13 Jul 2013

Crossing the Arctic Circle

Following a traditional Russian lunch in Egvekinot today, we set out to explore the Chukotka tundra by Urals (6WD trucks). Waders and tattlers fluttered by, raptors circled, and a pair of cranes took flight as we passed by. A few hares and Arctic fox were spotted near the roadside, and later three Brown Bears scampered up the mountainside. At the Arctic Circle-180 meridian point, we disemarked to wander about the dramatic landscape on our own.

Within just a few minutes' walk from the group, an intoxicating silence fell. Here, thousands of kilometres from the urban din, only the crunching of footsteps or the hum of a bumble bee could be heard.