#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The Swiss citizen admits that he has already lost count of how many times he has made trips to Russia – either 29 or 30 times. He is a lover of unexplored, hard-to-reach roads and peaks. Therefore, most of his many routes around Taimyr begin in Hatanga. However, he always travels alone. Machek is sure that such solo trips help to establish one’s own fortitude, physical endurance, self-confidence, and to see something new, previously inaccessible to the eyes of others.
Over the years of wandering, he found himself in various, sometimes very difficult, situations, but never turned to rescuers. And this is a very significant indicator in favor of the traveler’s endurance, experience and tourism skills.
In ordinary life, Machek Zbignev is a researcher at one of the institutions in Zurich, says the хатанга.рф portal. He works with large, complex computer programs to produce more accurate weather forecasts.
His dream is to develop a program that could determine all the difficulties for tourists, especially those traveling the route for the first time: muddy banks, impassable rapids, whirlpools and other dangers. Moreover, he himself had already encountered all this more than once. Machek spoke about this at a meeting with Hatanga residents.
According to the Swiss, he fell in love with Taimyr a long time ago and has been here several times. He knows very well the area’s features, character and the legends associated with it: the Byrranga mountains are distinguished by the most brutal beauty in the world, the Putorana plateau is the territory of waterfalls and royal canyons, Anabar is the place of the most beautiful rivers.
The current journey started from the Kotuykan river. The further route was laid towards the beautiful Maimecha river – through forests, mountainous patches, valleys, and canyons. Further – along Maimecha itself to its mouth, to the Heta river. Machek covered this 250-kilometer-long route through very rough terrain in a week, doing 20 to 40 kilometers a day, depending on the complexity of the terrain. A single-seater rubber inflatable boat, a parkraft, helped him cross the rivers.
The 120-kilometer bridge between the Kotuykan and Maimecha rivers was conquered by the Taimyr guest in less than three days. Here he was struck by the beauty of the Maimecha’s small canyon tributary – Chopko. The traveler had time to admire the unapproachable splendor of natural fantasy. Moreover, no one distracted him from this activity: during the entire route he did not meet a single person or a single predator. Although in those places there are not only brown bears, but also other predatory animals.
Zbignev also spoke about other difficult routes he climbed in January, in the coldest weather, in Yakutia and Chukotka. As the guest from Switzerland admitted, traveling alone in extreme conditions is his principle. He is not afraid of anything, and gets great satisfaction from another victory over the route and over himself.
Earlier we wrote that the Putorana nature reserve topped the ranking of the most inaccessible and mysterious places in Russia. According to the online publication People of the North, the Putorana plateau is included in the top 7 most attractive places for tourists in the Arctic.
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Text: Elena Popova, Photo: Olga Zaderyaka, Denis Kozhevnikov, Machek Zbignev, Nikolay Schipko and хатанга.рф
