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Siberia constitutes the vast northern expanse of Asia, extending from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with its northern boundary bordering the Arctic Ocean. Defined by extreme cold, the taiga forest, and permafrost, this vast territory encompasses diverse landscapes ranging from tundra to mountains and volcanoes....
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TravelTranscript
00:08I'm traveling through the Arctic the land of the midnight Sun most amazing view for thousands of
00:16years only the hardiest hunters and herders lived in this inhospitable land but now the Arctic is
00:25warming faster than anywhere else on earth as it thaws new riches are being revealed this is what
00:34it's all about the oil all eyes are turning north for one bright summer I will live with the people
00:41of the Arctic I want to understand how their lives are changing and discover what the future holds for
00:53this great wilderness it's summer and I'm in Siberia this vast untamed wilderness of the Russian North
01:21stretches far into the Arctic it's a place of extremes and it's home to some of the most
01:27resilient indigenous peoples on the planet it's almost 20 years since the iron rule of the Soviet
01:37Union ended and the people of this region are once again beginning to rediscover their ancient traditions
01:43okay I'm traveling from the centers of civilization to the most remote encampments in the wild Virkoyansk
01:55mountains to see how the old ways are forging a new future it doesn't get more scenic than that
02:04does he is he fully trained yet no he's not trained there's also a personal reason why this journey is
02:17so
02:18important to me I've spent years living with tribal people and have become fascinated by their healers or
02:24shamans this wild region of Russia is where the word shaman actually comes from what if anything will I discover
02:37about their ancient beliefs Russia has the largest land mass in the Arctic stretching across nine time
02:58zones the north is home to 40 different indigenous peoples I'm on my way to meet the Saka the horse
03:05people of the north they live in the Saka Republic the size of India it has a population of fewer
03:14than 1
03:14million I'm arriving at the high point of the Saka festival season it's almost summer solstice which
03:27is one of the most important times for all of the peoples of the far north it represents the longest
03:33day
03:33of the year and here in Siberia it's a time that was actually suppressed a little bit but now there's
03:41something of a revival under Soviet rule all religious beliefs were outlawed for the Saka this meant the loss
03:58of their pagan Sun festivals and the persecution of their shamans I'm in Balakta a Saka village that today
04:08is more famous for its fish than its horses I'm meeting Alexander Sergeyevich or Kulan as he's known to his
04:23followers
04:40he's one of the new wave of spiritual leaders to emerge in recent years he's an apostle for the new
04:46Saka spirituality but also works as a healer with only a rudimentary national health service Kulan offers his
04:55patients an alternative diagnosis the bargain mouthful
05:23the bargain mouth heart conveys the emotion of its player by imitating the sound of nature this ancient
05:31instrument instrument was banned under Stalin because of its links to shamanism in the modern Russia Kulan is
05:56now free to speak bargain to me just the sound of that so close to my ear just it's a
06:11surge through it's like
06:14almost like almost like you could feel the vibration even though it's such a small vibration it's like it went
06:20went all that through my nasal cavity and down through my throat I could really feel it it's a
06:26quite powerful little mind that the body of the other side I'm wearing a mask in this video I'm getting
06:39ready for the first time I'm a basketball I'm a perfect idea of the song that I'm going to do
06:51the same thing
06:51so the next time I'm going to ask you to see that our language is the same thing but it's
06:55the same thing
06:55that's the same thing we're here it's so much more of the second time I'll make our attention
07:12It all seemed a little unorthodox, but he was strangely perceptive.
07:28Throughout the Russian north, the solstice is a time of festivals.
07:33One of the biggest of these is the Issach.
07:37Under the Soviet era, this fertility festival was banned and was used instead as a showcase
07:44for the athletic prowess of the Soviet Union.
07:47It was only in the 1990s that the villagers were once again allowed to perform it.
07:56Today, Kulan is master of ceremonies.
08:08This cultural revival might appear a rather eclectic mix of old and new, and it would be
08:14easy for me to question this reinvention of tradition.
08:18But what I have to remember is that little more than a generation ago, all this spiritual
08:24life was illegal.
08:40Kulan invites me to join his family's picnic.
08:43Hi.
08:45Good morning.
08:46Good morning.
08:49Wow.
08:50Tell me, how has this festival changed in your lifetime that you remember?
08:54Well, in the first place, it was a show.
08:56In general, it was like a show.
08:57It was like a show.
08:58It was like a show.
08:58Yeah.
08:59And now we start to know.
09:02We just know ourselves.
09:05We just know ourselves.
09:06And we're working on this.
09:07So, people, as a real person, to come to this, to come to this, to come to this.
09:13And that there's something that's inside, something that's spiritual.
09:19And we only start to know ourselves.
09:22Okay.
09:22Yes.
09:48It's the solstice Eve,
09:51the day before the longest day of the year,
09:53and I'm celebrating it with Kulan and his family.
10:09Kulan is a deeply spiritual man,
10:12and I've been moved by his reverence
10:14for the natural world around him and his family's warmth.
10:32It's the dawn of the longest day,
10:34and Kulan is taking me to a remote village.
10:42Here, he says,
10:44I will really experience something
10:46of the ancient shamanic connection with nature.
11:14This is the welcoming of the Sun Festival,
11:17and the beginning of a new year.
11:26It's about 3.30 or so in the morning,
11:31and we're waiting for the sun to come up.
11:34And it's a ritual that has happened all over the world
11:40for tens of thousands of years.
11:42And these are all modern people.
11:44They could easily be tucked up in bed
11:46or watching late-night TV,
11:47but they've chosen to be here.
11:52And I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.
12:14As I stand, reaching out for the sun,
12:18it's impossible not to be moved
12:20by the devotion of the Saka people around me.
12:23Kulan might not call himself a shaman,
12:26but there's more than an echo
12:28of the ancient spirituality in his work.
12:55When I leave you now and carry on with my journey,
12:58what advice do you have for me?
13:00To take more attention,
13:05to take more information,
13:07but to take more attention,
13:10to feel the situation.
13:13Now, when you feel the situation,
13:16when you're together,
13:19when we're sitting,
13:20when the wind is blowing,
13:21when we feel that we're alive,
13:25when we feel that we're pulsing,
13:27when we feel that we're pulsing,
13:27when we feel that the nature exists in the summer.
13:35Wow.
13:38Thank you, amazing, really.
13:42You've taught me a great deal.
13:49I feel a great sense of peace in your presence.
14:00Bye, my friend.
14:20I'm travelling north, 800 kilometres into the Arctic Circle and the land of the Midnight Sun.
14:27For the next few weeks,
14:29I will inhabit a world of endless daylight.
14:44Even this remote part of the Arctic was once controlled by the Soviet Union.
14:4920 years on from its collapse,
14:51and the Saka who live here are returning to their roots to prosper.
14:59The Saka horse must be one of the world's toughest animals.
15:03Over the centuries,
15:04it's become acclimatised to this harsh landscape,
15:07and it's enabled the Saka people to colonise the Arctic.
15:14I'm here to meet Sergei Lukin in the remote northern town of Sakharia.
15:19He's one of a new generation of Saka entrepreneurs,
15:23a horse breeder who now manages a private herd of over 100 animals.
15:28Even this far north, they love their festivals,
15:31and there is one event in the Saka calendar
15:33that Sergei cannot afford to miss,
15:36the annual horse races.
15:38calc Josnit Khashadrose and his first released
15:43Nice to meet you. I'm Bruce.
15:45thank you so much.
15:49Oh.
15:50Wow.
16:01So tell me, Sergei, what's important is this race for you tomorrow?
16:06Oh, it's for us, of course.
16:09For us, of course.
16:11We're ready for 10 days for the competition.
16:17So, Sergei, I'm only here for a few days,
16:19but if there's anything I can do to help you,
16:21I'm very happy to lend my services.
16:26No, I'm not a good rider at all.
16:28But, you know, I can ride.
16:31But that wasn't really what I was thinking when I said that.
16:34I was thinking more stable boy.
16:36But, yeah, I can ride.
16:41Up here, where the permafrost begins just below the surface,
16:45there's no real agriculture
16:46and animals have traditionally provided all the means of survival.
16:52Under the Soviet Union, all livestock was state-owned
16:55and herding became less of a way of life and more like a job.
17:02In this modern era of private ownership,
17:05Sergei now generates part of his income,
17:08looking after horses for a new class of owner.
17:12There's a lot riding on these races
17:14and Sergei's keen to find out if he's landed himself a prize jockey.
17:20I've been asked to demonstrate my horsemanship
17:22on an old, rather unruly Saka horse.
17:28You've got to be kidding.
17:38Okay, whoa.
17:39Hold on, hold on.
17:41Hold on, hold on.
17:44Hold on, hold on.
17:45We're at the same time.
17:45We're at the same time.
17:46We're at the same time.
17:47We're at the same time.
17:48Go ahead.
17:49Come on, come on.
17:49Come on.
17:51Getting to the start line is proving difficult enough
17:54on a horse with only one rein.
17:56But finally, we're ready.
17:57Let's go.
18:12Let's go.
18:14Oh, let's go.
18:26and that's what happens when you've no idea what you're doing and you hit the water obstacle
18:32i think that has sealed my fate there was the outside chance of me racing tomorrow
18:42i think they've all seen what i'm like now
18:44i think there's no way in a million years they're gonna let me loose on their lovely horses
18:59yeah it wasn't good i took it you don't want me to be racing on your team tomorrow
19:07oh well i tried
19:31this is my room
19:35thank you sergey
19:36i get the feeling that there's more to this than just medals
19:49it's something of a tradition and i've been invited to join sergey and his family for a special meal
20:01what is this one
20:05reindeer reindeer okay and this
20:13so there's reindeer inside as well okay wow and the the uh the soup
20:17soup is reindeer too i love reindeer you never have enough
20:27sergey's son misha has just returned home from his studies in the city
20:31so are you racing tomorrow
20:40yes yes which one uh-huh which race
20:49wow busy day tomorrow
21:00little more than a generation ago and the state would have allocated all the resources necessary for
21:05a new teacher like misha
21:09he's decided to return to the village to teach physical education but in the new russia it falls
21:15very much to his father to help him succeed
21:21and sergey's got his eye on first prize
21:33uh
21:33uh
21:42it's uh you know so it's another um tool of productivity it's uh it's uh it's uh it's not a
22:13good luck my friend i'll be with you and your family cheering on your team
22:16and uh let's hope you get it this one especially good luck
22:26it's race day and the entire town has turned up
22:37sergey is too heavy to be a jockey so it'll be up to his son misha to ride his team
22:42to victory and win
22:43the tractor
22:49my job will simply be to look pretty and try and stay on the horse for the procession
23:08it's
23:09with a shorter races run it's time for the final epic two-lap race
23:14sergey's done really well the first one he came first and third the next one he got a third place
23:20so this is the important one and if he gets this he gets the tractor
23:27as the horses are led out to the start misha with the headband looks like he's in third position
23:52uh
23:53Until they don't know where to go.
23:55No.
23:56They don't know where to go.
24:06Misha, Sergei's son, is in fifth place as he came past,
24:10but now he's in fourth place, so he's edging up slowly.
24:30Here's Misha. Come on, Misha.
24:33That was super exciting.
24:35Even though Misha didn't win the tractor,
24:38Sergei is not going home empty-handed.
24:40He's still picked up a clutch of prizes.
24:57He may not have won first prize,
25:00but Sergei's performance has cemented his reputation
25:02as one of the region's top Saka horse breeders,
25:05and he wants his son to share in this success.
25:10In the new aspirational Russia,
25:13he's going one better than the traditional Soviet gift.
25:16Well, what do you want to give?
25:20It's not hours, right?
25:22So we thought,
25:23well, we'd better give a son a home.
25:27For six years.
25:30What a person.
25:32We'll see you, Misha.
25:35Well, this gift,
25:40I didn't expect such a gift.
25:43Of course, I'm happy.
25:45I'm happy.
25:45Well, it's good that I have a home.
25:48Then, if it's a home,
25:49then everything will be done, for example.
25:52We love our children very much.
25:56Well, it's not that I work.
26:09Misha gives me a tour of his new pad.
26:14Upstairs, Sergei has built a window
26:16so that he and his son
26:17can look out over this vast landscape.
26:22And that is where I'm heading next,
26:25to meet the Iveni people
26:26and one of the most iconic of all the Arctic animals.
26:55And this is my transport to the hill.
27:02I'm travelling up with Ina Kenti,
27:04a local council official,
27:06in the community tank.
27:08It might seem an incongruous way to travel,
27:11but it's one of the few vehicles
27:13that can actually manage in this vast, boggy terrain.
27:23It's a new acquisition,
27:25and the drivers are still getting used to it.
27:38So, let's go.
27:40Let's go.
27:41Let's go.
27:44Let's go.
27:46Let's go.
28:04We'll be in the tank for a couple of days,
28:06as we journey to a remote valley,
28:08where I'm hoping to meet an encampment of Iveni herders.
28:25Perhaps it's not the greenest way to travel.
28:37Six hours from the village,
28:39and we make a stop.
28:41Here, on the shores of a lake,
28:43my personal journey is reignited once again.
28:57A gross man.
28:58A gross man.
29:00A gross man.
29:04A shaman.
29:05From here.
29:06Okay.
29:10Okay.
29:11Okay.
29:12Oh, from...
29:23And this?
29:24All of it?
29:25Oh.
29:25Like this.
29:27Okay.
29:28Okay.
29:28All right.
29:29And now we can go to himself.
29:31Come on.
29:41And then we will go to the other side.
29:44We made a present to him,
29:46and we will go to the other side.
30:05Oh!
30:14The track's come out.
30:16I've changed a few tires in my time, but nothing like this.
30:26Now we're talking.
30:29Like I said, I've changed a few tires in my time, but I've never changed a track.
30:44There's one village where I came from, which is over a day's journey, and the nearest
30:48next village is 250 miles away.
31:09A few carefully delivered blows from a hammer, and we've removed the broken link.
31:14It's then just the tricky job of joining together the two ends of the track.
31:32And there you have it, one fixed track.
31:41Living out here, you've got to be able to light a fire, ride a horse, fix a tank, you name
31:47it, you've got to be pretty resourceful.
31:55And there you have to be able to do it, and you've got to be able to do it, and
31:55you've
31:55These are the foothills of the Vrhojansk, a mountain range that stretches for 1,000 kilometers.
32:03This is the coldest inhabited place in the world, minus 60 in the winter.
32:09In the summer, temperatures soar into the 30s, and it's home to the Aveni people.
32:17These are reindeer herders who, for millennia, have inhabited this extreme landscape.
32:23There are fewer than 20,000, if any.
32:30After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 90s, the herds almost totally collapsed.
32:38I'm here to find out how one group has struggled back from the brink of extinction and, with
32:43it, saved a unique way of life.
32:48This is brigade eight.
32:55I've come at the busiest time of year, the count, when the herders will discover the exact number
33:02of new calves born.
33:12Bruce, come here.
33:15Come here.
33:17Into the fire.
33:18Ah, put this in there.
33:20It's traditional for new arrivals to feed the fire, in gratitude for a safe journey.
33:33These men work shifts around the clock, while there's 24-hour daylight.
33:38The reindeer need to feed continuously at this time of year, so they can lay down enough
33:42fat to make it through the long, harsh winter.
33:45Well, this is the summer, it's good.
33:48There's no cows.
33:52When it's hot, it's too hot, it's too hot.
33:55They'll run, like a sportsman, to say.
34:00If you don't get caught, they'll get caught.
34:03You don't get caught.
34:07I'm a doctor.
34:08I'm a doctor.
34:11I'm a doctor.
34:14I'm a doctor.
34:16I'm a doctor.
34:19I'm a doctor.
34:20I'm a doctor.
34:21I'm a doctor.
34:25Tomorrow, the Aveni will migrate to new pastures, some five kilometres further up the
34:31valley.
34:41The specially trained reindeer who will help with the migration are called Uchak, and we
34:46need to catch 25 of these big males out of a herd of almost 2,000 reindeer.
34:51I'm with Camp Leader Vasili.
34:55I'm with Camp Leader Vasili.
34:58I'm with Camp Leader Vasili.
35:32Uchak usually have their rear antlers removed for safety, but as I go to catch one animal,
35:37his antlers snaps.
35:39The Aveni have a special way of cleansing the wound to prevent infection.
35:43It looks worse than it is.
35:45So this?
35:46Okay, so we're going to cut it here.
35:50Yuck.
35:52Okay.
35:53Poor chap.
35:53I'm so sorry.
35:57Okay.
35:57And this one?
36:00Okay.
36:03Yeah.
36:05Okay.
36:05Okay.
36:06And this one?
36:08Okay.
36:16Well, I've never done that before.
36:22But, yeah, a bit of a weird one.
36:28The entire camp must be packed up onto sledges for the migration.
36:36The Aveni are one of the few peoples in the world who ride reindeer, and they do it in
36:41a unique way, by sitting high up on the animal's shoulders and using a stick for balance.
36:47Go, go.
36:47Go, go, go.
36:48Get us.
36:51Go, stay, go, stay.
37:17It's absolute bliss being on this.
37:21It's just so peaceful, calming, it's therapeutic in a way, you let your mind go blank and this
37:29scenery all around is so spectacular, it's heaven.
37:38Under the Soviet Union, the herds became the property of the state and the Aveni were compelled
37:44to send their children to school.
37:46With no women or children left, the camps became dominated by bachelor men who would
37:52never marry.
37:53It was to mark the end of a truly nomadic way of life.
37:58With the collapse of communism, many of the brigades failed to cope with the transition
38:02to private ownership.
38:03Only now, with some state subsidy and hard graft, are the herds growing once again.
38:27One of the herders I'm getting on with best is Yegor.
38:29He's in his 40s but only joined the brigade a year ago, though he spent much of his youth
38:35as a herder.
38:40Someone told me that the reason that you face the tent this way is to do with the spirit
38:47world.
38:48Is this true?
38:52I think it's the wind.
38:54It's cold.
38:55It's cold.
38:56It's snow.
38:56You see, it's cold.
38:59It's cold.
39:00It's cold.
39:00It's cold.
39:01It's cold.
39:01It's cold.
39:01It's cold.
39:01It's cold.
39:01I'm a modern man.
39:04I don't know if it's cold or something.
39:12I'm learning that the legacy of the Soviet Union is as much about ideology as it is economics.
39:19For the Soviets, the shaman was the living embodiment of superstition and had to be eradicated.
39:25Even today, it's a sensitive subject.
39:31On the migration today, I felt something, almost like the mountains were telling me something.
39:40Do you think I'm mad?
39:41Or do you think there might be something in that?
39:47I think there were many people who lived here.
39:51There were different shamanes.
39:56There is a spirit there.
39:59But it seems to me that they say something.
40:05They say something.
40:07They say something.
40:09There is something.
40:10There is something.
40:24The boggy terrain and soaring summer temperatures provide the ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes.
40:31Billions of them that plague the reindeer.
40:34And it's the job of the herders to try and reduce their impact.
40:38I'm heading out with Piotra, one of the most experienced herders, on my first evening shift.
40:54The herd.
40:56The herd.
40:56Wow.
40:58Wow.
41:02Sit here and take it all in.
41:06It doesn't get more scenic than that.
41:20It's a totally different sensation being with the herd when you're on the back of a reindeer.
41:28It's like being on safari, on horseback or something.
41:32It just gives you an extra sensation of being with the animals.
41:38All right.
41:40In order for the herd.
41:56Let's take to the dragon
42:00Don't eat in the morning.
42:40It was very good.
42:43I dealt with it very well.
42:47I'm like an experienced carpenter Голуботни.
43:19Domestic life in the camp is run by Anna, a full-time cook.
43:23She also oversees the young Aveni who come up in the summer months to learn about the
43:28traditional way of life, and to help with this the busiest time of year.
43:36Whenever the herd returns to camp, we are back on the job of earmarking all the new calves.
43:43Yiguri?
43:44Okay.
43:46How many animals do you have?
44:10Yegor has got a day off, but he doesn't strike me as a guy to sit around.
44:30I don't know if I know what you're saying, you're talking about going up here?
44:36Yeah, yeah.
44:38Okay.
44:39Yeah, with you?
44:42I think I understand.
44:43I'm shaking on something I'm not too sure, but I think I know what you're saying.
44:46Can someone tell me what I've just agreed to?
44:48Yeah.
44:49You have agreed to have a competition with Yegor, who is first on the top of that hill.
44:54Are you kidding?
44:54Why didn't you know that's for your look?
45:23Oh, my God.
45:26It's a bit of water.
45:28It's a bit of water.
45:31It's a bit of water.
45:36Is the competition clear?
45:38Yes.
45:40We're ready to go.
45:41And quickly, we'll go to the hill.
45:44This is the left side.
45:48Ready!
45:51Ready!
45:53Start!
45:54Attention!
45:55Mars!
46:07Gojo!
46:07Gojo!
46:08Get out, get out, get out!
46:14Bruce, how are you?
46:16Bruce!
46:17How are you doing?
46:20I'm doing it.
46:21I'm doing it.
46:22I'm doing it.
46:23I'm doing it.
46:25He's still ahead.
46:27But he's taking a different route.
46:31You can hear squeals from below.
46:33He's overtaken me again.
47:02I'm doing it.
47:03The king has been on the floor.
47:04I'm doing it.
47:04I'd love you, who is going to be here.
47:04I'm doing it.
47:05Well done. Thank you.
47:09Clearly, I am no match for Yegor,
47:11but maybe there's another reason why he's got me up here,
47:14and I think it's got something to do with my quest.
47:18Wow. Wow, yeah, amazing.
47:23I had taken the challenge to be simply a macho Soviet-style contest,
47:28but standing up here, I now realize it's much more about the Aveni
47:33and their deep relationship to the world around them.
47:38That's quite special.
47:40I'm so pleased to be up here with you today.
47:42Thank you for the challenge.
47:44Thank you for dragging me up here.
47:46No mosquitoes, the most amazing view.
48:09In the camp, supplies of meat are running low.
48:22I'm quite used to this following around
48:24while Pietro's trying to find a certain type of reindeer,
48:27either one for milking, one for riding, one for pulling a sledge,
48:30maybe one to cut the ear that belongs to a certain family.
48:33But this is the first time I've ever been with him
48:35when he's been looking for an individual reindeer.
48:38Somewhere in here, the next animal that we're going to slaughter
48:41for the camp is a reindeer.
48:46And so, quite rightly, he's hiding.
48:54We found it. I think we found it.
49:00Is it the right one? Is it the right one?
49:02Yes?
49:14The stick's there. I left the stick there.
49:16Oh, he's got it. He's got it.
49:18OK.
49:19OK, sure.
49:20He's got it.
49:32Not all reindeer are destined for the table.
49:38He's got it.
49:48The biggest male reindeer are frequently kept as uchak,
49:52or riding deer.
49:53The process of breaking them in takes several weeks.
50:02And today is day one.
50:21Is he fully trained yet?
50:25He's not trained?
50:27He's not trained?
50:29OK.
50:33OK, I've got you.
50:34Slow down.
50:36OK.
51:06I think I've proved that I can't do that very well.
51:10Exhilarating as it may be, I'm not the guy to train this lovely animal.
51:16It might look rather grueling, but once trained, this reindeer will have a long life ahead of it.
51:39I've been with the Aveni for a fortnight now, and though their skills are formidable,
51:43it's their reverence for the sacredness of nature that I find most inspiring.
51:48OK.
52:35It's the final tally after several weeks of earmarking.
52:45Council official Inukenti records the number of new calves born to each private owner.
52:54It's also a chance for the herders to find out how much their personal wealth has grown
52:59in the new privatised Russia.
53:03And how many new calves do you have this year in the city?
53:1136, good for you.
53:17Okay, so Piotr is 5, 6, 7, 8, 17.
53:21Okay.
53:22How about Ego?
53:24Ego?
53:25No.
53:26None?
53:27None at all.
53:29So far.
53:30So far.
53:35Okay.
53:41It's been a good year for Brigade 8.
53:43The herd has grown by almost a fifth, and that means more work.
53:58It's my final day with the Aveni, and I'm going out on a full night shift with Ego.
54:11I know so little about him.
54:14Ego was brought up a herder, but only returned to this way of life a year ago.
54:19I was wondering where he had been in the dark years following the collapse of the Soviet
54:24Union, when the herds teetered on the brink of extinction.
54:31I don't know how to explain.
54:35I drank, I drank.
54:43I drank.
54:48It's scary to become, when one is left alone.
54:57And I left, he passed away.
54:59I worked here when he returned in the abdomen.
55:01Most of them might lira a lot of wolves, fear, so this is another way.
55:08Most of the donné things might require óleo, may people stay in the front of us,
55:12or she would jump in the best.
55:13On the best taking, I was already away, are he more in the best.
55:19The Sun thatians bring in the best.
55:21to see the children, to see the children.
55:25It's necessary to work, I think, for the landowners.
55:32Then they'll see them there,
55:36on the other side, like my dad there.
55:45Thanks, my friend.
55:46Yegor, who had so roundly beaten me on the mountain,
55:49was now showing me something of the fragility
55:52of the indigenous peoples of the Arctic.
55:56It's all too easy to think of supporting
55:59these traditional ways of life,
56:01almost out of a nostalgia for the past,
56:03like keeping something valuable in a museum
56:05for future generations.
56:07In reality, however, what I see around me
56:10is not the past, but the future.
56:13Support for the of any way of life
56:15is simply good, modern social policy.
56:21It's the Aveni's skill with reindeer
56:23and their intimacy with nature
56:25that enables them to be productive.
56:28Once that link is broken,
56:30the consequences are often catastrophic.
56:33And perhaps it's this, their relationship with nature,
56:37that also answers my own personal journey.
56:40The spiritual revival that I experienced
56:43at the beginning of my journey isn't present here.
56:46And at first, I was a bit bemused,
56:50maybe even disappointed,
56:51especially having come to a place
56:54where the word shamanism first arrived, first came about.
56:58But the Soviets have got rid of all the shamans.
57:01There are none left.
57:02But the interesting thing is that there's no need
57:06for a revival here because the herders are so in tune
57:11and aware of their animals in this landscape,
57:15that the spirit world that the shamans
57:17were only ever a pathway to anyway
57:19is as alive today as it ever has been.
57:35It's time for me to leave the Aveni and head home.
57:45Really?
57:50Wow, thank you.
58:01Thanks, man.
58:08It's too much, man, it's too much.
58:10It's such a big thing for me.
58:12Amazing, all right, good luck.
58:16It's too much, man.
58:21Next time, I'm in the far north of Greenland.
58:26How are you, my friend?
58:26Where you come to?
58:28This is the arctic of the imagination,
58:31a frozen world that's home to the last Inuit hunters.
58:35Weapons at the ready.
58:37This really is a hunting trip.
58:44Holby City is here on BBC HD tonight at 11,
58:47after we head to Wales with Oz and Hugh.
58:50They're next.
58:50See you next week.
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