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Write up of expedition to the Manpupunyer plateau, Komi.

A write-up of an expedition to the Manpupunyer Columns and the Pechora-Ilych national
biosphere reserve in the Komi republic of the Russian federation.

The target location was the stone pillars of the Manpupunyer plateau, Komi. The whole expedition was a great success - the plateau was reached and large parts of the national park were seen in the meantime.
For more details of the target location see the link to the photos at the bottom of this post. The area is totally untouched forest at the foothills of the Ural mountains,
criss-crossed by everything from very large rivers to small streams.

Some facts:

Trip taken in early August by 2 chaps from Ireland.
Location of the komi republic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komi_republic
Location and details of the Pechora-Ilych Nature Reserve: http://www.trpk.ru/ and http://www.mccme.ru/putevod/11/11eng.html
Some old soviet maps of the region: http://www.tomovl.ru/painting/images/Manpypyner_topographic_maps.jpg and http://www.tomovl.ru/painting/images/Manpypyner_map.gif

Essential requirements:

• Good preparation. You must get started months beforehand to ensure all arrangements and more importantly permissions are correct.
• A good axe.
• A high level of fitness. The distances per day (20k) are not so severe but the terrain is. It seems a lot further than 20k!
• Good quality beathable waterproof clothing.
• Knee high walking boots, preferably waders as the swamp can get very wet and deep when it rains. Also you must cross multiple rivers, and the low shrubs are wet

and will soak your legs.

• A good waterproof tent and good sleeping bags. (This was an issue for us due to a misunderstanding because of a lack of Russian language)
• Sufficient high energy food (This was an issue for us). Some power bars are highly recommended.
• A mosquito net for your face and special clothing which they cant get through. The mosquitos/insects are unbelievably aggressive in the national park.
• Light strong clothing (Such as craghoppers elite trousers and light but mosquito proof tops with long sleeves) - for the hiking in the forest.
• Warm and windproof clothing and hat/scarf for up on the plateau.
• A guide. Optionally you can try argue for permission to do it yourself, but you would need serious experience and ability. You simply wont get the permission from the

park authorities. The guide uses experience (ours had quite a lot - he had been there 3 times before!) and ours had a GPS device, so we could head for certain points.

Optional but recommended requirements:

• It is recommended that you have been to Russia before. This is not an easy trip, and you will get max enjoyment out of it if you have a good idea of how things

work over there.

• It is strongly recommended you have a basic level of Russian.
• Mosquito spray/bands - these dont seem to help much, you need to cover up.
• Suncream for on the boat.
• An alarm so you wake up on time - they are long days walking and you need to get up early.
• A good camera with spare batteries.
• Fishing equipment - best is a a light telescopic rod for fishing with a small spinner. More fun is a small fly-rod with a single fly. A bibio works well :-)
• Waterproof map and compass.
• Waterproof rugsack cover.
• Easy poncho for rainshowers.

Other information:

• Clean drinking water is easily available in the many streams/rivers on the way.
• The weather is extremely changeable.
• We did not see any large wildlife apart from some large birds (like Grouse). Plenty small animals though.

Some basic details:

• Fly from Dublin -> London -> Moscow -> Syktyvkar (The capital of Komi Republic). (Aer lingus, Aeroflot and Aeroflot).
• Take an overnight train from Syktyvkar to Troitsko-Pechorsk. It leaves at 20:20 and arrives at 12:35 mid-day the following day. We met Vasiliy (our arranged guide) here.
• Transfer to central Troitsko-Pechorsk,
• Transfer to Ust-Ilych village on the Pechora river along dirt-track. This is the end of the Russian road network. Here you can swim in the Pechora river.
• Transfer 130 kilometres by traditional Komi wooden boat up-river along the Ilych river and stay overnight in the Park inspectors/security hut. On the way there is a

village to stop in called Yeremevo where you stop for further fuel for the outboard and vodka and food. In the inspectors hut we ate grayling caught from the river and drank vodka.

• Transfer the final 70 kilometres by boat up-river along the Ilych and stay in the final camp inside the park where the park manager

and some security inspectors stay. This final transfer involves getting out of the boat at multiple locations to drag the boat across
shallow rapids. At the final camp we met Kostya, who had lived in London the early 90's so he had English which was very handy. He was from Syktyvkar and
was visiting the national reserve for the third time with his 2 sons. We all sat at the edge of the Ilych river drinking an 8:2 mix of spirit alcohol and river water
whilst discussing how the mosquitos were a "psychological problem" :-)

• Start walking. The Manpupunyer plateau is about 40 kilometres away across difficult terrain varying from difficult swamp to

extremely difficult rough forest. The entire walk goes through biosphere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Biosphere_Reserves_in_the_Russian_Federation)
forest. No part of the biosphere has human habitation. There are multiple rivers to cross. The first days walk makes it halfway to the banks of the Lyaga
river where the park inspectors have created a small wooden structure under which you can sit, and a spot to make a fire with a frame for hanging pots over
a fire from. The first days walk is tiring and pure forest with some rivers/streams. At the end you can camp at the edge of the river Lyaga, where flyfishing
is possible (You must bring your own gear obviously).

• The second days walking is significantly more difficult. The terrain/forest becomes extremely rough with many fallen trees. The final 6 kilometres are very rough,

steadily going uphill whilst following the river to the base of the Manpupuyer plateau. As you approach, at times you can see the stone columns on the top
through the trees.

• At the base of the plateau you must find a campsite. This is a difficult task as the terrain is very rough and whilst it gets drier as you go further up the slope,

it also gets steeper and rougher with rocks. Too far down is far too swampy. We found a good spot along the stream , nice and flat with a dead tree nearby which we
chopped up with the axe for firewood.

• After we arrived at the base of the plateau we were very tired. We rested and had some tea and food and began the hike up the the top of the plateau. The climb was not

very difficult but does take a while, especially as your legs are very tired. Coming out of the forest you make your way across Taiga-like terrain uphill through low
level blueberry shrubs which are nice to eat.

• The plateau is fantastic with amazing views of the columns and the Urals and the endless forest all around. After a few hours up there we climbed back down to the

campsite and ate something and went to sleep.

• The following morning Vasiliy and I hiked back up to the plateau. The weather was much sunnier and the columns looked great. Took some photos and walked up to the higher

ridge, where we had a great view. After this we crossed to the far side and had a good view of where the pechora river rises. We then climbed back down to the campsite,
ate something, tidied up the tent and equipment and started walking back towards the Ilych river.

• We made it to the Lyaga river later in the day where we ate and did some fishing and camped for the night.
• On the final day we were low on food due to some being forgotten. This, combined with thefast we ate little but high-energy food in previous days was a great drain

on our energy levels on the final day. The final 20 kilometres were done with just a small tin of meat between the 3 of us.

• We arrived back at the base camp on the Ilych river where we ate a lot of food, did some flyfishing and went for a Banya. We stayed in an old inspectors hut who allowed

us to stay in a spare bed and on the floor. He was quite drunk on vodka and spoke in his sleep all night - the tent would have been a much better option.

• On the final day we got up at 4AM to head downriver. The first few hours were very cold. After 70k we arrived in the inspectors hut at the edge of the reserve at about 9:30AM,

where there were about 7 or 8 security guys in army-type camouflage gear. We stayed an hour or more, drank multiple shots of vodka with them before saying goodbye and continuing downriver.

• We continued the whole way downriver to Ust-Ilych (Having a bottle of vodka in Yeremevo) and on to Troitsko-Pechorsk by car, where we stayed in a small extremely basic hotel.

In the evening we met the guide with his friend and a young man called Sergei who was from the local school. Vasiliy, our guide, had gone to the school and asked for the best
English student to translate for us. This was extremely useful. We had a dinner, some pints and played some Russian billiards.

• The rest of the trip consisted of an overnight train to Syktyvkar, a flight to Moscow, a full day in Moscow and 2 flights home via London.

Preparation:

• You will need a Russian visa.
• You will need to fax a letter requesting access to the Pechoro-Ilych biosphere reserve to the national parks authority, and copies of your passport. Phone them to confirm they

have received. (Russian only)

• After arriving in Syktyvkar you will need to register in the area. Your hotel should be able to help or alternatively a Russian citizen and post office/police station. This is a

"normal" requirement in the Russian federation.

The guides name was Vasiliy Bazhukov. His friend Alex did some of the organising.

None of these people speak anything other than Russian! Do not phone these people unless you can speak Russian! English emails can be translated, so this may work.

Alex:
Email: lesx192008@rambler.ru
Mobile: +7 (8) 912 963 0346

Vasiliy Bazhukov (The guide):
Email: bazhukov2@rambler.ru
Mobile: +7 (8) 912 1022 042

Other useful numbers:
Director of tourism in Troitsko-Pechorsk: Alexey Zelishev: +7 82138 91450

Cost per person:

Vasiliy as guide cost 23000 rubles per person. (This is about 500 euro per person and includes all food, tent, sleeping bags, boat and car transfer and some vodka).
It does not include: Permission to enter the reserve and "administrative costs" - these came to 5500 rubles (About 120 euro).
Of course trains, flights, hotels etc are separate.

I'm sure I am missing a lot of information above, but then this is just a quick write-up.

Some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ivo.mencke/2009_08_12_Russia_Komi_Manpupuner