We are very content to be living in Krasnoyarsk. We see ourselves being here for some years to come as we develop ourselves inside communities here and desire to see movements start in those contexts. That's a qualification to say that one day in the future we would consider moving to a more isolated setting, perhaps a village or a regional centre near villages.
Having looked at the map we thought we pinpointed a potential candidate. Now that we have traveled through the region and have a better perspective, this looks like more of a possibility down the track.
The candidate is the small city of Severo-Baikalsk. It was founded in 1974 and has a population of 25,000. It was built as the headquarters for the construction of the BAM to the east of Lake Baikal. The population reached a peak of 35,000 in the mid 80s. It was the initial Soviet plan that the city would be a centre of heavy industry and reach a population of 140,000.
Today Severo-Baikalsk does not have any significant industry. There is some tourism there. Lake Baikal is one of Russia's natural wonders. The mountains surrounding the lake are simply stunning. There is a lot of good fishing and hunting in the region. The biggest employer in town is actually the Russian Railways. The BAM line supplies a lot of Russia to the east, and will soon be connected to Yakutsk a centre of much of Siberia's oil, gas, gold and diamond wealth. Severo-Baikalsk is still a railway hub, with a lot of freight coming through as well as many passenger trains.
Severo-Baikalsk does not have good roads coming into it. The highway coming from the west of Russia reaches Ust Kut (a city of 45,000 and industrial centre). Ust Kut is 332 km west of Severo-Baikalsk. This would take a minimum of 5 hours driving along the "service road" for the railway line, which is a four wheel drive track in some parts.
In the region surrounding the city there are some Evenki people. Notably, there is an Evenki village called 'Holodnaya, 40 kms or 30 minutes drive away. This would be something we would like to check out in the future. (It was too far from where we were staying on this trip.) In that village people apparently still fluently speak the Evenki language.
On the way back, our train stopped in the city for 50 minutes. I got off the train and walked into town. I checked out some shops and took some video to show Melody. The video was wobbly, because I was trying to remain inconspicuous. I did take some screen shots from the videos though.
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| A local hotel billboard. |
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| Main street with Japanese second hand cars. |
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| Indigenous population. |
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| More indigenous people. |
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| Local shopping centre. |
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| Market place. |
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| Market place. |
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| Main street. |
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| Another indigenous man? |
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This woman definitely looks Evenki.
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