MOSCOW, July 5. /TASS Correspondent Nataliya Kazakovtseva/. The Manpupuner Plateau is a most popular tourist destination in the Komi Region. Its name in the Mansi language means "small mountain of idols." It was a sacred place among the ancient Mansi and Komi. The plateau is on the list of Russia's Seven Wonders. This geological monument in the Pechora-Ilych Reserve is also called stone blockheads because of the seven outliers (Weathering Pillars) with a height of 30 to 42 m. Some 200 million years ago, there used to be mountains. We have learned what guests are welcomed here, why guides are more resilient than marathon runners, and why moose are more dangerous than bears.

Russia's Seven Wonders

The official list of Russia's Seven Wonders is: Lake Baikal, the Valley of Geysers on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Elbrus Mountain, the Weathering Pillars on Komi's Manpupuner Plateau, the Mamaev Kurgan and the Motherland Monument, St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Peterhof fountains.

By airboat or helicopter

The number of visitors to the Manpupuner plateau is growing every year, the nature reserve's Director Nikolai Smirnov said. By now, all hiking places for the summer season are sold out. The summer season runs from June 15 to September 15. The bookings were taken by early April already. As for helicopter tours, all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays are sold out for the summer season. A few flights have been planned for Wednesdays and Thursdays. A helicopter can take up to 20 people.

In summer, the only hiking route of 11 km leads to the plateau from the Vologda Edge, which is between the Komi Region and the Khanty-Mansiy Autonomous Region in the Northern Urals (the reserve's eastern border). This route is for tourists who walk from the city of Ivdel in the Sverdlovsk Region, and in Komi they take an airboat up the Pechora River. Tourists traveling by helicopter depart from the village of Nyrob in the Perm Region, from the city of Ukhta in the Komi Region and from the city of Nyagan in the Khanty-Mansi Region. In winter, snowmobiles are available on two routes - from the Trehrechye tourist base in the Khanty-Mansi Region and from the Komi side - through the Ust-Lyaga cordon. In winter, helicopters fly from Ukhta and Nyrob.

"We, of course, are not planning any new routes to the plateau. Since it is a nature reserve. Our main task is to preserve nature in its original form, and not to make a leisure park out of it. Therefore, we will not introduce new routes, and, moreover, there is no other way to come up with them in addition to those that already exist. We have quotas for visitors, there is a restriction in summer - not more than one walking group per day since by now infrastructures have not been equipped from the Vologda Edge. Thus, not more than one group, that is maximum 12 people, not more. That is why everything was sold out in mid-April, because there is demand, and it is two or three times higher than what we offer," the director said.

Modern tourists are quite disciplined, he continued. They do not leave litter like it used to be in the past. However, clearly there is soil erosion, and it explains the quota, which they do not plan to increase. Erosion processes emerged in the early 2000s, when the reserve did not have good security and tourists drove in on various vehicles. At places, the soil was washed out down to the rock. Nobody can say now how many years, centuries, or even millennia it will take the soil to recover. The trail for tourists is not completely equipped either.

"We now have a deck only on the right side of the valley, and there's nothing on the left side. We do not have funds for this. The trail has been laid by volunteers, organized by Dmitry Kirillov with his Northern Urals Company. This year they promise to lay 400 m of trails, while the demand is for at least 3 km. If we build 400 m a year, then in seven to eight years we will complete this trail on the left side, and in another two years we will need to repair the one on the right side. These are the conditions, humidity there is always high," he continued.

Visitors come to Manpupuner from all over Russia. A one-day helicopter tour costs 60-70 thousand rubles ($682-795). A walking tour costs about the same amount, due to special equipment, guide fees and expenses for two weeks of travel - a week there and a week back.

"Within summer, we can welcome only 1,080 hikers and 3,300 people can arrive by helicopter, thus it is a total of 4,380 people, this is the maximum, even if the weather is always fine for flying. On the other hand, clearly, tourists want to get privacy with nature and do not expect that, upon arriving at the plateau, they will line up to the stone blockheads. Therefore, we try to schedule groups so that people could be one-on-one with nature," he continued.

The helipad is near the inspectors' house. The distance from there to the plateau is about 1.5 km. The house is constantly inhabited by inspectors who monitor compliance with the security regime, and guides who welcome guests and conduct tours.

"I've lived on the plateau. To me, it's safer there than in some gangster areas of a large city. Animals are always more predictable than humans. What we need is just to understand who is behaving how," the director noted.

Tourists worse than bears

Alexander Pukhalsky has been the reserve's state inspector since February, 2021: "The work is interesting, not boring. The reserve is huge. Tthere are still many places where I have not been. But this is the virgin taiga, and it is very difficult to walk there."

Physically, he said, it is not easy to travel long distances, as people have to carry food and tools - axes, chainsaws.

"We walk a maximum of 39 km a day from one hut to another, so that not to spend the night in the mountains. We leave at 6 a.m. and come at 10 p.m. We walk any time of the year, in any weather. Animals, we've met them numerous times, are afraid of us and run away. We've seen bears, too. As for wolves, I've never seen them, only footprints. Of course, there is a slight adrenaline rush when you see a wild animal, but so far it has been all right. Tourists are worse than bears, they are boring. I have to explain the same things to everyone - what's right, what's not. That's why I'm not a guide, I'm an inspector. I used to work in logging and wood processing, so working in the forest is familiar to me. All my life's been in the forest - fishing, hunting, and now I'm guarding the forest," Alexander said.

Life in the nature reserve is similar to life in a village: all amenities are outdoors, water is far away, though there is light and the Internet, several types of communication - messengers, landline phone, and satellite phones for emergencies. Both 8-year-old children and 80-year-old people come to Manpupuner (children from the age of 12 are allowed to the reserve on foot, and by helicopter - from the age of 8), he added.

"One day we had a tourist with a pacemaker. He was to cover 50 km in three days. His wife and her sister were dragging him almost in their arms. But Manpupuner is a dream, a place of power for the Komi and Mansi. Some dream for years before they can get here. Another man was coming here for several years in a row: first year he showed up without a permission and was refused, so next year he had a permission but could not make it to the end, having walked 240km. His third attempt was successful," the inspector said.

Equipment is very important. Very often tourists are completely unprepared. "Imagine, it's +30 on the plain, and in our mountains - just +10, wind, snow and rain. Therefore, tourists must take warm clothes, windproof jackets, hats and mittens, and comfortable shoes. Some tourists would ask us for warm clothes, and we give them what we have, or they will freeze - the tour takes 3 hours from arrival to departure. In good weather, many visitors want to stay late, but we can't allow it - everything is strictly scheduled," he said.

Next to clubfooted

Guide Konstantin Satsyuk has been working at the reserve for the second year. His wife and three kids are waiting for him at home, and being separated from them for a month or two is the hardest part of the job, he said. "Our working conditions are often extreme, snow and strong winds may happen in the summer, and the next day you may die of heat, climbing rocks on a mountain with a slope of 45 degrees. You get tired of talking to tourists, but while walking with them, you get to know a lot of new people. Someone carry nails for yoga, practice different asanas and conducts spiritual practices, others carry musical instruments. Some have costumes and arrange unusual photo sessions," he said.

Another difficulty is the winter season with blizzards, snowstorms, and fogs. We have to help tourists fix snowmobiles or pull them out of snow. Thus, tools, basic spare parts, and fuel must be handy.

"Mutual assistance among the staff - in the mountains, we always help each other. We may issue a fine and then help violators to fix whatever needed, since the extreme conditions, mountains do mind mistakes," the guide said.

He has been living in Komi's village of Yaksha in the Troitsko-Pechora District of Komi. It is just 20 meters from the parents' house to the taiga, and 300 meters to the river. Before working at the reserve, he was engaged in construction and in making souvenirs.

"I really love animals in the reserve. When we come in the summer, in the second half of June, there are little rabbits running around, partridges with chickens are clucking nearbby. They get used to us, they are literally just two meters away. We watch deer and elk from afar, they are timid. Not far from our trail to the plateau, lives a bear, it's quite smart. Sometimes it walks along our path, apparently, it is more convenient for it there than to wander through the forest. We notice its traces, sometimes fresh excrement," he said.

Therefore, when tourists are walking, everyone is making a little noise so that not to surprise the predator, otherwise it may get scared and attack.

"This way, it can hear us and retreats. Just in case, we carry flares (a pyrotechnic signaling device in the form of a cardboard sleeve filled with a combustible compound, giving a bright flame and emitting a loud hissing sound) and a large pepper spray, but, fortunately, we haven't used it, the bear has always been the first to leave. One day, I was descending from the Vologda Edge with a group of tourists, and a moose was breaking down the same path in front of us, it got scared and rushed away. Moose are considered more dangerous than bears if they get aggressive. That is, it's important to understand what wildlife is about," he added.

Faster than marathon runners

The nature reserve's staff keeps a positive atmosphere. Quarrelsome and harmful people wouldn't stay. Everyone is like one family - someone cooks well, someone repairs well, Konstantin said.

"Visiting tourists may be completely different, some as if they were out to go to the cinema. Others, on the contrary, worry too much and spend a lot of money on equipment. Tourists of the old times care for Soviet-era tourist equipment. In every group there are people with bleeding feet or who feel real bad. In every group there are some lively people. At times, a short girl walks faster than anyone else, and a long-legged man would lag behind. One day, there was a group with five professional musicians, three of them singers. We were singing all the way, very cool! They come with instruments, some've brought ukuleles," Konstantin smiled.

According to his observations, even trained tourists would not walk more than 5 km per hour. It is difficult, especially in mountainous and swampy areas (tourists must not walk around the reserve without a guide). Konstantin's section is 20 km - 10 km to the plateau and another 10 back.

"Once I had a couple of tourists, spouses, they said they were marathon runners. They followed me closely almost all the way, but on the ascent they got weaker and admitted they had never walked at such a speed. As for us, the guides, we always walk like this. Another case - a man, registered as a separate group. I am about to lead him, I come, but it turns out he is not ready, "he has knocked down the legs." We walked for four hours, at 2 km per hour, and when he reached the goal, I made him take off boots, which, by the way, were good, trekking boots. The skin peeled off the foot. The legs were swollen. We took out our ointments, special neoprene socks. I ask him - why? He replied he could not reach the plateau for the third time and decided to get there at any cost. I would rather dissuade such people, it's not the way to behave," Konstantin noted.

Idols wouldn't let come

Force majeure situations due to weather are frequent. Tourists may come to the pass in winter, and there is such a strong wind that it blows them away - apparently, the stone figures wouldn't let them approach, the guide said.

In winter, guides begin working at 5:30 a.m.: get up, light the stove, have breakfast and leave at 7 a.m. to meet a new group of tourists. If there are few tourists, then the day is over at 6 p.m. If there are three groups per day, then the work continues to 9 in the evening.

"Everyone here is losing weight, pumping up their legs and backs. We not athletes here, though everyone is fit and strong - work suggests that. First two weeks in summer, after arrival, are tough, and then we get used to it and after a month we are fit for races. It's less walk in winter, but more power loads when pulling snowmobiles, or digging out stuck equipment," he continued. He plans to have son join him - to show the wild nature to the boy - volunteers are allowed to the reserve from the age of 14.

"In the reserve, everyone calms down, settles, tends to be more resistant to events, since things happen here all the time. This is very useful in everyday life. In summer, you go out, walk wherever allowed, since we, likewise, are not allowed everywhere - silence, no people, no electric fields, no communication. Once, I've traveled to the plateau with a sleeping bag. I couldn't feel any energy in fact, though I did sleep tight."