Anadyr is on the coast of the estuary of the Anadyr River, which is part of the Anadyr Bay of the Bering Sea, on the northeastern outskirts of Russia and is the administrative center of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.
In 1648, Semyon Dezhnev reached the mouth of the Anadyr River and laid a winter hut here, which later grew into the Anadyr prison, at the end of the 17th century it was destroyed. The official date of the founding of the city is 1889, when the Novo-Mariinsk border post began to be laid in these places. The post was named after the wife of Alexander III, Empress Maria Feodorovna. Gradually, a village was formed near the post. In 1923 the village was renamed Anadyr. by the name of the river in the estuary of which he stood. The village received city status in 1965. Check top-medical-schools.org for travel information in Russia.
The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is part of the border zone. By a decree of the governor, citizens of the Russian Federation who are not residents of the border zone (who do not have registration at the place of residence), foreign citizens and stateless persons can visit the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug only with a pass, which is issued by the bodies and troops of the Federal Border Service of the Federal Security Service of Russia on the basis of personal statements citizens or petitions of enterprises. Tourists can obtain a pass from any authorized travel agency. For issuing a pass for citizens of Russia it is necessary to submit an application indicating the last name, first name and patronymic, citizenship, date of birth, passport data, registration at the place of residence, place of work, position held, dates and purpose of entry and place of stay. The entry permit is issued within 10 days.
The central square of Anadyr is Lenin Square, which is located on the elevated bank of the Anadyr estuary. When approaching the city from the side of the bay, a ten-meter monument to Nicholas the Wonderworker is visible from afar. The monument in honor of the patron saint of the Russian military, sailors and travelers was erected in 2004 and became the world’s largest monument to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. It is made of bronze and mounted on a pedestal lined with black labradorite. The monument and the nearby Cathedral of the Life-Giving Trinity form an impressive ensemble. The cathedral is the largest wooden church in Russia, built on permafrost, and the only cathedral in Chukotka. It was illuminated in 2005. The height of the cathedral is 25 m, and its area exceeds 600 square meters. m. The temple has 9 gilded domes, a copper roof and 8 bells. The construction of the cathedral lasted two years. Finished parts of it were assembled in Omsk and transported to Anadyr. In order to prevent the temple from collapsing, it stands on stilts, and the soil under it is cooled in the summer by refrigeration units, thereby maintaining a constant temperature.
Also on Lenin Square is the museum center “Heritage of Chukotka”. It was founded in 1931 by the Local History Bureau. Since 1935, the museum has become known as the Chukotka Regional Museum of Local Lore. It has had its current name since 2002. The museum center has branches in the village of Provideniya (Museum of the Bering Heritage) and in the village of Markovo. The basis of its collection are items of ethnography, ancient life and arts and crafts, among which are unique exhibits of the 19th century, ritual and ceremonial items, details of shamanic and funeral clothing and ancient weapons. The Anadyr Museum tells about the historical development of the region. There are departments of nature, history and ethnography, a literary department, a department of funds and an art gallery. The museum presents photographs, documents, personal belongings of the local population, household items and tools.
A monument to “Chukotka – Front” rises near Lenin Square. It was opened on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War and is a six-meter red granite stele with a bronze bas-relief. The names of natives of Chukotka who died during the Great Patriotic War are carved on the front side of the monument. In addition, in Anadyr you can see the memorial complex “The First Revolutionary Committee of Chukotka”, opened in 1981 near the city port in memory of the first Chukotka commissars, and the Church of the Transfiguration of the Lord, the building of which has dilapidated.
Residential buildings in Anadyr painted in bright colors to saturate the snow-covered city in winter and gray in summer. Some houses have wall paintings. The embankment of the Anadyr Estuary is a favorite vacation spot for citizens. There are benches along it.
Cruises are organized from Anadyr along the coast of the Bering Sea, Anadyr Bay and the Bering Strait, during which you will visit the natural, historical and cultural attractions of the region, see whales, seals, walruses and a wide variety of birds. The most interesting stops are near the eastern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula, where the regional nature and ethnic park “Beringia” is located.. The area of the park is just over 3 million hectares. It was created to preserve the historical and cultural heritage, the unique hunting culture of the Eskimos and Chukchi, and biological diversity. Monuments of ancient Eskimo culture located in local villages are especially popular.
Uelen is the easternmost settlement in Russia. Scientists have proven that people began to live in these places about 2000 years ago. Uelen is located at the junction of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean on a pebble spit. Since the beginning of the 20th century, it has been the administrative, commercial and cultural center of the Chukotka Peninsula. In Uelen you will get acquainted with the life of modern Chukchi and Eskimos and their traditional trade – sea hunting. In the village you can visit a bone carving workshop, which has a museum with a collection of real works of art made of walrus ivory, leather, fur and whalebone, souvenirs are also sold here. From Uelen they go to the deep-water lake Koolen, on the shore of which the ancient Koolen IV site, over 6000 years old, was found, where flint arrowheads and spears, knives and scrapers with double-sided upholstery and retouching have been preserved. Cape Dezhnev is located
10 km from Uelen. – the easternmost point of the Eurasian continent. The cape got its name in honor of the pioneer, Cossack Semyon Dezhnev, who was the first European to cross from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in 1648. At the Dezhnyovy Sopki you can see a walrus rookery, bird colonies, sometimes polar bears, and from the shore in the Bering Strait – gray whales, killer whales, walruses, seals (seal-akiba, spotted seal, bearded seal). On Cape Dezhnev there is a historical and cultural complex Naukan, which is the remains of a large whaling village of the 18th-20th centuries. Not far from here is the archaeological site of federal significance Ekven. This historical and cultural complex consists of a vast burial ground (more than 2,000 burials) and a settlement dating back to the 1st millennium BC. – 1 millennium AD
northwest Uelen along the coast is the village of Inchoun. There is also a large walrus rookery next to it. Sled dogs are found everywhere in the village, because here it is the most popular mode of transportation. 16 km from Inchoun, the remains of the ancient settlement Ueten are interesting, where the skeletons of ancient dwellings and a burial ground have been preserved. Rare white geese nest near Ueten on Lake Enmytagin.
The Chegitun River flows 75 km from Inchoun , where in the summer you can go fishing for Arctic char, chum salmon and Dolly Varden, and where you can see limestone canyons, ancient outcrops of crystalline rocks and bighorn sheep, listed in the Red Book.
South of Whalen on the shores of the Gulf of Lavrentiya stands the village of Lavrentiya. This is the administrative center of the Chukotsky region, the easternmost in Chukotka. A small museum of local lore operates here, where ancient Eskimo and Chukchi items, stuffed animals of the main species of animals and birds of the region, hunting weapons, kayaks made of walrus skins and various products made from walrus tusk and whalebone are kept. In late August – early September in the village of Lavrentiya and the village of Uelen, the most important holiday of the Chukchi people – the Whale Festival – is held.
South along the coast near the village of Lorino hot radon springs are located. Other thermomineral springs of the Beringia Park include Sineveyemsky, Kivaksky, Chaplinsky, Arakamchechensky, Dezhnevsky, Gilmimlineisky, Neshkansky, Itykveemsky and Nelpygenveemsky. In the southern part of the park, off the coast, there are the islands of Arakamchechen with one of the largest walrus rookeries on the Chukchi Peninsula and Yttygran with the famous “Whale Alley”. “Whale Alley” was discovered in 1977. This is an ancient architectural monument of a cult nature made of parallel rows of bowhead whale bones dug into the ground, built about 5 centuries ago.
In the south of the Chukotka Peninsula, the village of Novoye Chaplino is interesting.1st millennium BC On the shore of Provideniya Bay is the administrative center of the Providensky district – the village of Provideniya. It houses the Beringian Heritage Museum. The museum was founded in 1985. It has historical material on the discovery and development of the Chukchi Peninsula and tells about the culture of the Chukchi and Eskimos. The museum has a collection of paintings and drawings by artists of Russia, Chukotka, as well as photographs of the views of the Chukotka Peninsula. The village of Sireniki is located on the southwestern outskirts of the Beringia Park. Not far from it, it is worth visiting the largest and most ancient settlement of the Asian Eskimos of the middle of the 1st millennium BC.
Another well-known place for educational and ecological tourism in Chukotka is State Natural Reserve “Wrangel Island”, which includes two islands – Wrangel and Herald. The islands are located at the junction of the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas in the northern part of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The reserve is the largest protected area in the Arctic and the northernmost in the Far East region. It was created in 1976. The total area of the reserve is 2.2 million hectares, including 1.4 million hectares of marine waters. In 2004, the Wrangel Island Reserve was included in the UNESCO World Natural Heritage List. It was created to protect and study the ecosystems of the island part of the Arctic and such animal species as the polar bear, walrus and white goose. The protected area covers not only the islands themselves, but also extends for another 24 miles around each of them. The most interesting places in the reserve are: Mount Perkatkun in the central part of Wrangel Island, Paleo-Eskimo camp on the Devil’s Gully, the landing site of Canadian settlers at the mouth of the Predators River, Davydov Lagoon, Predatelskaya Lagoon, Popov Lagoon and a hunting lodge on Popov Lagoon. During excursions, you can see musk ox, deer, gray whales and various birds. The tourist season on the islands begins at the end of July and ends at the end of August.
In the Iultinsky district of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Cape Vankarem protrudes into the sea on the coast. In 2007, the natural complex “Cape Vankarem” was declared a natural monument of regional significance. Polar bears and walruses have lived here since ancient times. It was for their protection and to improve the quality of environmental education of the local population that this complex was created. Not far from the village of Vankarem there is a complex of monuments of the ancient Eskimo type. It includes four groups of dugouts and a burial ground of the 1st-2nd millennium AD, as well as the remains of an ancient settlement on the Vankarem Spit.
The Chaunsky district is located on the Chaunskaya lowland and the islands of the Chaunskaya Bay. Its center is the city of Pevek. . This place is known for the fact that in the period from 1951 to 1953 there were Soviet forced labor camps Chaunlag and Chaunchukotlag. Today in Pevek there is a regional museum of local lore, which was founded in 1977. The museum funds contain collections of natural science materials, archaeological and ethnographic collections, as well as clothing, photo and documentary funds on the history of the region. Here you can see products of decorative and applied art, paintings and get acquainted with the flora and fauna of the East Siberian Sea.
North of Pevek is Cape Shelagsky – the northernmost cape of Chukotka and the Far East. On the cape, Mount Enytkin (469 m) and Plitovaya Alley of vertical granite walls 6 meters high of unknown origin, similar to the stone structures of Stonehenge, are interesting. In winter, a lot of bears are observed near the cape.
Near the Chaunskaya Bay there is the Chaunskaya Guba nature reserve with an area of 210.5 thousand hectares. Chaun Bay is a bay of the East Siberian Sea. The depth of the bay does not exceed 20 m, with the exception of the Pevek Strait, where it reaches 31 m. The basin of the bay includes many small rivers: Pyotaipyvaam, Mlelyyn, Teyukuul, Ichuveem, Palyavaam, Chaun, Puchevei, Leluveem, Kremyanka, Ytykkuulveem, Yemykkyvyan and Rakvazan. Chaun Bay is an important wetland. The main purpose of creating the reserve was to protect the rich species diversity of birds. There are nesting and resting places for waterfowl and near-water birds, such as the tundra swan, white goose, white-fronted goose, black-throated diver, eider and pink gull. The nature reserve also includes the Pytlyan mountain range (1030 m) in the western part of the Ichvuveem ridge on the right bank of the Ichvuveem River. A little to the east along the coast on the rocks of the right bank of the Pegtymel River late Neolithic petroglyphs (1 millennium BC) were discovered – the only petroglyphs in the world in the tundra zone. 104 groups of silhouette images have been preserved on 12 rocks. These are the silhouettes of a hunter striking a deer, whale or sea otter with a spear or harpoon, dancing figures, as if overshadowed by huge mushrooms (scientists believe that these are fly agarics that have hallucinogenic properties), as well as silhouettes of shamans.
In Chukotka, rafting in kayaks and inflatable boats is offered along the numerous rivers of the region. The season lasts from July to August, when the rivers are at their fullest. Most often they raft along the rivers Amguema, Chantalveergyn, Pegtymel, Ekittyki and Anadyr.
The fauna of Chukotka is very diverse. Many tourists come here to hunt. The most popular hunting species are elk, wild reindeer, brown bear, sable, lynx, wolf, wolverine, ermine, fox, arctic fox, mink, American otter, squirrel, mountain hare, muskrat, bean goose, white-fronted goose, capercaillie, white and tundra partridges and about 10 species of ducks. Hunting is prohibited for polar bear, bighorn sheep, weasel, black-capped marmot, swans, white goose, barnacle goose, black goose, mallard eider, shoveler, stoner, kloktun, crackling, sandhill crane, gulls, cormorants, diurnal birds of prey, owls, woodpeckers and cuckoos.
There are rich opportunities for fishing in Chukotka. About 40 species of fish live in the fresh waters of the region, including such commercial fish as chum salmon, sockeye salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, chinook salmon, broad whitefish, whitefish, humpback, vostryak, vendace, peled, grayling, Asian smelt, pike, burbot, Dolly Varden and char Taranets. Every April, in the Anadyr estuary, competitions in ice fishing for smelt “Korfest” are held.
In the mountainous regions of Chukotka, hiking and cycling routes of varying difficulty are laid, which allows you to get acquainted with the nature of the region.
On the slopes of the Pionerskaya hills near the village of Egvekinot and the hills of Portovaya near the village of Provideniya ski resorts with slopes are equipped. The trails are equipped with lifts. Local authorities allocate funds for the development of skiing in the district, so in the near future new bases will be built here.
