MAMMOTH TUSK HUNTERS

Fly in to Moscow. Evening flight from Moscow to Yakutsk.

Arrive in Yakutsk between 5am – 1pm, depending on which flight we chose (it is a 7-hour flight and 6 time zones east of Moscow). Check in to hotel. If required, we can visit the city's mammoth museum, displaying some of the many mammoths found in Yakutia.

Flight from Yakutsk to Batagay (2-hour flight, one time zone further east). In Batagay meet one of the young tusk hunters who we will be following throughout the shoot. We load all equipment into a transport tank and head out into the wilderness where the band is searching for tusks. These transport tanks were designed under the USSR for transporting people and goods in the roadless north but to be easily convertible into military tanks during time of war.

Overnight in tents near tusk hunting site, which is a huge sinkhole that appeared mysteriously around ten years ago. At its deepest it is around 100 metres deep, and is up to 800 metres wide and 1.5 km long.

Watch how the tusk hunters search for tusks at the sinkhole. They find a bit of overhanging cliff or a part of one of the walls that looks like it could easily be dislodged. They then drive long poles into the ground until they cause that part of the wall to collapse in a small landslide. They then search through the resulting debris at the bottom of the sinkhole to find the tusks.

Head further out in the tank to the River Adycha area. Rivers in Arctic Siberia are very meandering, with lots of twists and turns. So at these turns the river current slams into one of the banks and is constantly eroding it, bringing bones and tusks closer to the surface. Sometimes they see a bone protruding in these areas and start searching for nearby tusks, or sometimes they just search in a spot that looks promising. They search using a water pump to blast away the earth from the river bed, creating tunnels in the bank to expose the tusks. Once the tusks are exposed they use more delicate tools such as chisels to excavate it.They sometimes also trawl the river bed with a kind of huge rake attached to the boat. We will spend these days travelling with them, watching the tusk hunting and extraction process and if so desired, accompanying them on fishing / hunting trips.

Head further out in the tank to the River Adycha area. Rivers in Arctic Siberia are very meandering, with lots of twists and turns. So at these turns the river current slams into one of the banks and is constantly eroding it, bringing bones and tusks closer to the surface. Sometimes they see a bone protruding in these areas and start searching for nearby tusks, or sometimes they just search in a spot that looks promising. They search using a water pump to blast away the earth from the river bed, creating tunnels in the bank to expose the tusks. Once the tusks are exposed they use more delicate tools such as chisels to excavate it.They sometimes also trawl the river bed with a kind of huge rake attached to the boat. We will spend these days travelling with them, watching the tusk hunting and extraction process and if so desired, accompanying them on fishing / hunting trips.

Head further out in the tank to the River Adycha area. Rivers in Arctic Siberia are very meandering, with lots of twists and turns. So at these turns the river current slams into one of the banks and is constantly eroding it, bringing bones and tusks closer to the surface. Sometimes they see a bone protruding in these areas and start searching for nearby tusks, or sometimes they just search in a spot that looks promising. They search using a water pump to blast away the earth from the river bed, creating tunnels in the bank to expose the tusks. Once the tusks are exposed they use more delicate tools such as chisels to excavate it.They sometimes also trawl the river bed with a kind of huge rake attached to the boat. We will spend these days travelling with them, watching the tusk hunting and extraction process and if so desired, accompanying them on fishing / hunting trips.

Return to Batagay.

Fly to Yakutsk. Visit the workshop of the company who the tusk hunters work for, watch how they carve ornaments and make cosmetics from raw tusks.

Fly to Moscow.