Having packed the night before, we will have time for breakfast together before heading to the airport.

Meals Included: breakfast.

Special Information: Your flight to Moscow is included in the cost of the trip.

This morning we ascend Chochur Muran, the sacred hill we had the option to climb on the first day of our trip. On top of the hill we will share in close ritual, reflection, and meditation.

In the afternoon we will visit the Christian Market, a large urban market selling clothing, produce, meat, fish, caviar, candy, herbal medicine, and souvenirs.

This evening we will be joined by special guests as we share in a goodbye dinner at a Sakha restaurant.

Accommodations: guesthouse, shared dormitory.

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Included Activities: trip to the market, hike + closing ritual.

The final day of Yhyakh features horse racing and traditional Sakha games of strength. Both are large scale events, with bleachers full of enthusiastic crowds yelling & cheering. We can decide as a group how late in the day we want to stay at Us Khatyng drinking in the festivities. In the afternoon we will break down our campsite and make the drive (about an hour) back to our guesthouse, where we’ll be happy to enjoy a quiet evening with hot showers and sleeping in beds. The grounds of our guesthouse are a lovely place to enjoy a peaceful evening with the group.

Accommodations: guesthouse, shared dormitory.

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Included Activities: trip to Yhyakh, all guided visits and interpretive experiences while there.

We will spend the entire day at Us Khatyng celebrating Yhyakh. Expect countless opportunity to engage in ritual, including the opening ritual which will have thousands of participants. Other activities will include ohuokha, Sakha circle dances to draw the energy of the sun into the body; recitation of Olonkho, the Sakha oral epic, which contains the history, mythology, wisdom, and values of the Sakha people; byrpakh (fermented cow’s milk) & kymys (fermented mare’s milk competitions); performances of traditional music from various indigenous cultures around Siberia & Central Asia; blacksmithing demonstrations; display of horses & livestock; and late night world beats dance party.

We’ll have experts join us throughout the day, educating us on the practices we’re engaging in, and allowing us to deepen our understanding and connection.

Accommodations: camping, shared tents. pit toilets.

Meals Included: breakfast.

Included Activities: trip to Yhyakh, all guided visits and interpretive experiences while there.

Special Information: Many traditional craftspeople come to sell their wares at Tuymaada Yhyakh, so this is an excellent place for shopping. Bring cash, as credit card readers may not work here.

Remember to drink lots of water. You can always go back to the tent to rest, as we will be doing periodically throughout the day. Yhyakh is a safe & joyous place, but there’s a lot going on and it can be overwhelming.

Today we prepare for our camping trip to Tuymaada Yhyakh, the republic-wide ritual festival celebrating the summer solstice, the central holiday (and new year) in Sakha culture. Over 100,000 people will be in attendance, creating a diversity of ritual, celebration, exhibition and marketplace that we’ll experience for three days at the sacred site of Us Khatyng.

Travel to our destination takes about an hour, after which we will set up camp and have an experiential introduction to Yhyakh, learning about its traditions, symbols, and celebratory components. We will walk around as a group, taking in the major landmarks and learning to orient ourselves to the land.

Accommodations: camping, shared tents. pit toilets.

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch.

Included Activities: trip to Yhyakh, all guided visits and interpretive experiences while there.

Special Information: Yhyakh is a massive ritual celebration, with events taking place 24 hours a day for three days. It’s important to pace yourself and practice self awareness and self care. Stay hydrated and remember to eat and sleep. Yhyakh is an alcohol-free event.

Today we will travel about 90 min to the nearby village of Namtsy, where we will meet with a shaman and visit an animist temple. After the tour of the temple, the shaman will guide us in group fire ritual and will share his knowledge about Sakha spirituality and its preservation in modern times.

After a picnic lunch, we will go on an herb walk, helping a local herbalist collect and process medicinal plants. We will also visit the workshop of a craftsman of traditional Sakha musical instruments. He will share the process of creation, from choosing and preparing wood, to working with horsehair, to enhancing the tone and resonance of the instrument with carving.

Accommodations: guesthouse, dorm-style beds.

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Included Activities: visit to village, herb walk, group ritual, visit to workshop.

Optional Activities: private sessions with the shaman may be available at an additional cost.

We’ll arrive around breakfast time at our guesthouse in Yakutsk, and having slept along the road, we will take the greater part of the day to rest, sleep, and shower. If we have the interest and the energy, we can take a walk in Yakutsk Central City Park of Culture and Leisure and partake in games, ice cream, and exploring the birch forest.

This evening we will have some activists join us for dinner to share some of the projects they’re working on around indigenous language & cultural preservation and ecological justice.

Accommodations: guesthouse, dorm-style beds.

Meals Included: lunch, dinner.

After a leisurely breakfast, we will pack up and head back to the Vilyuy river for our trip back to Yakutsk. Once again, we will travel via boat-all terrain vehicle-minibus-barge-minibus, with rest stops along the way. Our team of drivers will drive us through the night and we’ll sleep along the way. We’ll pause for a visit in Aar Saaryn’s village to fortify ourselves for the journey.

Accommodations: sleeping in the minibus, on the way back to the city.

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch.

After an early morning breakfast along the road and river crossing by barge, we will arrive in the village of Kangalas in Nyurbinskii Uluus. There we will meet shaman Aar Saaryn and his family, our hosts for the next few days. We will take a few hours to share a meal with Aar Saaryn’s family at his home and rest before continuing onwards to the sacred land of Sata Khaya. Travel will take a few hours and be very remote. Wildlife sightings (bear, wolf) are possible.

Aar Saaryn and his family have been called by the spirits to steward the sacred land of Sata Khaya, a mysterious place of forest, lake, river, and mountain. Multiple times a year Aar Saaryn invites seekers for retreat and ritual. We will be the first foreigners to visit this place. Accommodations here are simple and close to the earth, as per the instructions of the spirits. We will be sleeping on the floor in huts, segregated by sex. Other pilgrims from Sakha Republic will be visiting Sata Khaya at this time, presenting you with the rare opportunity to live communally with those who have come for healing & rejuvenation. Aar Saaryn’s wonderful sisters will cook for the group.

By this point in our trip, you’ll be used to open-ended journeys, loose timelines, and allowing structure to arise spontaneously from intuition & inspiration. When one arrives on sacred land, one doesn’t immediately begin “doing stuff;” to impose a human agenda, especially an achievement-based one rooted in western capitalist models, would show a lack of humility & respect to this place. This afternoon we arrive, get settled in, and hang out. It’s beautiful here.

Accommodations: sleeping bags on the floors of huts, all together like an elementary-school slumber party

Meals Included: lunch, dinner.

Special Information: Bring a sleeping bag, layers, a water bottle, sunscreen, swimsuit, and bug spray. Sata Khaya often has lots of mosquitoes and black flies - depends on the year. Our food will be locally sourced and prepared with love & awareness. It can be very hot here. We’ll be using pit toilets and drinking mineral water which has a unique, strong taste which you may or may not find delicious.

Today we have some flexibility. Options include visiting the Mammoth Museum, the Museum of Traditional Music & Folklore of the Sakha People, a visit with another shaman or traditional healer (emchit), or an opportunity to do a community-based service project.

In the early evening, we will board an all-terrain minibus for our trip to Sata Khaya. Dinner will be at a cafeteria along the road.

Accommodations: sleeping in a van as we drive through the night

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch.

Included Activities: museum visit and/or visit/project with local cultural workers/healers

Special Information: The journey to Sata Khaya is long but worthwhile. Our minibus will have two drivers who will drive in shifts, so that we can continue to make progress on the bumpy roads all through the night. We will make stops for roadside pit toilets and to eat. Vehicle breakdowns are common and our drivers are mechanics accustomed to dealing with the realities of Sakha driving. Our belongings will be wrapped in tarps and secured to the top of the minibus - so bring a totebag with water, a layer, hand sanitizer and toilet paper.

After a good night’s sleep, we will tour the Sakha Republic (Yakutia) National Fine Arts museum, where we will see fine & folk arts & crafts from the 18th-21st centuries. While the museum contains pieces from western & eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and central and east Asia, we will focus on the collection of local art, which contains painting, drawing, sculpture, scrimshaw, wood and metal work, ornamental sewing, and beaded needlework on fur & textile. This fascinating collection allows for a deeper understanding of Sakha tradition, cosmology, and seasonal ritual.

After lunch in the city, we will continue on to visit workshops of contemporary Sakha textile artists and craftspeople, learning how every aspect of fabrication is imbued with meaning - from the number of horse hairs plaited together, to the type of stitch, and the color of beads used. We will learn the meanings of some of the decorative patterns that you see throughout Sakha Republic, and the ways they are used a protective amulets for connection with the earth, sky, and ancestors.

Accommodations: guesthouse (shared dormitory)

Meals Included: breakfast, dinner.

Included Activities: guided museum visit, visit to artist workshops/homes.

We slowly make our way back to the city by boat and vehicle, stopping for a picnic in one of the picturesque towns along the way.

Accommodations: guesthouse (shared dormitory).

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner.

In the summer the sun may dip below the horizon, but the sky never darkens. Many people report increased energy and decreased desire & need for sleep at this time. Outside of the city, away from schedules and prescribed timelines, the days can blur together. We welcome this slowness & timelessness as a means of coming into deeper contact with ourselves and the world around us. Today we will be led by our intuition towards further exploration, rest, or ritual. Ongoing sharing of teachings will be mixed with the experiential spaciousness that allows them to sink in.

Accommodations: wild camping (no facilities)

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner.

Included Activities: guided hike, ritual.

Having recovered from our long travels, today we venture out into the villages and wilderness of Sakha Republic. We will travel by private vehicle over dirt roads alongside the Lena River, one of the largest rivers in the world, flowing south to north from the Baikal mountains to the Arctic Ocean. We will get a chance to witness village life in exceptionally beautiful surroundings. From the village of Tit-Ary we will continue by small motorboat to our final destination of Lena Pillars National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated for its striking beauty, ancient rock art, and wealth of Cambrian fossils.

This stretch of the river holds special significance as a site of spiritual power and healing. We will learn about the significance of this place in Sakha mythology and experience it for ourselves through guided hikes, meditation & ritual. A shaman or traditional healer will camp with us for this portion of our journey, sharing traditional knowledge and guiding us in spiritual practice. We will camp here for two nights, with ample time for swimming, exploration, & relaxation.

Accommodations: wild camping (no facilities)

Meals Included: breakfast, lunch, dinner. A local cook will accompany our party.

Included Activities: guided hike, ritual.

Optional Activities: private sessions with the shaman may be available at an additional fee.

Special Information: Roads are very rough. Vehicle may not have seat belts or air conditioning. Travel on the river is cold & breezy. Temperatures can be hot, and mosquitoes & flies may abound. Pit toilet will be very rudimentary. Bring bug spray, a swimsuit, a sleeping bag, layers, and a positive attitude. To get the most out of this trip, we recommend that you let go of expectations and allow yourself to sink into the local pace of life, where time moves slowly, there’s nowhere to hurry, and the unexpected is expected. Travel in remote areas has its challenges and discomforts; we suggest you embrace these as part of the journey. Rocks live a long time, so they move and speak very slowly. If you slow down, it’ll be easier to talk to them.

Sakha Republic is approximately eight times the size of California, but its population is under one million. A third of those people live in Yakutsk, a city located along the banks of the Lena River in central Sakha Republic (Yakutia). Yakutsk is known as the coldest city in the world, as well as the largest city built entirely on permafrost, and one of the largest that cannot be reached by any road.

Today a special guest star will join us on a walking tour of the city, leading us through plazas, markets, communist monuments leftover from the USSR, and the old city, while educating us on the history, economy, and culture of the city. The city center is small, as is our group, so we will have some flexibility to optimize our tour according to group interests. We will enjoy lunch in town before heading to the Permafrost Institute, where the temperature of the underground ice tunnels is +14F year round. We’ll have a guided visit with a scientist who’ll share with us the complexities of building a city under such conditions, as well as the ways that the Arctic is uniquely impacted by climate change and permafrost melt. We’ll tour the Kingdom of Permafrost, an underground lair with ice sculptures depicting scenes from Olonkho, the Sakha oral epic, as well as preserved (frozen) remains of mammoths. Sakha Republic is known for its abundance of mammoth remains, and after today’s visit, you’ll begin to recognize imagery from Olonkho (and mammoths) depicted all around you.

Accommodations: guesthouse (shared dormitory)

Included Meals: breakfast, dinner

Included Activities: guided tour of Yakutsk, guided visit to Permafrost institute and Kingdom

Special Information: Summer temperatures in Yakutsk range from the 50s to the 90s, with occasional rains. When it rains the street flood, and the streets are inconsistently paved, so it’s best to bring comfortable walking shoes that you don’t have to be too fussy about. Bring layers for the underground tunnels. We can stop at an ATM today to get cash for the trip.