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International Cosmonauts Ecological Mission in Siberia - 1994

International Cosmonauts Ecological Mission in Siberia - 1994

Jacek Pałkiewicz
2006-06-17 16:40:39

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exist, even if there are only a few of them; indeed it is precisely for this reason that they are protected by force - so that coming generations do not inherit an Earth that has been completely annihilated.

And so, at the end of July, we land in Tura, capital of the province of Evenkiya, twice as large as Italy and an independent district of Krasnojarsk. The team includes the following cosmonauts: Sigmund Jehn from Germany, Vladimir Remek from the Czech Republic, Clemens Lothaller from Austria, Anatoli Azebarski from the Ukraine, and the two Russians, Sergei Zyrianov and Gennady Manakov. The young director of the Tura Aviation Enterprise, Andrei Chernov is waiting for us. He has chosen the route together with Zyrianov.

For the past few hours we have been on board an M1-8 helicopter, flying over the endless green forests. Below us lie majestic valleys interrupting the silent flow of the taiga. A waterfall pours into the Beldutchnaja River. The pilots say that this is one of the largest waterfalls in Russia. Although it cannot be compared with the Niagara falls, we are still just as fascinated.

We land on the bank of the Taymyra River. Our downward trip is to start here. We stow away our luggage while the helicopter fades into the distance, leaving us behind in the absolute silence of a world which seems to have remained unchanged since the day of creation, and where we are now completely dependent on our own skills. We build two 7-metre long rafts with wood from fallen larches, and after hoisting the national flags, we're ready to go. Our craft benefits from the fact that Sergei, who was born in Siberia, has already had experience navigating this river. Sigmund soon teaches us how to steer and row. The gentle current carries us at a speed of 4 kilometers an hour, but after a few hours, the calm of the scenery we are passing through no longer matches the menacing roar of the rapids. But we all realise that sailing down these waters ...