BBC Living with Nomads 2/3 Siberia

I've always been fascinated by nomads constantly on the moon I suppose beautiful journey surviving in the world's most remote wilderness where's the removal van Rijn later I'm living cheek by jowl with nature it's always seemed a wildly romantic existence the most magical place but it's no easy life sort of kolba makes you feel physically sick and in today's modern world don't go fabula ha they're under increasing pressure I'm going to live with three groups of nomads in Nepal namaste Mongolia Samba know where that I'm now within the net in Siberia spinning these reindeer herders have always lived life on the margins but today giant global threats are encroaching on their traditional migrations can they hold on to their ancient way of life the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia a vast and frozen wasteland jutting deep into the Arctic Circle home to the nomadic reindeer people than the nets in their language Yamal means end of the world and if anywhere feels like that it's this place - 26 is the air temperature but with the windchill it's minus thirty five point three I have never been in the Arctic wilderness in the teeth of the winter I feel inadequately prepared for life in a landscape like this and in temperatures like Leeds it's truly impossible to imagine how any human being could or would choose to live in a region like this the new Nets have survived in these extremes for generations but now they're facing serious threats that could undermine their traditional way of life like so many places in the world this is an environment as changing rapidly particularly with regards to climate in 2013 a dramatic temperature rise in midwinter led to the death of thousands of reindeer but it isn't the only threat to these people the discovery of huge reserves of gas in the northern peninsula have brought in machinery have brought in roads and brought in railways this massive infrastructure supporting the gas industry is squeezing and blocking the Nanette migratory routes I'm hoping to find out how they're coping as these pressures stack up against them it's early December and our journey begins at the edge of the Arctic Circle in the town of Selleck art from here six wheel drive trucks called rekkles are taking us 200 kilometers further north we've arranged a rendezvous with an Annette's family who are migrating south across the tundra the barren permafrost of the Yamal Peninsula we've been making our way painfully slowly along this very difficult road and suddenly the truck in front of us which is carrying all the fuel and a lot of our equipment lost an entire tire this is the size of the thing that we're dealing with so poor Sergei an Igor are now having to try and work out how they can get this back on the trailer weight and we're just hasn't been practical treating you as night falls the temperature drops to minus 40 attempting a repair in these conditions is perilously difficult the trailer didn't get fixed last night and we ended up here which is one of these strange trading posts next to the railway it was midnight and everybody decided that if there was anywhere to stay we would give up for the night we did actually find a part which is miraculous and Sergey and Igor are welding it onto the trailer but we spent a night here in a shipping container everybody crowded in together frankly if we managed to get to the new Nets camp today I think it'll be a miracle this remote trading post serves as a Depot for Gazprom the Russian energy giant exploiting the gas fields here and as one of the many reindeer slaughterhouses that are dotted across the peninsula in recent years many nur Nets have been forced to leave their nomadic lives some of them have ended up working here I heard there was very bad weather for reindeer last year and that's a lot of herders like yourself lost a lot of animals on YouTube when will it come nos nos I haven't done it yet your footage do you understand me come on - another time ago come kabuna ha come on up how much magma we time we love it do you beat me get my kind of wish not man yelling we miss you no matter when Barry below we are confessing on my Appa Oh dah Laurelwood lava tom tom yeah no moral condo Mahara boss motor oh ho train mr. Mohammed Khan er mesmera girl booty how about damn me Cano Cano karim khan Adama they were any kobato - yeah yell me win Aaron is a pimp in a demo param finger fingered him how are you darling WA our own it's a truly heartbreaking story one that's been repeated across the tundra in 2013 over 15,000 reindeer died and over 60 families were ruined is there something one thing that you would hold responsible for that that you would blame for that these do have many names around the completely one good fatty chicken settlement EPS honey and unarmed is now more could you gotta capture the gang Ducati de tucumán yet a model I'm a better day widow clean good the bullet blew the new Lucci vendor Jovian domination pirates what is cinema is feeling sleaze upon the fortune for most famous event it's a new version that honestly took company with Roger with the trailer repaired there's over a hundred kilometers to go and the temperature is a staggeringly low - 54 basically we tried to leave the Trading Post and almost instantly chocolates puncture and as they were fixing that the diesel started to freeze in both vehicles so nothing is working I think the real concern is that if we try and head off even further into the world we might be stranded in the middle of nowhere to make matters worse the delays mean we've missed our rendezvous with Ann Annette's family we had planned to stay with we've no choice but to head back to our starting point the town of salic heart being up there at that trading post gave me a real sense of you know of another way of life I just felt deeply saddened by the way that those people's lives had turned out those men were killing reindeer day-in day-out that was their job and those were people whose whole lives had been about living with living alongside and looking after reindeer that would destroy the most robust of human souls having missed the meeting with our original family we need to find another group who will take us in our quest for a new reindeer herding family has begun in a different trouble this one running on petrol so hopefully it won't freeze up despite a family leave absolutely bitter again outside minus 35 we head for another slaughterhouse where we've been told Nanette's families are delivering their reindeer is this this is the face the slaughterhouse is over there at this time of year the nur Nets come in from their camps in the surrounding tundra to sell some of their animals depending what you do what every what the cash they earn will buy what they need to survive the year ahead maybe we'll go up it's an extraordinary but sad sight as the reindeer are rounded up into pens ready for slaughter every part of the animal is used the meat is sold into a profitable global market while the fur is made into clothing indescribable cold it's a sort of cold that makes you feel physically sick if you exert yourself in any way but it feels like huh so I've jumped into this otherworldly scene Oh kind of life and death it is hard to describe when your brain is frozen I can feel my eyelashes freeze into my cheek the Yamal Peninsula is home to the world's largest reindeer population with 600,000 animals looked after by 15,000 nomads rather sad that my first view of the reindeer here is the ones that are about to be slaughtered but I suppose what they also represent is the survival for another year of the people who own them go save mo with the reindeer rounded up their owners take a break inside a communal building good to see that one as well seal the wide animals and wait by a balloon oh yeah goodbye there are several families here but one seems particularly friendly so Natasha who who lives with your family Ganga blendable question nella never even really know what's in the commissionable and um will you be migrating again when you'll finish me Natasha in this again that the lane option is water him would you allow me to come and learn from you about the next way of life look once it'll say oh yeah I know you did mommy after him aho Matua women are in charge always us all we set off for the family's camp Natasha and her daughter guiding the way while Kostya travels back on his sledge it's an hour's drive through the snow and across a frozen river that's okay you know you're doing good driving Daniel don't worry Jerrica per unit one you good single hand up a tree yeah you wanna F is he doing when he's telling it mobile phone signal it's not nobody's and for you will you ma'am booyah dangle net macintosh' Jupiter Natasha and Kostya are nearing the end of their 500 kilometer seasonal migration at the moment they're moving every few days they're traveling with two other families next door is Jaeger Kostas brother and in the third tenth or Chum is their friend Vitaly I love all the women be overnight and then bed at one room well the room near two men so she has done bulla okay okay these traditional chums are all that protect these families from the harsh Siberian winter a simple wooden frame is covered with reindeer skins and that's it without a fire it's as cold inside as out and right now that's -38 but what a place be something so harsh and bleak about this landscape and it seems amazing but hmm little pyramids of snow are enough to keep whole families alive in conditions as harsh as this I think the thing that always strikes me is just how how pared down their lives are you know this is it Natasha and Kostya have four children three boys away at boarding school and a five year old daughter poppin a ax and their cat Marishka what type of fish is this is it from the river or from the see you move bangali and do you fish for it new here when you mean yet you're telling me traditionally the new nets would have caught their own fish or traded with other families but now with the arrival of the road they can buy supplies from passing traders I've ever eaten raw frozen fish before bitly problem I'll do the mess of studies domestic it seems the modern sits alongside the ancient here they camp where the mobile signals best but still live in reindeer skin tents and ride on hand-carved wooden sleds if things like telephone connection are important does that mean that your generation is camping in different areas than the generation before there are phones have you sort of moved your migratory routes you bloom December anunnaki series Melanie we have been listening to career in anatomy is not only do it now and convenient opinion on it no Diana we are impatient avianna turmoil teeny-weeny tantrum it cha-cha viscosity hoddan Rio to miss my chance my chance Russian de Aloha say look new window in there wow you had to double go under both of this cos chair has to move the herd to new pasture so while his neighbor's round up the reindeer to pull sleds he prepares the harnesses here Okanogan to video comienza en la vallee her head upon her tavant Hiroko Hiroko - boo - Ramon harnessed are you pondering heart Nisha is it the same rule for children near th e little new agey glitch period she's toilet icky let's go hey let's get on good hit in the Nets culture once a female reaches puberty it's considered bad luck if she steps over ropes poles and even men's boots it's believed to bring misfortune to the family and their herd so Kostya when I see this should I lift it up and put it over like this hey don't hurt that move around it and that's just for women for men it's okay you can step what you do here oh my heart one at the half of my mine you go fast in it Kimberly - Archie Koty jungle party here - and Anton a jato rocket ENIAC I am go okay these ancient beliefs are part of the Nannette animist faith they believe everything in nature possesses a spiritual force when women start to menstruate they become directly connected to this force known by the Nanette as saya Mae you put my photo costea and his neighbors share over 300 reindeer unlike their ancestors they rely on them for food warmth and transport the three families own individual animals but they all share the workload amazingly Kostya yeh gore and Vitaly can tell each animal apart even at several hundred meters the Nannette animals are semi domesticated cousins of wild reindeer the bulk of the herd is for trading while sama used to pull sleds a few are believed to be sacred and will not be killed until they're too old to walk can you all explain to me how important reindeer are to your life an interpreter in China which Avenue right big lion check on in China what new Amina montijo is indeed a turret Rio yata yata yata Jankovic attack emitter NATO Manzano gay teen Inga ha dope under a given culture Oh - I'm Santa right reindeers entertaining we're taking the herd out to new pasture for the night it's a four kilometer ride and the ground looks incredibly rough but it's actually quite a smooth ride and they move faster do you think the men's days are ruled by caring for their reindeer making sure they get enough food and protecting the herd from predators like foxes Eagles Wolverines and wolves actually it's quite heavy I don't how do we get through here we're going just rushing through some fries don't let up after half an hour we arrive at a clearing the reindeer scraped through the snow to reach the lichen below remarkably it's all that sustains them through the long winter months the Nannette need to be constantly on the move migrating up and down the peninsula to ensure that their herds have enough to eat just to be out here with these people having had all the trials and tribulations we've had and what was really really lovely was to seeing how costume completely understood his reindeer his dogs the landscape you know I've only just met him he got lost my heart and this little puppy yet did Walton you little tail you can sees clearly learning from the other dogs and when the other dogs are all going home this was like wow see God did again conical tail that won't go Padua go you know we all bet down in the term together the family on one side the crew and I on the other I'm not quite sure what time it is good morning they've been amazingly hospitable these two they absolutely refused to let me and Cruz an attempt shall we die so we spent the night here in the Chum and um I think this is what I was gonna be for the next week quiet so there is a many challenging things about this environment but there's one challenge that doesn't get any easier and that involves quite a lot walk through sick in hospitable snow the wind how your nose dribbling and still finally you think okay is this far away what we have to bear in mind that it's about minus 20 some kids when you're the garden most days the men tend to the reindeer whilst the women look after the home and these strict gender roles also extend to the dress code I mean general it turns out I've been unwittingly upsetting the men with my clothing that's a Natasha and her neighbor which is also her sister-in-law have told me that basically wearing a pair of salla pets is completely unacceptable so I need to our skirt so do you both make all your clothes hunt every intern no need to film with much on your booth no can we order so Natasha how did you meet Kostya come on open it men you wish war my newest wheeler neighbors a little fellow a dreamer what bonus what what happens can you tell me about in the Nets wedding painter kimitaka that what you came to knew my sister Judy do you know who you're gonna poison you mean she won't open ok inch upon my name she just she stole monde with general Castillo our customer yeah but still a cheating after when you're matching identical couple Magnum gear they were ready so when your sons are older will you do the same for them give it your leapling him I have no woman I in any way you talk alone you know what you can you have nothing else though but you could though we say what I do have a new home with me whore my one and the stripper okay so I put it in like that no don't antigen handle infant don't you mr. Daniel yeah what do you think that's someone what what you come here look at us we are the best-looking girls on the tundra yeah what do you think let's go west women pretty rusty yeah Natasha and Kostas camp is next to the Gazprom railway this afternoon the director of the 350 mile train track is coming to visit the railway has blocked some of the Nets migration routes as the reindeer and sleds struggle to cross the track the gas industry has also been accused of damaging feeding grounds Alexandra Mellon Chuck and his family are here on a PR exercise to find out how this heavy industry is affecting than our next lives so Galena and Galena is this your first time up to this area yep your first time here her that night and Alexander you you work up here your base up here you work the usual he's just removed this fish on the stuff the news of number one in custom storage in you know PPD was to mention when the Soviet state collapsed in the 1990s multinational corporations flooded in to explore the tundra for its huge gas reserves in 2011 Gazprom the Russian energy giant began to exploit them at 41 billion dollars it's the fourth most expensive energy project in the world and a vital and strategic part of the Russian economy how did you meet Koster and Natasha Konstantin Crassus noble togethers come kiss me until a liquid cocaine usable Sofia still that no interior solution a spoken Ibanez Netanya to compensate the Nanette for blocking some of their migration routes the railway has made concessions southwestern Amadou sinestro's it's an EP Hoda columnist at Magnum again you purchase token Felicia Liam's co-host oh ma sucah poly adena was any compensation given to to the nomadic people in this area vamos Poochie Luba industry Zaza Liu bang Nuestra Belleza Allah pray no se que pueda happen Aaron Megan doe vamos Saudis no can you watch a few Sabo TTC embrace okay the gas industry pays each Nannette adult 20 pounds a month and funds development across the tundra I am doomed as I shoot at the why should the daughters divide six Anka Egypt through its Ashoke caboose tryouts do you think that this is good progress for the people of the tundra La Silla proto very Mikhail Danny Samira shot kadai media guru Sri penguin exhibition Sonia was a very interesting little visit I thought the most telling thing about him was how extraordinarily well media trained he was there was a man who was never ever ever going to answer a question straight there are no doubt some benefits for the Nannette the tax revenues raised by the local government from the gas industry are helping to finance schools and medical facilities in the Yamal district what scares me is that these are big powerful industries and I suspect pretty unstoppable is this a way of them seemingly to be doing the local people here a favor when actually what they're doing is gently eradicating their culture with gas production plan to travel over the next 15 years the impact on the Lynette's is only just beginning it's very early in the morning and the family are on the move he's determined that test its migration day the absolute essence of nomadism for me it's incredibly romantic it's sort of thing that as a child you know I wants to be a nomad or a gypsy or in the circus you know somebody who is constantly on the move costea natasha their neighbors and their reindeer are heading for new pastures and I'm going with them everything has to be packed up and put on a specific sled literally five minutes ago everyone was sitting around though relax having tea and then suddenly the whole thing is dismantled in what seems like moments waiting on that charge of maneuver giant chopsticks I have one fellow vapers that I know don't you move it's taken three hours to pack three families and their entire lives on 233 sleds the migration is a colourful affair the sleds are decorated with bells and red leather tassels and the reindeer wear special harnesses it's a very beautiful thing what's it made out in foreign would you know what that thought Mantha we give you this is mama dad another marine I love that do you still find me mammoths sometimes out in the Turner touch it them Venu up that we lay with a yoni hoagie then work on the move over the medieval awakening hope Sonja don't do it mother I know with amnesia day you got even them one here another one yeah okay ah for women a concern but shouldn't this jacket won't be good enough and that's oh my god that looks very special but you know this reindeer skin coat is called a abou sheikah handmade and intricately embroidered by the women it can take as long as a year to complete it looks very special are you sure I'm allowed to about this gradually they're getting their wicked way and turning me into an annex woman what good would yeah oh I feel very very honored with everything finally packed we're off we head down the ice road alongside the railway with the herd following behind kostya and natasha have travelled nearly 500 kilometres south in September and now are only a few weeks away from their winter grazing grounds thank you Dusk's falling as we head off the road and onto the wide open Tundra after six kilometers we arrived at the Nou Camp just as the wind picks up Thank You Freddie beautiful journey and something just amazing that looking back and those that great line of reindeer and their sledges and their loads and what was quite funny was we stopped in this place and and then like Tasha came up and we could see her standing like this she was checking the robot phone signal now assuming it was okay or hold on posture cuz we've now stopped the floors laid out first then the chum framework goes up its intriguingly simple three poles tied together that the others lean against but trying to cover the frame with a gale blowing is a bit of a challenge as the last layer of reindeer skin goes on the families protected against the worst that Siberia can throw at it Natacha lights a fire inside and the dogs curl up outside the most massive man were still more shame under most differences another one bought little Manila I'm tired that was a tiring day decision will never notice when you when you then you will feel powerless to but will this be now where you spend the rest of the winter I'm getting the dope Wadmalaw run hey LaHood sauna hot for the hot button gonna hurt Wow so how many times will you move to get there you get the bitch five more times no yeah Bethany I'm on that I'm living the war when do you then begin to migrate back in the summer happily elaborate oh when you're brilliant well it was a great honor to be part of it today mm-hmm so many wine when you explain I'm watchin but I don't own any animal unions are not a machine I'm below the neck up arrow goes come on Simon do them agrestic so this is our new home what I'm really getting the Sun softness is this relationship between them and reindeer is it's a symbiotic relationship which allows people an animal to to be up in this really wild place and to not just his crotch a survival but live kind of m/v ibly successful way of life here it's quite funny I just caught Natasha having a little moment with some of her reindeer she's a complete softy she comes out here with bits of red and feed some of her favorite including you doesn't see me I have a lot any bread you're a reindeer so sweet lichen the reindeer are meticulously cared for because the Nannette simply can't live without them reindeer meat is the staple food and one animal can last a family up to a month well so posture is killing reindeer and now and he stuns the animal verse with the axe on top of the head and then he stabs it in the back of the head and then straight into the heart the animals dead already this is a non breeding male that's been kept specifically for meat nothing will be wasted the Nannette eat some of the reindeer meat raw Sherpa and the fat and awful while it's still warm it's a delicacy to drink the blood which is salted to stop it congealing very small but the biggest treat is the warm raw liver so I take all of it like this and can I have half of it Morstan you polish you select you it's quite a mental process hmm to uh to eat this yeah I can't say I'm enjoying it terribly much but mmm it's actually a very mild taste and an oddly kind of quite a crisp texture you sort of expect liver to be soft because I've only ever had it cooked before the families gather round the reindeer carcass to eat their fill but they've asked us not to film any close-ups in the past the nur Nets have been portrayed badly in Russian and foreign media sometimes being called savages and even vampires for eating raw meat but why wouldn't you eat the meat while it's fresh and warm in this cold it'll be frozen solid in minutes the Nannette make almost everything they need their sleds harnesses chums and all their clothing whilst Koster works on some antlers that he can sell Natasha is making sewing thread from dried reindeer sinew I'm doing them by coming to pool who seems over to you well okay marching okay Jamie I'm go I'm pathetic she isn't here a minute into the boiler that was on her nice - platted it's mine you have to put her in the water uh-uh mm-hmm yeah you sit aside no what's up okay deal with the budget then what's the onion nose well they're mine anyways your porcelain doll didn't don't tell me look yeah would you me it's one of Natasha and Kostya's sons but nothing to member mdh I can't LLL miss you watch buddy huh my willfully named Omaha button cut away their three sons are away at school it's the legacy of the old Soviet system which provided education for all Nannette most children have to board as their parents are constantly on the move is it hard to send your children away to school don't know when a vehicle McMichael maintain a necklace you could talk own in a bit of mmm and today then come back and and spend the holidays here with you I thought that starter conical in a little him I'm poppin air how old will she be when she goes to school she would Miami now she can open top or channel your clutter hello mister you want him sent me my cell number was a wooden image I have a little InDesign I don't know don't we're gonna hire miss I don't mean didn't was doomed Amir math I do that she ends of also with the medium when etosha get her on the subject of education and you can see there's a slight a slight sort of missed in us comes over her she would love I think to have gone to university and although cost her a Natasha feel very rooted here to the tundra it would be interesting to see what choices their children make and I suppose the reality is will they be actually be able to make that choice or will gas extraction and climates actually take that choice away from them I don't know it's my last morning living alongside Natasha Kostya and their family thank you so much for all your help thank you for lending me your beautiful coat I've become genuinely fond of the whole family so leaving them is going to be hard okay papa nay Hey ah yeah this is a life that is incredibly difficult not just because it's so cold you know in north of the Arctic Circle this is a life on the edge well if we're handing in the door yeah nomadic families all over the world are are adapting evolving if you like to include parts of the modern world that suit them but I get the feeling here that they've done all those things but there is such a big outside influence that is also chipping chipping chipping and Sidious lis away at their lives and that is the fact that the Yamal Peninsula is one big gas reserve and/or receiver a tsuba siva frankly a few nomadic people are not going to be able to stop that level of development and I really hope I'm wrong but I'm just not sure and that makes me feel genuinely sad next time I journey to Mongolia the most magical place to live with a family of nomads who are adapting to the modern world deep in the Gobi Desert but life in this wilderness is still dominated by the power of nature like any good Mongolian spring day it starting to snow as storms and predators constantly threatened their nomadic way of life I can't stand here and say don't kill that wolf it's not my place to kate's adventures continue next Friday at 9:00 great footballers pitch up on Clare Balding show next on BBC two Paul Gascoigne on life and addiction along with Stuart Pearce and goalie David Seaman

Channel: Ginkgo Biloba

Views: 1,390,085

Rating: 4.7474599 out of 5

Keywords: Kate Humble, nomads

Id: X931EQVUq04

Length: 58min 59sec (3539 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 23 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/ancylostomiasis]

Ignorant chav, do no disturb these true finns