YAKUTSK, November 21. /TASS/. Visit Yakutia, an East Siberian tour company, has launched two-week car tours on Arctic winter roads from Yakutsk to Tiksi, Russia’s fourth northernmost township, to the Laptev Sea coast, its director Bolot Bochkarev said on Tuesday.
"The Yakutsk-Tiksi expedition that we are organizing for the first time this year will cross four Yakutian districts," Bochkarev stated.
"I think tourists will be really interested in visiting the sites of former Soviet forced labor camps (GULAG)," he added.The expedition participants will also meet with deer breeders, take a ride on the azure ice of the Adycha River, go ice fishing on Lake Emanda and visit the town of Verkhoyansk, one of the places considered the northern Pole of Cold, where temperatures plunged to a record minus 67.6 degrees Celsius in February 1892.
They will also visit Severny, an abandoned gold miners’ settlement, cross the Laptev Sea bays along the ice roads and view the Northern Light in the port of Tiksi.
According to Bochkarev, this route has been mapped out for those who have set their sights on this direction and can now enjoy quite a few comforts. Tourists will travel in a special Kamaz van with six beds, a kitchen and a quiet power generator.
This excursion is meant for four people, he said.
"The Kamaz fuel supply will be sufficient to cover 2,000 kilometers and the van will be accompanied by off-road vehicles," Bochkarev pointed out.
Interpreters who can speak English, French, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese will be available for foreign guests.
The price tag for this Arctic trip will range from 290,000 to 429,000 rubles ($4,900-$7,200) depending on the number of tourists.
The Visit Yakutia Company offers tour and expeditions to Yakutia, as well as the Magadan and Irkutsk Regions in eastern Siberia.