Day 9: village of Varzuga, the northernmost desert in the world, and amethyst hunting
Immediately following our adventures on the island of Ryashkov, part of the Kandalaksha Reserve, we drove east on a lonely highway along the Tersky coast toward Varzuga. After several hours of driving, we arrived late at night in the small rural fishing village of Varzuga. Our kind and gracious hosts for this night had prepared a wonderful meal for us. After our noshing, we promptly went to bed.
The next morning we were able to get a proper look at our surroundings and the way of life for the villagers. We found another example of the phenomena of northern gigantism in a patch of cultivated strawberry plants. We also noticed a number of small fish strung up on the side of the house to dry in the sun. We recognized this from our own experience with what we termed "fish jerky" earlier in the week. I believe it is actually called vobla. It is typically made from a small fish such as roach, which is soaked in brine and then hung to sun-dry by passing twine through the eyes. It is fairly salty and somewhat fishy in flavor. We also discovered a cache of amethyst collected from the coast. This was an exciting find, as we were looking forward to looking for our own amethyst after hearing about the opportunity earlier in the week. The last thing I'll note here is the large amount of cloud berries in various stages of cleaning and ripening. This was yet another example of just how important foraging for wild edibles is to Russians, especially the inhabitants of the north.
Amethyst collected by our hosts
Vobla
Before setting off to explore the northernmost desert in the world, we took a brief tour of the village. Varzuga was founded in the 1400s as a fishing village. It is situated along the Varzuga River, not too far from the mouth of the river where it flows into the White Sea; the river offers the most prolific salmon fishing in the entire peninsula, and these fishing opportunities are exactly why this village (and many others nearby) was founded.
View of the village. The tallest building is one of the churches.
Next up: the Kuzomen Sands, a small desert-like area at the mouth of the Varzuga River. This area of ever-shifting sands is theorized to have developed in the 19th century due to human impacts on the environment. Sometime in the 20th century, the government began funding efforts to reverse the spread of the desert and even return it to its natural vegetation. The way they have gone about this was to first mix peat in with the sand to create a more suitable soil, then introduce small plants and ground cover, then finally seedlings of trees. It is not a quick process. We found plenty of examples of areas where this has seemed to be successful.
Vegetation and sand intersect
Life... finds a way.
However, in the early 21st century the government ceased funding or these restorative efforts, so the restoration is more or less on hold. As a GIS professional, when I returned home I was interested in trying to find satellite imagery of the area to see if I could find evidence of success/failure. As it is such a remote area north of the Arctic Circle, imagery is not exactly in abundance. However, I was able to find imagery dating back to the 1980s. In my preliminary analysis, I did find evidence of success over the years! It seemed as though the vegetation was, albeit slowly, starting to fill in some areas of desert. However, this encroachment of vegetation into the sands does seem to have stopped since the turn of the century, which would indeed align with what we were told of the cessation of funding. What this means for the future of the area I cannot venture a guess, as I really don't have enough data.
We also found some instances of very old pine trees in the area that have somehow survived the onslaught of sands. Here is one such example, roots and all:
You can clearly see just how much the sand has shifted.
General landscape
After learning about and touring the Kozumen sands, we began the journey back toward Kandalaksha. We made a few stops along the way, including a stop at the amethyst-rich part of the coast. Here we had a bit of fun looking for "cool rocks" and pretty pieces of amethyst.
Along the coast near the amethyst-rich rocks and sandstone
An example of our findings, even though we were lacking in proper mining equipment
Our destination for the night was a beautiful lodge overlooking the Kandalaksha Bay of the White Sea, not too far from Kandalaksha. Vladimir, the director of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden in Apatity joined us for the night, along with his good friend Ludmila who knows English quite well. I believe the lodge was owned by friends of Vladimir. We enjoyed a wonderful feast prepared by our gracious hosts. I'll wrap up this day with one more example of the phenomena of northern gigantism:
Green onions (yes, for real)
Day 10: Back to Apatity
We made our way back to Apatity on this day. We made a few stops along the way to admire the landscape, explore local forests, and to experience a local market in Kandalaksha.
One of our stops: a labyrinth, which was constructed to serve as a sort of trap for fish during low tide when the sea and the land intersected here many centuries ago.
Back in Apatity, we toured the Arboretum portion of the Polar-Alpine Botanical Garden. This could otherwise be called Mosquito Land. Here we got to finally sample the berries of the Lonicera caerulea, which were oblong in shape, blue in color, and wonderfully delicious in flavor. This plant can be found natively throughout the cool temperate part of the Northern Hemisphere. This is a good kind of Lonicera! Not like that nasty invasive honeysuckle that is so prevalent in the US.
Fruit of Lonicera caerulea
That evening we had our final dinner with Oksana in her office, where we got to see her large literary collection and discuss many interesting topics.
Day 11: Travel back to Moscow, another visit to Moscow Main Botanical Garden
Again, this will be short and sweet. A good portion of the early part of the day was taken up by travel from Apatity to Moscow. Some funny highlights from this include our (okay, okay, MY) overweight baggage (those darn rocks) and our cloudberries being classified as "checked luggage."
Yep.
After we moved our stuff back into the hotel we stayed at in the beginning of our trip in Moscow (the Maxima Zarya if you're wondering), we visited the Moscow Main Botanical Garden one last time to see a few things we weren't able to see before, including the rose garden, micropropagation, and the arboretum's nursery.
Rose Garden of course
I want to climb it. So does everyone else. That's why there's a fence around it.
Mad sciencey things. Not really, actually micropropagation of various plants.
After our tours, it was time for some much needed food. One of the new things we tried this time included soda made from tarragon syrup:
Day 12: Cultural tours of Moscow
Our time in Russia was capped off with sight-seeing with some of Julia's lovely family (remember, we met Julia's family on Day 2 of our trip). We visited the Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, and a delicious Ukrainian restaurant, and we did plenty of walking, sightseeing, and souvenir-shopping along the way. One of the special things we witnessed was a display of national and military pride with the change of guard ceremony at the Cathedral Square, held every Saturday at noon.
Kayla, Julia, Brian, Boris (Julia's grandson), Sophia (Julia's granddaughter), Travis (not pictured: Irina, Julia's daughter)
Tsar Cannon, very big and very old artillery piece
Tsar Bell, which has never been in working order due to a giant chunk of broken bell. Whoops. Then again, it's not like we're experts with fancy bells.
Changing of the Guard Ceremony
Example of inside the beautiful old cathedrals
The staff at the Ukrainian restaurant were so excited that we from the US visited them that they wanted to take our photo with examples of traditional headdresses or hats with their logo on them.
In brief summary, we are so grateful for our time in Russia and the opportunity to really learn about and interact with the regular people and the landscape of Russia. I'll be honest: relations may presently be strained between the governments of our two countries. However, the people we have interacted with have shown us incredible hospitality and generosity. We've had the unique privilege of getting a peek into their beautiful, indomitable spirits, and in the process we've been shown the beauty and wonder of an enchanting land.
Igor has been the most amazing guide. He knows so much about so many things (seriously, he's like a walking plant encyclopedia), and the trip wouldn't have been nearly as educational or fun without him. Thank you, Igor!
One last fun group photo
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