What skills does a Yamal guide need to possess?

What skills does a Yamal guide need to possess? Is there a better candidate for this job than a nomad? The founder of the nomads’ camp called “Land of Hope” Anna Nerkagi has been thinking over the idea of special courses to prepare ethnic guides. She has even offered to help in their training.

She is met by loud bells. Mum has come! The joyful peal of bells is to welcome her and visiting guests. This is the way it is done here – it is a good tradition of this place called “Land of Hope”. The only way to get there is by helicopter or by all-terrain vehicle. There are a lot of children in the camp. They study in accordance with a special curriculum. Apart from general subjects these Nenets youngsters master ethnocultural disciplines.

‘Girls make needlework while boys do crafts. They learn how to make small sledges, how to plane and handle a knife. Generally speaking, they learn something useful for their future lives,’ says Nadezhda Nerkagi, the primary school teacher.

“Land of Hope” is located on the territory of Gornokhadatinsky reserve. As early as the next year this small piece of land in the foothills of the Polar Urals will host nomadic teachers, kindergarten educators and tourist agents. Students from Yamal Multidisciplinary College will have their vocational training internship in the camp thanks to a recently signed agreement.  

The founder of the first nomadic school in Yamal has another idea. She is eager to help young nomads to master the profession of ethnotourism guides. Indigenous citizens of Yamal could be very good at this job.

‘The idea is to develop tourism in Yamal. I am afraid to say “professionally”. But so that those people who can do this job are able to bring at least one person from one destination to another,’ says Anna Nerkagi, the director of the ethnic camp “Land of Hope”.

Konstantin Veselov is an experienced traveler. He has been to the Check Republic, Serbia, Spain, Montenegro, Tajikistan… the list goes on and on. He has come to Yamal for the first time for business. He is a sound technician of Russia-24 TV company. He says he is glad to visit our northern region. He is not wasting his free time here, he is spending it on enlarging his photo library.

‘The nature is very diverse. Here you can see mountains, tundra, forest tundra, and lakes with the cleanest water that can be drunk. You can find absolutely delicious food, fish. People even grow vegetables here – it is amazing!’ says Konstantin Veselov, a sound technician of Russia-24 TV company.

Ethnotourism in Yamal is becoming more and more popular. Even the Forbes magazine included the peninsula into the top eight most unusual places of our planet. However, it is especially difficult to reach the area; the same can be said about travelling here. Tourism instructors and guides for the Arctic are still to be brought up.