqueror of the Northeast Passage. 

He purchased a small vessel, Preven, and sailed to the mouth of the Yenisei. 

Here he found a convenient harbor and named it Dixon Harbor, in honor of industrialist Oscar Dixon, the man who helped him with money when equipping the expedition. 

A. Nordenskiold is known for being the first to pass through the Northern Sea Route from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean in 1878-1879. 

Supper.

Breakfast. 

Departure to the campsite on the Kara Sea. 

Accommodation in fishing cabins. 

Excursion along the coast of Chichagov, along the tundra, along the bays of the Kara Sea. 

The nature of the eastern part of the Chichagov coast is more severe. 

Closer to the bay of the Pyasina River, icebergs are also found – massifs that broke off from the ice shelves. 

Sailing ships without the help of powerful icebreakers in these places is possible only during 2-3 summer months. 

The sparse sparse vegetation consists mainly of perennial plants. 

Mosses and lichens predominate, creeping forms of shrubs, there are few herbs. 

The shores are high and steep. 

The stone sculptures are striking in their beauty. 

Eternal glaciers that never melt are found in the bays.

Return to the base. 

Lunch.

Photo shoot in the bay. 

Supper.

Breakfast. 

Continuation of the tour of the bays of the Kara Sea. 

The charm of the tundra is stronger than any prejudice, stronger than the hardships of everyday life and the difficulties of a long journey. 

The whole life of the tundra landscape with all its biological chains and links lies in plain sight. 

White hare, arctic fox, fox, wolf, reindeer live in the Taimyr tundra, squirrel in the forest tundra, muskrat in the lakes; 

There are many valuable fish in rivers and lakes, and in the seas there are moraine hare, beluga whale, seal, walrus. 

Every year in the spring, numerous feathered birds return to their harsh homeland in the tundra.  

The short summer of the tundra is full of the sounds of wildlife. 

The edge of the sunset is called the Taimyr tundra in summer. 

Lunch. 

Departure to Dixon.

Accommodation at the hotel. 

Supper.

Breakfast.

Continuation of the sightseeing tour of Dixon. 

The village of Dixon is the only settlement on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Territory where military operations took place.

On August 27, 1942, the German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer approached the shore and opened fire on the port and the workers' settlement. 

The entire population of the island took part in the defense of Dixon. 

"Admiral Scheer" was forced to abandon the landing and turned back. 

In 1915, specialists of the Russian Society of Wireless Telegraphs and Telephones installed a radio station with a capacity of 15 kilowatts.

Meteorological instruments were also installed here: a weather vane, a rain gauge and an English psychometric booth. 

But the developing shipping in this area of the Kara Sea required regular information about the weather and the state of the ice. 

In early July 1916, the steamer Lena with the expedition members left Krasnoyarsk, in July-August, the assistant head of the hydrometeorological unit of the State State University, I.K. Tikhomirov, re-organized meteorological observations. 

Lunch. 

Return to the hotel. 

Supper.

Breakfast. 

Transfer to Dixon airport. 

Departure to Norilsk.

Accommodation at the Talnakh Hotel. 

Supper.

Breakfast. 

Room release.