Here is the story. Alexey Pavlov is the famous photographer in Yakutia. Yakutsk-based TAYA Model Agency has many beautiful young women. LenaTourFlot LLC has a pretty old, but stylish Soviet passenger ship that tends to make journeys between Yakutsk and the Arctic settlement of Tiksi. Yakutia has the awesome magic Lena River.

So what do you think Alexey did? He travelled with TAYA models on the Mechanic Koulibin ship to the Lena Pillars, one of major geological monuments on the Lena River, and brought a bunch of great photographs. Take a look and enjoy!

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When I see awesome photographs of my lovely Yakutia, I have a strong feeling to not say anything, apart from one sentence, “Enjoy Yakutia! Pictures explain everything!”

In this post, I would love to say something similiar, “This is the Lena River! Enjoy its beauty!” and that’s it. But it might sound unfair to you and Dina Khandy, who took these photographs during her 2-week river cruise on the Michael Svetlov ship from Yakutsk to the Arctic settlement of Tiksi in the Lena Delta.

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This time Inga Bysykatova (in the abiove picture), who previously presented the photo report about the Siberian white crane expedition in South Yakutia, shows how the republic biology institution’s field study went in the Arctic tundra of Ust Yansky region, the north-eastern part of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russia, in summer of 2009.

The mission was to research Sandhill Cranes on the western border of Siberian white cranes areal in North Yakutia, if to be more precise, in the area of the estuaries of the rivers Chondon and Sellyah north of the Tumat village. See the map.

Inga says that before the expedition there were a fact of Sandhill Cranes presence registered at that place, but not proved scientifically.

Today she is able to confirm that the expansion of these birds going on to the West. Sandhill Cranes were officially registered in Chukotka before 1920s, than they moved to Kolyma by 1950s and the Indigirka river by 1990s. Nowadays, they are in Ust Yansky region.

“Our expedition was the first that proved the presence of Sandhill Cranes in the Ust Yansky tundra. That was in 2009… We counted and registered 142 Siberian cranes and 6 Sandhill Cranes,” says Inga.

By the way, it was Inga, who arranged the whole travel to the Arctic. A pretty hard work, I dare to say.

Now feel free to enjoy the summer Arctic of Yakutia, Siberia/Russia, and don’t miss amazing pictures of those bloody-sucking mosquitoes.

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Take a look at Inga Bysykatova‘s set of fascinating travel photographs taken during the white crane research travel along the Aldan River in South Yakutia (Russia’s Siberia & Far East).

As Inga informs, it was the journey along the Aldan River in July – August 2007. From the village of Ust Maya to the settlement of Bulun (Us Taata). 600 km done by regular motor boats. In short, it was Sterkh (white crane) field research expedition.

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Here we go! Lena Pillars! The famous geological monument on the Lena River (Yakutia / Russia) was the third spot visited by Ilya Kovyakin, a friend of mine from Magadan, his family and Ajar Varlamov on their 3-day journey along one of the world’s biggest river.

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The 2nd day of Ilya’s Elanka – Buotama – Lena Pillars trip was also dedicated to fishing, but on the Buotama River, a Lena River tributary. The 1st day, as you know, was spent in the village of Elanka.

The Buotama River mouth is located just in front of the Bulgunnyahtakh village (a neighboring settlement north off Elanka, a few minutes by a ride) on the east side of the Lena River.

Further, find more photographs taken by Ajar Varlamov and some facts. Read the rest of this entry…

In June, Ilya Kovyakin, a friend of mine from Magadan, asked me to help him with fishing on the Lena River and travelling to Lena Pillars. He said, he would wish to do that in the course of 3 days. I was like, “My god, I am not a fisherman, I don’t have a boat, and I’ve heard that great fishing might happen in far away places… So…”

Eventually, the idea arrived… Everything might be done on the way from Yakutsk to Lena Pillars with visiting three places and for three days. The route is Elanka – the camp at the Buotama River (the Lena River tributary) – Lena Pillars.

The miracle happened. On the first day, Ilya with his family and Ajar Varlamov drove on his 4wd from Yakutsk to Elanka. The drive took 4.5 hrs. At that place, they rented rooms in Arinosov’s house (800 rubles per person) and did what they wanted. Ilya fished, his family members enjoyed nature, and Ajar took as many photographs as possible.

Below, please, see Ajar’s photographs. Beautiful, aren’t they?

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Great news is I am back to Yakutia! Woo hoo! Really glad to be at home, though I missed such a big event as the celebration of Ysyakh in Yakutsk.

Below is the set of photographs taken from the plane approaching to Yakutsk Airport yesterday morning. It was at 6 am.

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Love the Lena River! Love it in summer! Love crossing it by a motor boat! It’s the most exciting experience, that give me a chance to feel and see the river at its best.

Here is the set of pictures taken during my motor boat crossing from one bank to another, from Bulgunnyahtakh to the Buotama camp. The journey that lasted 20 min, happened in June two years ago. Found these pics on my Flickr account.

Bulgunnyahtakh is a small village located on the west bank of the Lena River south off Yakutsk. Two hours by a car from the capital of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Apart from the river, you can see the village itself and learn out that almost every villager has a boat.

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Yakutsk Virtual Tour Demo at VisitYakutia.com

The beginning of this week is amazingly full of interesting startups. On Monday, I wrote about YakutiArt’s Yakutia Wild Life comic strip project.

This time I am proud to announce the appearance of the new project called Yakutia Virtual Travel Guide. Check it at VisitYakutia.com.

On that resource, you will be able to see Yakutsk, the administrative center of Russia’s Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and walk across the city virtually.

Use arrows “<" and ">” to turn around. Choose places to view in the navigation bar located at the right top or on the map at the left top. You can also click on the white sphere you see in a image and teleport into that spot. Enjoy!

It’s only the demo. The virtualization of Yakutia is just started and it will be intigrated in the bilingual Yakutia Travel Guide website VisitYakutia.com. We need your support. Please, share the news!

By the way, the project is done in cooperation with Egor Fedorov, the almighty Yakutsk-based website developer and founder of PicaRus Studio.

PS. Yesterday, we installed the analytics… and, you know what, more than 1100 unique visitors from 35 nations for one day!