Taiga residents who asked Santa Claus for light received unexpected gifts. Life in the taiga Taiga residents

I visited Khanty-Mansiysk (northern Russia) and told how the indigenous people live there.

A simple wooden hut, consisting only of a room, simple utensils. This is exactly how, according to the owners, the indigenous people of these places now live in distant settlements...

2. The road between the two settlements again wound along the river beds, from time to time diving into taiga forest and again emerging at the next bend of the river...

3. All these roads through the forest in winter are cut by the Khanty themselves, moving on Burans and Yamahas between yurts and taking the obtained skins and meat to Ugut.
They will be gone in the spring...

4. We arrived in a small settlement where only one family of four lives just before sunset. In the open spaces it was still quite light, but in the forest almost nothing was visible.

5. Just at the moment when we arrived, the owner of the yurt was scooping fish out of a dam in the river.
The Khanty know many clever ways of fishing. One of them is in the photo - a large hole is cut in the ice in shallow water and a dam like this is built there - something like a cage. Something edible is thrown to the bottom, and the fish rushes to an open space with good access to oxygen, where they also feed.. From here all that remains is to scoop it out once a day with a net

6. The catch cannot be called poor...

7. The sun sets over the tributary of the Bolshoi Yugan, on the banks of which the settlement is located. The owner Sashka carries a large bag of fish scooped out of a dam cage

8. The cats are right there

9. A shy girl meets us at the entrance - this is Sashka’s daughter

10. At this time, Sashka’s wife, Oksana, is preparing to take freshly baked bread out of the oven.

11. The Khanty traditionally bake bread in these outdoor ovens.

12. It tastes very much like the bread we are used to. It has a thick, crispy crust but a slightly soggy interior.
Bread is not baked every day. This supply will be enough for Sashka and Oksana for a week.

13. Bread and clay oven

14. Oksana is a fairly young girl. But quite heavy natural conditions in these places a person becomes outwardly aged very quickly.
Sashka and Oksana have two small children - a boy and a girl.
The girl, as expected, is shy and flirtatious, the boy is curious....

15. In the upper room. A simple wooden frame, no interior decoration. Wooden floors, a stove, a simple table...

16. An indispensable attribute of Khanty dwellings is a kerosene lamp.

17. Children, such children... They can eat sweets and candies endlessly.

18. It’s getting dark and Sashka, throwing away the canopy behind the house, starts the diesel generator.

19. Let there be light...

20. By the light of a light bulb, we are able to more carefully examine the house in which this family lives.
In the light everything looks even simpler. There are no unnecessary things here. Everything is just necessary.
On the left is the women's half of the house, on the right is the men's. Among the Khanty, it is customary for men and women to sleep separately.

21. Male half. A simple sofa, it’s unclear how it was brought to this place, a shelf with an LCD panel, a sewing machine and a potbelly stove

22. A thing that has long gone out of our everyday life is a video recorder.

23. Dining table, on the left above which hangs simple utensils for needlework and more.

24. Scissors, frying pan, heating pad - all together

25. On the window, mobile phones are in the only position that allows them to receive at least some signal.
For a long time it was a mystery to me how mobile communications could be provided in the taiga - after all, the subscriber base is extremely small.
It turned out that the oil workers were the reason for everything. By developing deposits, they also ensure penetration mobile communications to taiga places

26. Dishes

27. Grocery cabinet

28. Here you have a bathroom, a storage room, and a dining room for cats

29. There are shoes, a washbasin, and towels...

30. It is still interesting to observe how the life of people leading a traditional lifestyle is penetrated by things from civilization - satellite dishes, mobile phones, generators, toothpaste and shaving foam...

31. It’s getting dark... it’ll soon start to get dark outside, and we’re getting ready for the long way back...

32. Sashka and his daughter come out to see us off... Ahead of us are 5 hours of jolting on sledges through the night taiga.
That day we arrived in the village of Ugut after midnight...

Hut on chicken legs or visiting the Yugan Khanty

The most interesting part of my spring trip to Ugra was getting to know the way of life of the Khanty, the indigenous population of this region.
Not ostentatious plagues and national clothes, designed for tourists and guests, which we saw at the day of the hunter, fisherman and reindeer herder in the village of Russkinskaya, but real life real people.
This was not included in the program of our blog tour, but we managed to persuade the organizers to arrange a trip to the Khanty yurts of the Greater Yugan.
Leaving Surgut at 6 am, after four hours of jolting along the winter road, we arrived in Ugut - a rural settlement and local administrative center, covering quite a large territory in the south of Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, which is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples of the region - the Khanty.
It was from here that we had a further journey, already on snowmobiles, to the Khanty yurts...

2. The rural settlement of Ugut unites under its jurisdiction the largest number of indigenous people in the entire Surgut region. In total, about 3 thousand people live on the territory of the settlement, of which 900 people are Khanty.
The fact is that a rural settlement does not mean a specific village, but a huge area on which small Khanty settlements, called yurts, are located.
In this context, a “yurt” is not a dwelling, but a small settlement consisting of log huts. This is what these settlements have been called since the 19th century.
The head of the Ugut village council, Andrei Nikolaevich Ogorodny, personally took us to the distant yurts on his snowmobile, to which a sled was attached. On the second snowmobile is his assistant.

3. On the way we had to stop at several settlements, the most isolated of which is located 5 hours away by snowmobile.
All winter roads are laid on the ice of the frozen Big Yugan and its tributaries. This is quite convenient, because... there is no need to cut roads through the forest, and the locals know the river very well.
In summer, these same paths are used for boat travel.
The most difficult thing is in spring and autumn, when the ice melts and becomes. Then getting to the settlements is quite difficult. In fact, this is only possible by helicopter.

4. We are with alexcheban on sleds. You can only sit with your back to the movement, because... at 20 degrees below zero, out of habit, it’s impossible to even breathe if you turn your face in the direction of travel at speed

5. Snowmobiles fly quite quickly through the snow, but the compacted road is quite deceptive. It is enough to go off the track a little, and the snowmobile immediately buries itself in deep snow

6. The photo clearly shows that the snow in this place is waist-deep

7. We take out the snowmobile and move on. From time to time the road leaves the river bed and goes into the forest. This is either a loop of the river being cut off, or a transition to some of its tributaries.

9. Swamp under the snow

10. On the edge of the swamp there is a grove of slender birches

11. An amazing thing - signs in the taiga. In fact, we are just crossing the winter road - winter road, along which oil workers get to their facilities. There is no road here in summer

12. The first yurts on our way....
I’ll repeat it again for those who didn’t read the caption to the second photo.
Among the Khanty, yurts are not a specific dwelling, but a small settlement. Forest Khanty live in huts. Khanty reindeer herders are in tents.

13. Untrodden snow and huts. The settlement is empty...

14. But numerous tracks and tracks made by snowmobiles indicate that people live here.
Most likely, the Khanty left either to hunt, or to Ugut to hand over their spoils or buy supplies

15. Pattern break - satellite dishes.
Yes, yes, the Khanty nowadays are also quite advanced - they have televisions, they install satellite dishes and use satellite phones in the taiga.
Electricity is obtained from generators, which everyone has.
Ask about the funds for all these benefits?
In fact, the Khanty are not such poor people. They have several sources of income. Firstly, these are trades - hunting, fishing, gathering. Some people donate skins and meat to state procurement offices, others sell them at markets or fairs. Secondly, these are compensation payments from oil workers.
The fact is that each family is assigned ancestral lands. And if oil workers want to place their derricks or other objects on them, they enter into an agreement with the user of these ancestral lands, according to which they annually pay an agreed amount of money.
Here everything depends on the perseverance and business spirit of the Khanty. Andrei Nikolaevich says that he knows some particularly lucky Khanty who receive a million rubles a year or more in compensation

16. Fish is stored simply - freshly caught, dumped in the snow and covered with a piece of tarpaulin or canvas. And they sprinkle snow on top. The beast will not get it from there, and the frost will ensure its safety

17. This is an oven for baking bread. Khanty bake bread on the street (more on this in the next post)

18. Let's move on. Another forced stop. The reason is a steep climb to the edge of the forest along the river bank. A snowmobile cannot pull the sled through deep snow, so we carry it by hand.

19. There are Khantam gifts in the boxes. There is no vodka in the box - there is cereal and bread. Alcohol and the peoples of the north are incompatible things. The thing is that these people do not have an enzyme in their body that breaks down alcohol, so even a small dose of it can make a person dead drunk within 10 minutes.

20. The next yurts on our way are the Kogoncheva yurts. There are only a few houses here, and only a family of pensioners lives here.
Another satellite dish. In addition, metal-plastic windows catch your eye.

21. Owner - Kogonchev Petr Stepanovich.
Settlements here are named after the names of their inhabitants. As a rule, this is one family.

22. If in yurts there is a hut on stilts, this means that there is a storehouse. The most valuable things for the owners are kept here. Piles are needed to prevent animals and rodents from getting in here. The ladder is always removed and is only installed if you need to get into the storage shed.

24. The main means of transportation for a hunter in the taiga are skis.

25. Khanty hunt, fish and collect berries and mushrooms. Each owner always has a rich arsenal of nets and other fishing gear

26. Toilet.. On the street

27. At the entrance to the living part of the house there are two large vats with salted perches. It is more difficult for pensioners to survive in the taiga, because hunting is more difficult than when you are young.
That's why fish always helps out

28. Wife Anna Vasilievna.
They have lived here since birth. They have two daughters, but they no longer lead a traditional lifestyle and moved to the village.
That's it now less people remain in their original territories, moving to civilization

29. She hunts along with her husband. The other day I caught a hare, whose skin we saw in the storage shed.
Pyotr Stepanovich was a noble hunter. IN best years I caught 80 sables per winter.
Now, he says, the forest is not what it used to be. There are few animals...

30. Civilization penetrates into taiga settlements....

32. Pyotr Stepanovich and Anna Vasilievna also have a mobile phone, although it only gets reception in some places... Base stations very far

33. Anna Vasilievna knitted socks for her husband

34. What God sent..

35. Simple home furnishings... By the way, in the next post, pay attention to how different the furnishings will be from this one in the house of the family we are talking about

36. Water is obtained by melting snow near the stove

37. Birch bark for lighting the stove

38. Pyotr Stepanovich and Anna Vasilievna turned out to be hospitable hosts...

Born in taiga huts, from childhood they absorb with their mother’s milk the skills and abilities that have been developed over centuries.
WITH early age The boy, together with his father, learns to hunt animals and fish, and the girl learns to be a mistress of the house and the harsh taiga life..
They don’t need school and they try in every possible way to hide from the teachers by helicopter who fly in for them from the boarding school.
They have huge, curious eyes and, just like city children, they are madly in love with candy...
Khanty children.

2. These brother and sister, living in the remote taiga on the Great Yugan, see strangers almost for the first time in their lives.
For the first hour, there was wariness in their eyes, mixed with sincere curiosity.
Having received a huge bag of sweets, the children turned all their attention to it....
Until they saw a large camera in my hands.
The boy, who was embarrassed and did not say his name, still wanted to look into the huge glass 82 mm Canon eye...

3. Families among the Forest Khanty are, as a rule, large - from three or more children. The fact is that families always need extra workers, so children from an early age become full-fledged helpers for their parents.
The second reason for large families is the rather difficult climatic and natural living conditions. Taiga is taiga, and serious illnesses, injuries, and even accidents while hunting or fishing are not uncommon here. You yourself understand that children are in a much different position in this regard. larger group risk than adults...

4. Children early receive small copies of various adult objects: a knife, a bow and arrow. The toys are mainly miniature copies of adult clothing sets: for girls - a pincushion, a box with sewing supplies, a cradle, for boys - a boat, a bow with arrows, and deer figurines. Children's games often become full-fledged labor lessons. Toys in the full sense of the word are more rare than common.

5. A girl of two or three years old can already assemble a bracelet from beads, and a boy can throw a lasso on any object that reminds him of a deer. At the age of six, a child can independently manage a reindeer team and collect tens of kilograms of berries per season. From the age of twelve, a girl can independently run a household, and a boy goes hunting alone.

6. It is precisely in the importance and usefulness of children for the family that lies a rather significant problem of the Khanty - the education of children.
The Russian state demands and forces indigenous peoples to give their children compulsory primary education.
And since many settlements are located in hard-to-reach places, also remote from administrative centers Where there are schools, Khanty children receive this education in special boarding schools.
Naturally, they live there for many months.
This situation contradicts the centuries-old construction principle social connections among the Khanty, when children are full-fledged helpers.
It is for this reason that indigenous people often try to avoid sending their children to a boarding school.
Someone goes into the taiga after hearing the sound of a helicopter coming for their child (and in Ugra there is a state program, according to which a fairly decent amount is allocated annually for the delivery of children to and from boarding schools during the holidays by air to distant yurts), some simply refuse to give up their child with a scandal.

7. The Khanty believe that their child will not receive the necessary skills for life in the forest while receiving an education in a boarding school.
On the one hand, this is true. On the other hand, an uneducated person can easily be deceived in a variety of situations - from trading in what is mined in the forest to concluding compensation agreements with oil workers.
Another factor that significantly influences parents living in the taiga is that often children, having weaned themselves on the Internet, do not really want to return to the traditional way of life.
Having tasted the joys of the life we ​​are accustomed to, having learned certain benefits of civilization, they begin to see life in the forest from a completely different perspective...

8. It's hard to say who this one will be a little boy in 15-20 years...
He will return to Big Yugan with a gun and a snowmobile to continue doing what his father, grandfather and great-grandfather did, or he will remain in Surgut or Pyt-Yakh to work in unskilled work, or even enter a university...

9. In the meantime.... while he runs after his father into the street to help him with freshly caught fish, throwing his only toys on the bed....

The last ones in Taiga. Khanty. Surgut district of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.

Let's go on a little trip. We leave the car in Ust-Unya and go up Pechora by boat. Just some 80 kilometers waterway, and we are there.
On Poloye
A wooden boat floats forward. There are more and more things to do, worries, calls, the cell phone goes silent for a long time. So Ust-Unya gently rolls over the horizon. Nine kilometers later, dilapidated buildings appear on the left bank, a phantom of a former village. Here, in Garevka, people once lived, hunted and fished, grew rye and barley, kept livestock, got married, gave birth to children, and died. Human life is short. But the life of a settlement can be a little longer. Having emerged in the mid-19th century, in the seventies of the last century the village was excluded from the registration data.
Another two dozen kilometers, and the first stop. A house on the high bank of the Pechora, to which the taiga approaches very close. Path-ladder running down to the river. Boat on the pier. This is not the abode of a hermit in a bear's corner. This is the entry cordon of Poloy, a kind of checkpoint of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve. You can't go further without a permit.
Alexey Nikolaevich Voronin works as an inspector here. It works in relation to the protected cordon - that means it lives all year round, monitors natural phenomena, keeping track of animals in the entrusted territory and protecting it from uninvited guests.
He is a hereditary forester. In general, the majority of cordon workers are children of cordon workers, excuse the tautology. It's rare that anyone gets here by accident. Not everyone is able to stay away from people and the benefits of civilization for years (the benefits, however, are very conditional - to each his own). Alexey’s father was a forester (the same inspector), and his mother was a senior laboratory assistant for researcher Lanina, after whom a street on the right bank of Yaksha is named. Alexey grew up reading his father’s stories and books, of which there were many in the house, and since childhood he saw himself only at the cordon. But he trained to be a tractor driver and went to work as an assistant captain. In the end, seven years ago I ended up where I wanted. And although in winter he sometimes remains completely alone at the cordon, he says that this does not bother him much. The inspector has enough to do at any time of the year. You won't get bored. After all, except job responsibilities, you also need to think about your daily bread - you can’t run to the store for groceries due to its lack. He is a good man, he can do anything - tinker and build, wash and clean, cook food, make jam. The house is in perfect order, every thing is in its place. I'm not used to it any other way. Tourists and researchers are happy to visit him. And he himself is always happy to have guests. They probably say about such people: they will give away their last shirt.
- And if they were offered another job, a highly paid one, would you leave the cordon?
- No. I like it here. Even if they pay little money, is there happiness in it?
- And what?
“Yes, this is it,” he looks around the forest and the river.

Sobinskaya
Opposite the Sobinsky stream, the Spring took refuge behind the island of the Sobinskaya cordon. At the edge of the channel there are two pine trees, as if they had come down to admire their reflection in the mirror of the river. Waist-deep grass. There are several buildings scattered on the hill. In the house, which is still quite strong, there are rustic, simple and durable wooden utensils - benches, tables, shelves. The door handle is also made of wood. There are some dishes on the shelves. There are shoes near the door. As if the owner is about to return.
For a quarter of a century, until this summer, Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bashkinov worked at this cordon. Partners changed often, but he became attached to this place. The first question that tourists ask the cordon inspector is: isn’t it boring? We weren't original either. so what?
- I get bored with boring people, but not alone. “I’m probably a lone wolf,” Nikolai said over the phone (he now lives in the village of Komsomolsk-on-Pechora). - Previously, we didn’t have power plants - no light, no TV. We lived with kerosene lamps and listened to Mayak radio. And even at the beginning of winter, when the most long nights, I liked it forest life. Forests, hills, river - all this is dear to me.
Remembering Sobinskaya, I do not doubt his words at all. An unusually beautiful corner. There are probably many legends associated with it.

Shaitanovka.
Enchanted place
The next cordon has the mystical name Shaitanovka. Valentina Nikolaevna Vysotina meets her on the shore. Her husband Boris Afanasyevich Varankin met us earlier, back in Ust-Unya. He and Alexei Voronin brought us here. We ask about life and praise the ripening vegetables.
“We don’t have order now,” Valentina complains. - Almost until the end of June - frosts. It doesn’t hit the neighboring cordons, but we only have time to cover the plantings, even potatoes. We tried to warm it with a fire, but the smoke came out like a candle and did not spread.
So much for mysticism - it’s no different, the shaitan is playing mischief, blowing frosty breath from the mountains: come on, argue with me! A huge black cat named Cosmos is not afraid of supernatural forces, he will scare anyone he wants.
- I don’t go hunting, I still can’t see well. I have a cat. I’ve already taken a couple of hazel grouse from him. Somehow he caught a hare, or even guarded a mink. I don't like him, the impudent guy. And as for harvests - it happens in different ways, two years ago I planted eight buckets of potatoes, dug up nine and I thought: who planted the ninth for me? - Boris laughs.
IN total he worked at the cordons for 35 years. A year - on Shezhima, eight - on Sobinskaya, the rest - here, on Shaitanovka. He was a senior state inspector and resigned this spring.
Valentina is a native resident of Yaksha. Both parents and grandparents are from these places. And she is also a third-generation meteorologist, grandfather Vladimir Aleksandrovich Vysotin worked at the weather station for decades, then his daughter, Valentina’s aunt, then she herself. Probably, love for nature is in her blood.
- Boris brought me to Shaitanovka 15 years ago, in June 1997. I immediately felt at home, as if I had lived here all my life. All she said was: where have I been before?! Our work is like a disease. It's not the same elsewhere. But here, if you feel bad, you lie down in the grass and something will cure you.
- And in winter there is no grass...
- Yes, it’s only dreary and dark here in November-December. In the morning I’ll heat the stove, cook lunch, then put on my clothes, get on my skis and make a circle around the “turban” instead of warming up. The day will end. When it gets dark, we'll turn on the station. While it's working, we'll charge the batteries. That's how we live. But now I will spend the winter in Troitsk. Boris will stay here, he cannot live without the forest.
- What is a turban?
- That's what we call the mountain. Its shape resembles a turban.
Valentina - laboratory assistant phenological observations. On a 20x20 area, she needs to collect every single berry (continuous picking method), count, and calculate the economic and biological yield. There are also phenological areas - 0.5x4 meters, on which early spring All buds and flowers are counted to the stage of ripe berries, it is determined how many generative organs die and at what stage, for what reason. Painstaking work.
- And what is the current harvest?
- The cloudberries were blooming with a “B” rating, but there were no berries at all. Just a little blueberry, just one. Blueberries in some places are a “C”, in others a “D”. The cranberries bloomed well and grew to a “three” level. Lingonberry too. And at Poloye both blueberries and lingonberries are “A” grades.
- Don’t the bears play pranks?
- We're used to them. And they come to us. There's only one walking around here, we call her Masha. Her mother used to walk near us. “Mashka too,” the hostess smiles. “Once my nephew and I went, he was seven years old, to one of the sites. I pick berries and feel that someone is watching. I raise my head and there’s a bear standing next to my boy. In the heat of the moment, I didn’t immediately notice that the cubs were nearby. She crossed herself and shouted. She moved a little to the side and sat down, the cubs came towards her. I say: “Dima, follow me!” And we left. Then I began to think, why did the bear come so close? My boy was wearing a suede jacket, she probably mistook him for someone else’s teddy bear, and when she realized that there was a mistake, she froze over him and was confused.
“One day I went mushroom hunting,” says Boris. - I didn’t find any mushrooms, I’m going back - the bear is in front of me. He doesn't growl, he looks. I knock on the bucket, it doesn’t go away. What to do? I say: “What are you doing, Masha?” I hear a fuss behind me, I turn around, and there are two bear cubs playing with my puppy. I stepped aside and saw my puppy flying in front of me, apparently the bear had kicked him.
- We only see her with the cubs. He takes them around, teaches them how to get food, and so we meet. And when she’s alone, she doesn’t show up, since cubs aren’t born every year. One day this Masha scared the research staff. They went for the “turban”, soon they came back and complained, the bear, they say, growls and does not allow passage. I’m going to see you off, swearing: Masha, so and so, stop scaring people!
“And they come straight into my garden and check what has grown,” Alexey laughs. - I have a dispute with them exclusively over lingonberries - who will pick them first.
More than one clubfoot comes to visit. The mink even feels like a mistress - it’s a nature reserve! One day the men caught a few small fish and left them in a bucket on the table. Five minutes later they came to pick it up - from under the lid a black muzzle was baring its teeth, but there was no fish. I took it all out and came back again. Did you hope they would add it? They kicked the thief out, but, of course, she didn’t say where she hid the fish. We found it ourselves, in a woodpile.
Last summer, a swallow built a nest in the attic and had four chicks. And this year they lived and raised three of them. Valentina photographed yellowmouths. I also managed to photograph a hazel grouse looking out the window. Masha flatly refused to pose. I tried to click it more than once, but to no avail - it’s barely visible in the photo.
Time flies quickly while talking. It's starting to get dark, we have to go. We say goodbye to the hospitable hostess and move on to the next cordon.
Elena SAVINA.

After the publication of “MK” and other media, the Buryat village began to come to life

After stories and publications in the republican and federal media about it, the government of Buryatia took action. In Taezhny, which has lived without a centralized power supply for 20 years, fuel for a generator has appeared and communication with the outside world has been established. But the main thing is that the issue of creating a more reliable energy supply system has moved forward. On this path there is a lot of paperwork and millions of budget funds.

Let us remember that 20 years ago in the village of Taiga, a forest fire damaged a power line, and attackers stole part of the wires, which doomed the people (then still a large village) to new living conditions with candles and kerosene stoves. Only in 2002, the administration of the Selenginsky district bought a diesel generator, but it often broke down, and the authorities did not dare to buy a new power line - about 40 million rubles were required. A few years later, the government of Buryatia bought a new diesel generator for the residents of Taiga. But it also works from time to time - when it is not broken or when there is diesel fuel, the supply of which to this remote village is extremely irregular. “Uncertainty” changed the entire world order - it led to the closure of usual shops, telephone communications and transport links. People shop at the Russian Post office at unimaginable prices in order to make calls from their mobile phones, and climb the highest mountain in search of a signal. And they can’t get out of the village for months.

Life began to change after publications in the media. The manager of the administration of the Selenginsky district, Evgeny Dagbaev, told MK that at the end of December a village gathering was held here, at which the head rural settlement“Iroyskoe” Eduard Namsaraev realized his guilt, its extent, degree and depth regarding the fact that he did not bring information about the broken diesel unit to the “top” in the spring-autumn of last year and left the Taezhna residents without electricity for nine months. Plus, he deprived people of the UAZ-29892 car, their only means of transportation. The Tabletka's engine allegedly overheated due to frequent patrolling during the fire danger period.

At this meeting, a 19-point protocol was adopted. 7 of them have already been completed, the rest are in progress. Certainly, electricity did not leak in all houses without exception. But, according to the official certificate, on the eve of the New Year, 2 tons of diesel fuel were delivered here, which should be enough until February 1. So main holiday Taezhninians celebrated as they asked - with flickering Christmas trees and with the TV on.

Now the diesel generator set operates normally 8 hours a day, and henceforth they promise to supply diesel fuel regularly as needed. The administration of the Selenga region created a headquarters for a stable supply of electricity to Taiga, and its head Vyacheslav Tsybikzhapov took the issue under personal control. Eduard Namsaraev, in turn, promised to create a “management department” for the maintenance and servicing of the diesel generator set and provide all possible assistance in calculating tariffs (while the villagers themselves collect fuel for the unit and the salary of the diesel mechanic).

The satellite payphone finally started working, for a long time not served by anyone. Now it provides two-way communication: “from there” you can call if you have a special card, “there” - by a regular phone. The Ministry of Transport of Buryatia promised to study the proposal of one of the operators - to provide telephony and broadband Internet access to remote and sparsely populated areas. To do this, about 15 subscribers in the village must enter into a service agreement and pay up to 10 thousand rubles for the installation of equipment. In the future, people are asked to pay 600 rubles a month for the provision of services. All that’s left to do is find those willing.

In addition, the “Tabletka” was repaired and solemnly returned to the people, and on the basis of an agreement, a driver was assigned to it with all rights and responsibilities - local resident Sergei Lazarev, who was also chosen as the village elder. And very soon a competition is expected to be held to implement passenger transportation along inter-settlement routes of the Selenga region. By the way, the road to the village of Taezhny, built at the timber industry enterprise and filled with crushed stone, is planned to be rid of holes - repairs are supposed to be carried out at the expense of the road fund, and funds have already been allocated for this year. However, they also want to restore the only school here - they will soon start drawing up estimates.

“The Ministry of Transport of Buryatia sent a letter to IDGC of Siberia to issue a decision on connecting to the industrial network - that is, on the construction of power lines, but the company has not yet announced it,” noted Valentin Dakich, deputy head of the Selenginsky district for industry, infrastructure and housing and communal services. - That's why we're considering Alternative option– installation of solar panels. In this case, about 50 thousand rubles will be required for one house - and that is to ensure the operation of the kettle, TV and refrigerator. Commercial offer available, the details are being worked out. All proposals will be discussed at a meeting in the Ministry of Transport.

If it is not possible to purchase and put into operation new equipment and maintain the old one in good condition (although, according to forecasts, it will work for another seven years), people will have to be resettled. The head of Buryatia instructed us to analyze this possibility and discuss it with the population.

At the village meeting, the sore subject of resettlement was not raised. Judging by the words of officials, residents do not want to leave their habitable places, because there is clean air, fertile land, and, therefore, good income: over the summer it is easy to earn up to 100 thousand rubles from selling nuts alone. But judging by the December conversation of the MK correspondent with the residents of Taezhny, they, on the contrary, are ready to leave - it would be, where and for what. According to Dakich, one idea is to provide land plots within the boundaries of a rural settlement for the construction of new houses there. But whether it will be implemented is still a rhetorical question.

Roxana Rodionova, “MK in Buryatia”

In Russia, the number of rural settlements exceeds urban ones by seventy-two times. And despite this, every year thousands of villages disappear from the map of the country. Against the backdrop of general extinction and desolation, the village of Vyezhy Log, located in the Mansky district Krasnoyarsk Territory, like a black crow: new houses are built here, young people return here, and adults still honor traditions. Prospekt Mira correspondent Diana Serebrennikova decided to find out what they live in a village not forgotten by God and spend time there last days hot summer.

Deep in the taiga

The road to Vyezhy Log winds through the taiga. The sun slowly sets behind the tops of spruce and cedar trees, plunging the road through the forest into twilight. We are going to Vyezhy Log with Igor, one of the natives of this small taiga village, to catch the last days of summer and see how the village is preparing for winter. Igor's relatives invited him to help with the mowing.

- It’s good, if the sunny weather lasts for a week, then the grass in the field will quickly dry out, and we will have time to prepare hay for the winter. All you need is nothing - five large seeds,- says the guy.

We left the city late, and night overtakes us on our way. Vyezzhy Log is 180 kilometers along the highway through the forest. It's mid-August, and the weather at this time is very capricious, but after a week of rainy and cloudy days Summer suddenly came to Vyezhy Log, and the thermometer rose to thirty degrees.

We enter the village after three hours of travel, already late at night, but it is light in it: lanterns illuminate the main street, which at the end of the road ends with a bridge over the Mana River. After weaving through the streets, we climb the hill where Igor’s relatives live. We are met by his Aunt Anya. Lighting her way with a hand-held flashlight, she opens the gate, letting us into the yard.

- I went after the cows, and by autumn they began to stray again. And you go to the house, dinner is on the table and to the bathhouse, it’s already hot,- Aunt Anya admonishes and disappears in the darkness.

From the hill on which the house of the family that sheltered me is located, there is a view of the village at night: it stretches along the forest along the river bank. Some houses were lined up at the foot of a forested hill, others “climbed” its slopes.

The houses here are well-kept, with plastic windows, rowan bushes in the yard and large garden plots. There are a few grocery stores, pharmacy, post office, club, high school and paramedic station.

Master of the taiga

At first glance, Vyezhy Log is an ordinary village. But this is not so: there is one “point” in history that completely changed self-awareness local residents. In 1968, the film “Master of the Taiga” was filmed here, in which the actor and poet Vladimir Vysotsky played a role. The event, which 47 years ago disturbed the quiet life of fishermen, loggers and “keepers of the unique moonshine recipe,” is still fresh in people’s memories.

The owner of the taiga is a Soviet detective story, the action of which takes place in a quiet taiga village. The plot centers on a nighttime theft of a local store, which a young village policeman takes upon himself to investigate. The film showed the local beauty and life of a working-class village, its inhabitants engaged in logging and rafting of timber along a stormy taiga river.

Walking around the village, you can see that the office building is still in its place, near which the mass shooting of the scene of departure to the market took place. But the store is no longer there; it was dismantled into planks and a “flock” was built. And the streets no longer look the same as before. But the older residents of the village still remember how the actors stayed with them, how most of the local population took part in the filming, and how they paid one and a half rubles a day for crowd scenes for children and three for adults.

In memory of this event, a stone with a memorial plaque was erected on the banks of the Mana River, where Vysotsky lived during filming, an inscription was made on the mountain in honor of the creation of the film, and excursions and an art song festival “Vysotsky and Siberia” are held annually.

- Because of this, the village is on our lips. Sometimes you come to a new place, they start asking who you are and where you’re from, but as soon as you name the village and mention the film, they immediately start nodding in response, saying they know - says young Inna Tsykunova, a sports instructor. She has lived in the village since birth, although she went to study to become a designer in Krasnoyarsk for three years, but somehow it didn’t work out, she returned home to rest, and stayed that way. At first they offered me a job at the club, to act as director, then I moved to Youth Center. The girl complains that before there was more attention to the village. But now everything has changed.

- We used to have the festival “Vysotsky and Siberia” here, and then it was moved to Narva, they say there is more space there. And because of the festival, people came to us, at least some development. We even wrote posters against the postponement of the festival, they protested, but what's the point. In general, we already have a lot of tourists coming for rafting. Since the end of May, boats have been appearing on the shore, rafts are being built. From here people are swimming into the upper rapids. The lower ones are also beautiful, but there are not such stones, as in the top ones.

New life

In summer the village is quiet. Only sometimes huge orange dump trucks rush along the main street, carrying gravel to a construction site. railway. Now almost half of the male population of Vyezhy Log works at this construction site. The rest are either in the meadow or in the taiga, picking berries. In general, the village comes to life only on holidays: on the night of Ivan Kupala, boys carry wheels up the mountain, set them on fire and bring them down. About ten at a time, flaming tires roll from a height, scattering sparks, to the squeals of women and children. Maslenitsa is also fun here: a Maslenitsa town appears, guys climb the pole, girls laugh, and local grandmothers organize markets and sell pancakes with moonshine. Young people dress up, ride on a sleigh, have a tug-of-war, and end up setting fire to the effigy of winter. But while there are no holidays, it’s a bit boring in the village - do your work, read books, watch TV. Well, or surf the Internet, fortunately it’s here now.

As dusk falls, people appear here and there on the deserted streets. A gray-haired man hunched over greets his wife from work. He carries her heavy bag and wonders how to insulate the house during the emergency. cold winter so that his wife does not freeze while he goes on a long hunt in the taiga. Someone is dragging a whole cart of hay with a tractor, someone is driving a herd of cows along the main asphalt street...

As in many villages, people here like to noisily celebrate a wedding, which can last a week, or a protracted meeting New Year. Get drunk and fight over nothing. But if suddenly some misfortune happens, then everyone unites: together they put out a fierce fire and defend the village from fire or leave for mowing. That's all country life, which can only be understood after living here for several months.

Taiga, or northern coniferous forest - strip coniferous forests, surrounding Earth V northern latitudes planets. This biome covers the northern parts North America, Europe, Russia and Asia. Taiga is generally located south of the tundra and north of temperate deciduous forests and temperate grasslands. The taiga is the largest biome on Earth, totaling approximately 50 million acres (20 million ha), representing 17% of the Earth's land area.

The taiga, like the fauna of the tundra, is due to harsh winter, is characterized by relatively low diversity. Some animals of the taiga are able to cope with cold winter, others hibernate, but many species migrate south to areas with more favorable climate. Below is a list of the most typical animals for the taiga biome, including mammals, birds, insects, predators, rodents, herbivores and other fauna.

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Animals of Taiga:

Arctic hare

The Arctic hare is a social animal that lives in the taiga and tundra of North America, Newfoundland and Greenland. These hares often gather in groups of up to 200 individuals. They are capable of jumping at high speeds in a kangaroo-like manner due to their strong and massive hind legs.

Dalla Ram

Dalla Ram - artiodactyl mammal, which lives in the mountainous regions of the taiga and tundra. They are herbivores and spend most of the day grazing. They eat grass, leaves, branches and shoots, and winter time The basis of the diet is lichens.

Baribal

A large black bear with similar brown bear traits. These solitary mammals are found throughout North America.

Badger

Badger, or common badger- leading night image life mammals, member of the weasel family. Characteristic feature The badger has black and white stripes on its face. Badgers have a fairly wide range, which extends to the forests, mountain plains and prairies of Asia, Europe and North America.

White Owl

White owl, or polar owl - predatory bird, living in the tundra and partly taiga of Europe, Asia, North America and Greenland.

Bald Eagle

The bald eagle is a large bird of prey native to North America. These birds live near rivers and large lakes, where they obtain the bulk of their diet. Since 1782, the bald eagle has been national symbol USA.

White-tailed deer

White-tailed deer, or Virginia deer - herbivore mammal from the deer family, living in most of North and Central America, as well as the northern part South America.

White goose

The snow goose is a migratory bird native to North America that nests in the arctic tundra and then migrates to the south and southwest of British Columbia and the United States in winter.

Chipmunks

Chipmunks are small rodents with bushy tails and strong hind legs. The main part of the species is found in North America and only one in Eurasia.

Brown bear

A large carnivorous mammal that lives in cold mountain forests, meadows and river valleys. Widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, found in North America, Europe and Asia.

Great Eagle Owl

The Great Eagle Owl is a bird of prey and the largest member of the owl family in North America. These widespread eagle owls are found in mountains, meadows, coniferous forests, deserts and many other habitats of both Americas.

Ermine

The ermine is a small predatory animal, a member of the mustelid family. The body length of the ermine is about 25 cm, the tail length is 8 cm, and the body weight is about 200 g. Males, as a rule, are larger than females. The stoat's range includes the taiga, arctic tundra North America and Europe.

Canada goose

The Canada goose is a waterfowl, a member of the Anatidae family. This bird species is native to North America, but Canada geese have been successfully adapted to wildlife Great Britain, Northwestern Europe and New Zealand.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are widespread flying insects that are found almost all over the world, and the taiga is no exception.

Red-tailed buzzard

The red-tailed buzzard is a common bird of prey in North and Central America, a member of the accipitridae family. They inhabit swamps, taiga, desert and many other biomes.

Weasel

Weasel is a species of small predatory animals from the weasel family. They are found in North America, northern South America, Europe, Asia, and the far north of Africa.

Lemmings - small rodents from the hamster family, living in the tundra and, to a lesser extent, the forest-tundra of Europe, Asia and North America.

Elk

Elk, or elk, is a herbivore, largest representative deer family. Elk are found in boreal forests in North America, Europe, Russia and Asia.

Ants

Ants are social insects found throughout the world, with the exception of Antarctica. There are thousands of species of ants, most of which live in tropical forests, but also many species live in the northern regions of the planet, and the taiga is no exception.

Common fox

The fox, fox, common or red fox is a predatory mammal from the canine family. Fox is found in different environments habitats including forest, desert, savannah, plain, grassland and arctic snow. They live in Europe, Russia, Asia, Africa, Australia, North and South America.

Common lynx

View carnivorous mammals from the cat family, which is found deep in pine forests and dense bushes of North America and Eurasia. Lynx are generally nocturnal, but the greatest peaks of activity are observed at dawn and dusk.

Common beaver

The common beaver, or river beaver, is a semi-aquatic rodent with a large, flattened tail, the second largest living rodent after the capybara. Beavers live in the forests of North America and in some parts of Europe and Asia. They do not hibernate in winter, but prefer to remain in their shelters, where enough food is stored to last until spring.

Common arctic fox

The common arctic fox, or arctic fox, or arctic fox is a small predator whose geographic range extends further north than any other land mammal. They are found in the taiga, tundra, coastal regions of North America, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia.

Muskox

A long-haired herbivore mammal well adapted to the cold environmental conditions of the taiga, tundra and Arctic.

Muskrat

The muskrat, or musk rat, is a species of rodent that inhabits freshwater swamps, lakes, ponds, rivers and streams in North America and Eurasia.

polar Wolf

A predatory mammal, a subspecies of the gray wolf, which is found in Northern Canada. This subspecies is smaller than other wolves and has long, dense white fur.

The average body length of an adult polar wolf without a tail is 1.30-1.50 m, height at the withers is 0.80-0.93 m, and body weight is up to 85 kg. Like other wolves, they have strong jaws with sharp teeth, including long fangs that tear flesh.

Wolverine

Wolverine is a ferocious predator belonging to the weasel family. The geographic range of wolverines extends to the cold forests of the taiga and tundra of North America, Europe and Asia. This solitary mammal runs poorly, but climbs trees quite skillfully.

Reindeer

Reindeer, or caribou, is a herbivorous mammal, an inhabitant of the northern regions of the taiga and tundra of North America, Europe and Asia.

Gray wolf

The wolf, or gray wolf, or common wolf is a species of large predatory animals that lives in steppes, semi-deserts, taiga, tundra, forest-steppe and rare forest areas in North America, Europe and Asia.

Scorpios

Scorpions are invertebrate animals that inhabit all continents of the Earth except Antarctica. Despite the fact that scorpions prefer more southern regions, some species are nevertheless found in the taiga.

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