Arctic with Bruce Parry (2011) s01e01 Episode Script
Siberia
I'm travelling through the Arctic.
The land of the midnight sun.
Most amazing view.
For thousands of years, only the hardiest hunters and herders lived in this inhospitable land.
But now the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.
As it thaws, new riches are being revealed.
This is what it's all about, the oil.
All eyes are turning north.
For one bright summer, I will live with the people of the Arctic.
Absolutely loving it.
This is the real thing.
I want to understand how their lives are changing and discover what the future holds for this great wilderness.
I think we might be there.
It's summer, and I'm in Siberia.
This vast untamed wilderness of the Russian north stretches far into the Arctic.
It's a place of extremes and it's home to some of most resilient indigenous peoples on the planet.
It's almost 20 years since the iron rule of the Soviet Union ended and the people of this region are once again beginning to rediscover their ancient traditions.
I am travelling from the centres of civilization to the most remote encampments in the wild Verkhoyansk mountains, to see how the old ways are forging a new future.
It doesn't get more scenic than that.
Is he fully trained yet? There is also a personal reason why this journey is so important to me.
I have spent years living with tribal people, and have become fascinated by their healers or shamans.
This wild region of Russia is where the word shaman actually comes from.
What, if anything, will I discover of their ancient beliefs? Russia has the largest landmass in the Arctic.
Stretching across nine time zones, the north is home to 40 different indigenous peoples.
I'm on my way to meet the Sakha, the horse people of the north.
They live in the Sakha Republic.
The size of India, it has a population of fewer than one million.
I'm arriving at the high point of the Sakha festival season.
It's almost summer solstice, which is one of the most important times for all of the peoples of the far north and represents the longest day of the year.
And here, in Siberia, is a time that was actually suppressed a little bit but now there's something of a revival.
Under Soviet rule, all religious beliefs were outlawed.
For the Sakha this meant the loss of their pagan sun festivals and the persecution of their shamans.
I'm in Balakta, a Sakha village that today is more famous for its fish than its horses.
I'm meeting Alexander Sergeevich, or Kulan, as he's known to his followers.
Alexander! Alexander? Bruce.
Nice to meet you.
How are you? I'm Bruce, nice to meet you.
He's one of the new wave of spiritual leaders to emerge in recent years.
He's an apostle for the new Sakha spirituality but also works as a healer.
With only a rudimentary National Heath Service, Kulan offers his patients an alternative diagnosis.
KULAN PLAYS HIS MOUTH HARP The vargan mouth harp conveys the emotion of its player by imitating the sound of nature.
This ancient instrument was banned under Stalin because of its links to Shamanism.
In the modern Russia, Kulan is now free to speak vargan to me.
Just the sound of that so close to my ear just sort of surged through, like, um, almost like you could feel the vibration, even though it's such a small vibration.
It's like it went, went all up through my nasal cavity and down through my throat.
I could really feel it.
It's a quite a powerful little moment.
It all seemed a little unorthodox, but he's strangely perceptive.
Throughout the Russian north, the solstice is a time of festivals.
One of the biggest of these is the Easach.
Under the Soviet era, this fertility festival was banned, and was used instead as a showcase for the athletic prowess of the Soviet Union.
It was only in the 1990s that the villagers were once again allowed to perform it.
CHANTING Today Kulan is the master of ceremonies.
CHANTING This cultural revival might appear a rather eclectic mix of old and new.
And it would be easy for me to question this reinvention of tradition, but what I have to remember is little more than a generation ago, all this spiritual life was illegal.
Kulan invites me to join his family's picnic.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Wow.
Tell me, how has this festival changed in your life time, that you remember? It's the solstice eve, the day before the longest day of the year, and I'm celebrating it with Kulan and his family.
Chai, please.
Kulan is a deeply spiritual man and I've been moved by his reverence for the natural world around him and his family's warmth.
It's the dawn of the longest day and Kulan is taking me to a remote village.
Here, he says, I will really experience something of the ancient shamanic connection with nature.
This is the welcoming of the sun festival and the beginning of a new year.
Well, it's 3.
30 or so in the morning and we're waiting for the sun to come up.
And it's a ritual that has happened all over the world for tens of thousands of years.
And these are all modern people, they could easily be tucked up in bed or watching late-night TV, but they've chosen to be here.
And I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.
KULAN PLAYS HIS MOUTH HARP As I stand reaching out for the sun, it's impossible not to be moved by the devotion of the Sakha people around me.
Kulan might not call himself a shaman, but there's more than an echo of the ancient spirituality in his work.
When I leave you and carry on with my journey, what advice do you have for me? Thank you, amazing, really.
You taught me a great deal.
I feel a great sense of peace in your presence.
Thank you.
I'm travelling north, 800 kilometres into the Arctic Circle and the Land of the Midnight Sun.
For the next few weeks I will inhabit a world of endless daylight.
Even this remote part of the Arctic was once controlled by the Soviet Union.
20 years on from its collapse, and the Sakha who live here are returning to their roots to prosper.
The Sakha horse must be one of the world's toughest animals.
Over the centuries it has become acclimatised to this harsh landscape.
And it has enabled the Sakha people to colonise the Arctic.
I'm here to meet Sergei Lukin in the remote northern town of Sakharia.
He's one of a new generation of Sakha entrepreneurs.
A horse breeder who now manages a private herd of over 100 animals.
Even this far north they love their festivals and there is one event in the Sakha calendar that Sergei cannot afford to miss - the annual horse races.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Bruce.
So tell me, Sergei, how important is this race for you tomorrow? I'm only here for a few days, but if there's anything I can do to help you I'm very happy to lend my services.
No, I'm not a good rider at all.
You know, I can ride.
That wasn't really what I was thinking when I said that.
I was thinking more stable boy.
But, er, yeah, I can ride.
Up here, where the permafrost begins just below the surface, there is no real agriculture and animals have traditionally provided all the means of survival.
Under the Soviet Union, all livestock was state-owned and herding became less of a way life and more like a job.
In this modern era of private ownership, Sergei now generates part of his income looking after horses for a new class of owner.
There's a lot riding on these races and Sergei's keen to find out if he's landed himself a prize jockey.
I've been asked to demonstrate my horsemanship on an old, rather unruly Sakha horse.
You've got to be kidding.
Getting to the start line is proving difficult enough on a horse with only one rein, but finally we're ready.
That's what happens when you've no idea what you're doing and you hit the water obstacle! I think that has sealed my fate.
There was an outside chance of me racing tomorrow.
I think they've all seen what I'm like now.
There's no way in a million years they're going to let me loose on their lovely horses.
Yes, it wasn't good.
I take it you don't want me to be racing in your team tomorrow? Oh, well, I tried.
Thank you, Sergei.
I get the feeling that there's more to this than just medals.
It's something of a tradition and I've been invited to join Sergei and his family for a special meal.
What is this one? Reindeer? Reindeer.
OK.
And this So there's reindeer inside as well? OK.
And the soup? Soup is reindeer, too.
I love reindeer.
Never have enough.
Sergei's son Misha has just returned home from his studies in the city.
Are you racing tomorrow? Yes? Which one? Which race? Wow, busy day tomorrow.
Little more than a generation ago, and the state would have allocated all the resources necessary for a new teacher like Misha.
He's decided to return to the village to teach Physical Education, but in the new Russia, it falls very much to his father to help him succeed.
And Sergei's got his eye on first prize.
Ah Well, now Now I get it.
It feels very Soviet, it's ayou know, it's another, um, tool of productivity.
It's er it's not a crate of champagne.
Good luck, my friend.
I'll be with you and your family cheering on your team, and let's hope you get it.
This one especially.
Good luck.
It's race day, and the entire town has turned up.
Sergei is too heavy to be a jockey, so it'll be up to his son Misha to ride his team to victory and win the tractor.
My job will simply be to look pretty, and try and stay on the horse for the procession.
With the shorter races run, it's time for the final, epic, two-lap race.
Sergei's done really well - the first one he came first and third, the next one he got a third place - so this is the important one.
And if he gets this, he gets the tractor.
As the horses are led out to the start, Misha, with the headband, looks like he's in third position.
THEY CHEER SERGEI TALKS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE Go, Misha! Misha, Sergei's son, was in fifth place as he came past, but now he's in fourth place.
So he's edging up slowly.
CROWD CHEERS Oh, here's Misha coming.
Come on, Misha! That was super-exciting.
Even though Misha didn't win the tractor, Sergei is not going home empty-handed.
He still picked up a clutch of prizes.
CHEERING He may not have won first prize, but Sergei's performance has cemented his reputation as one of the region's top Sakha horse breeders and he wants his son to share in this success.
In the new aspirational Russia, he's going one better than the traditional Soviet gift.
Wow.
Congratulations.
'Misha gives me a tour of his new pad.
'Upstairs, Sergei has built a window so that he and his son can look out over this vast landscape.
' And that is where I'm heading next, to meet the Eveni people and one of the most iconic of all the Arctic animals.
BRUCE LAUGHS Oh, my God! And this is my transport to the hills.
'I'm travelling up with Innokenti, 'a local council official, in the community tank.
'It might seem an incongruous way to travel, 'but it's one of the few vehicles 'that can actually manage in this vast, boggy terrain.
' It's a new acquisition and the drivers are still getting used to it.
We'll be in the tank for a couple of days as we journey to a remote valley where I'm hoping to meet an encampment of Eveni herders.
'Perhaps it's not the greenest way to travel.
' Six hours from the village and we make a stop.
Here on the shores of a lake, my personal journey is reignited once again.
Shaman? From here? OK.
OK.
Oh, from Here? And this? All of it? All of it, OK.
Oh! The track's come out.
I've changed a few tyres in my time, but nothing like this.
Now we're talking! Like I said, I've changed a few tyres in my time, but now but I've never changed a track.
There's one village where I came from, which is over a day's journey, and the nearest next village is 250 miles away.
What? Oh! 'A few carefully delivered blows from a hammer 'and we've removed the broken link.
It's then just the tricky job 'of joining together the two ends of the track.
' There you have it.
One fixed track.
Living out here, you've got to be able to light a fire, ride a horse, fix a tank You name it, you've got to be pretty resourceful.
These are the foothills of the Verkhoyansk - a mountain range that stretches for 1,000 kilometres.
This is the coldest inhabited place in the world - minus 60 in the winter.
In the summer, temperatures soar into the thirties.
It's home to the Eveni people.
These are reindeer herders who, for millennia, have inhabited this extreme landscape.
There are fewer than 20,000 Eveni.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early '90s, the herds almost totally collapsed.
'I'm here to find out how one group has struggled back 'from the brink of extinction and with it saved a unique way of life.
' BRUCE GREETS THEM IN THEIR LANGUAGE 'This is Brigade Eight.
' BRUCE INTRODUCES HIMSELF Bruce.
Yegor.
Hi, Yegor.
'I've come at the busiest time of year - the count - 'when the herders will discover the exact number of new calves born.
' THEY TALK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE For me? Into the fire.
Oh, put this in there! 'It's traditional for new arrivals to feed the fire 'in gratitude for a safe journey.
' Just throw it in? Yeah? Yay! THEY CHEER BRUCE LAUGHS 'These men work shifts around the clock while there is 24-hour daylight.
'The reindeer need to feed continuously at this time of year 'so they can lay down enough fat to make it through the long, harsh winter.
' THEY LAUGH Tomorrow the Eveni will migrate to new pastures, some five kilometres further up the valley.
The specially trained reindeer who will help with the migration are called Uchakh and we need to catch 25 of these big males out of a herd of almost 2,000 reindeer.
I'm with camp leader Vassili.
'Uchakh usually have their rear antlers removed for safety, 'but as I go to catch one animal, his antler snaps.
'The Eveni have a special way of cleansing the wound to prevent infection.
'It looks worse than it is.
' With this? OK, so we're going to cut it here? Poor chap, I'm so sorry.
There you go.
And this one? OK.
OK.
And this one? BRUCE SPITS Well, I've never done that before.
Er, but, er Bit of a weird one.
BRUCE LAUGHS The entire camp must be packed up onto sledges for the migration.
'The Eveni are one of the few peoples in the world who ride reindeer 'and they do it in a unique way, 'by sitting high up on the animal's shoulders 'and using a stick for balance.
' It's absolute bliss being on this.
It's just so peaceful, calming, it's sort of therapeutic in a way.
You let your mind go blank and the scenery all around is so spectacular.
It's heaven.
Under the Soviet Union, the herds became the property of the state and the Eveni were compelled to send their children to school.
With no women or children left, the camps became dominated by bachelor men who would never marry.
It was to mark the end of a truly nomadic way of life.
With the collapse of Communism, many of the brigades failed to cope with the transition to private ownership.
Only now, with some state subsidy and hard graft, are the herds growing once again.
'One of the herders I'm getting on with best is Yegor.
'He's in his forties, but only joined the brigade a year ago, 'though he spent much of his youth as a herder.
' Someone told me that the reason that you face the tent this way is to do with the spirit world.
Is this true? 'I'm learning that the legacy of the Soviet Union 'is as much about ideology as it is economics.
'For the Soviets, the Shaman was the living embodiment of superstition 'and had to be eradicated.
'Even today it's a sensitive subject.
' On the migration today I felt I felt something.
It's almost like the mountains were were telling me something.
Do you think I'm mad or do you think there might be something in that? The boggy terrain and soaring summer temperatures provide the ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes - billions of them that plague the reindeer and it's the job of the herders to try and reduce their impact.
I'm heading out with Piotr, one of the most experienced herders, on my first evening shift.
The herd.
Wow.
Wow.
Sit here and take it all in because it doesn't get more scenic than that.
PIOTR WHISTLES It's a totally different sensation, being with the herd when you're on the back of a reindeer.
It's like being on safari, on horseback or something.
You just It gives you an extra extra sensation of sort of being with the animals.
PIOTR WHISTLES AND SHOUTS Domestic life in the camp is run by Anna, a full-time cook.
She also oversees the young Eveni who come up in the summer months to learn about the traditional way of life and to help with this, the busiest time of year.
Whenever the herd returns to camp, we are back on the job of earmarking all the new calves.
HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE OK.
How many animals do you have? Yegor has got a day off, but he doesn't strike me as a guy to sit around.
How are you? Yeah, all good.
Up there? I don't know if I know what you're saying.
Go up here? OK.
Yeah.
With you? I think I understand.
I'm shaking on something.
I'm not too sure, but I think I know what you're saying.
Can someone tell me what I've just agreed to? Yes, you have agreed to have a competition with Yegor who is first on the top of that hill.
Oh, you're kidding! I didn't know that's what BRUCE LAUGHS GUN FIRES He's still ahead, but he's taken a different route.
I can hear squeals from below.
He's overtaken me again.
BRUCE BELCHES CROWD CHEERS Well done.
Thank you.
'Clearly I am no match for Yegor, 'but maybe there's another reason why he's got me up here 'and I think it's got something to do with my quest.
' Wow.
Wow, yeah, amazing.
'I had taken the challenge to be simply a macho Soviet-style contest, 'but standing up here, I now realise it's much more about the Eveni 'and their deep relationship to the world around them.
' That is quite special.
I'm so pleased to be up here with you today.
Thank you for the challenge.
Thank you for dragging me up here.
No mosquitoes, the most amazing view.
In the camp, supplies of meat are running low.
I'm quite used to this following around while Piotr is trying to find a certain type of reindeer, either one for milking, one for riding, one for pulling a sledge, one to cut the ear that belongs to a certain family.
But this is the first time I've been with him when he's been looking for an INDIVIDUAL reindeer.
Somewhere in here, the next animal that we're going to slaughter for the camp, is A reindeer.
And so, quite rightly, he's hiding! Have we found it? I think we've found it.
Is it the right one, is it the right one? Yes? The stake's there, I left the stake there.
He's got it, he's got it.
Not all reindeer are destined for the table.
The biggest male reindeer are frequently kept as Uchakh, or riding deer.
The process of breaking them in takes several weeks .
.
and today is day one.
MAN LAUGHS Does he Is he fully trained yet? He's not trained? BRUCE LAUGHS OK, I've got you.
BRUCE LAUGHS MEN LAUGH MEN LAUGH Your turn.
I think I've proved that I can't do that very well.
Exhilarating as it may be, I'm not the guy to train this this lovely animal.
It might look rather gruelling, but once trained, this reindeer will have a long life ahead of it.
'I've been with the Eveni for a fortnight now 'and though their skills are formidable, 'it's their reverence for the sacredness of nature 'that I find most inspiring.
' THUNDER RUMBLES It's the final tally after several weeks of ear marking.
Council official Innokenti records the number of new calves born to each private owner.
It's also a chance for the herders to find out how much their personal wealth has grown in the new privatized Russia.
And how many, er, new calves do you have this year? 36 just for you? OK, so Piotr has five, six, seven, eight 17.
OK.
How about Yegor? Yegor.
None? None at all? So far.
It's been a good year for Brigade Eight.
The herd has grown by almost a fifth and that means more work.
OK.
'It's my final day with the Eveni 'and I'm going out on a full night shift with Yegor.
' I know so little about him.
Yegor was brought up a herder, but only returned to this way of life a year ago.
I was wondering where he had been in the dark years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the herds teetered on the brink of extinction.
Thanks, my friend.
'Yegor, who had so roundly beaten me on the mountain, 'was now showing me something of the fragility of the indigenous people of the Arctic.
'It's all too easy to think of supporting these traditional ways of life 'almost out of a nostalgia for the past, 'like keeping something valuable in a museum for future generations.
'In reality, however, 'what I see around me is not the past but the future.
'Support for the Eveni way of life is simply good, modern social policy.
'It's the Eveni's skill with reindeer and their intimacy with nature 'that enables them to be productive.
'Once that link is broken, the consequences are often catastrophic.
'And perhaps it is this - their relationship with nature - 'that also answers my own personal journey.
' The spiritual revival that I experienced at the beginning of my journey isn't present here.
And at first, er, I was a bit bemused, maybe even disappointed, especially having come to a place where the word "shamanism" first arrived, first came about.
But the Soviets have got rid of all the shamans, there are none left.
But the interesting thing is that there's no need for a revival here because the herders are so in tune and aware of their animals and this landscape, that the spirit world that the shamans were only ever a pathway to anyway, is as alive today as it ever has been.
It's time for me to leave the Eveni and head home.
Really? Wow, thank you.
Thanks, man.
It's too much.
It's such a big thing for me.
Amazing.
All right, good luck.
Next time, I'm in the far north of Greenland.
This is the Arctic of the imagination - a frozen world that's home to the last Inuit hunters.
Weapons at the ready.
This really is a hunting trip.
The land of the midnight sun.
Most amazing view.
For thousands of years, only the hardiest hunters and herders lived in this inhospitable land.
But now the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth.
As it thaws, new riches are being revealed.
This is what it's all about, the oil.
All eyes are turning north.
For one bright summer, I will live with the people of the Arctic.
Absolutely loving it.
This is the real thing.
I want to understand how their lives are changing and discover what the future holds for this great wilderness.
I think we might be there.
It's summer, and I'm in Siberia.
This vast untamed wilderness of the Russian north stretches far into the Arctic.
It's a place of extremes and it's home to some of most resilient indigenous peoples on the planet.
It's almost 20 years since the iron rule of the Soviet Union ended and the people of this region are once again beginning to rediscover their ancient traditions.
I am travelling from the centres of civilization to the most remote encampments in the wild Verkhoyansk mountains, to see how the old ways are forging a new future.
It doesn't get more scenic than that.
Is he fully trained yet? There is also a personal reason why this journey is so important to me.
I have spent years living with tribal people, and have become fascinated by their healers or shamans.
This wild region of Russia is where the word shaman actually comes from.
What, if anything, will I discover of their ancient beliefs? Russia has the largest landmass in the Arctic.
Stretching across nine time zones, the north is home to 40 different indigenous peoples.
I'm on my way to meet the Sakha, the horse people of the north.
They live in the Sakha Republic.
The size of India, it has a population of fewer than one million.
I'm arriving at the high point of the Sakha festival season.
It's almost summer solstice, which is one of the most important times for all of the peoples of the far north and represents the longest day of the year.
And here, in Siberia, is a time that was actually suppressed a little bit but now there's something of a revival.
Under Soviet rule, all religious beliefs were outlawed.
For the Sakha this meant the loss of their pagan sun festivals and the persecution of their shamans.
I'm in Balakta, a Sakha village that today is more famous for its fish than its horses.
I'm meeting Alexander Sergeevich, or Kulan, as he's known to his followers.
Alexander! Alexander? Bruce.
Nice to meet you.
How are you? I'm Bruce, nice to meet you.
He's one of the new wave of spiritual leaders to emerge in recent years.
He's an apostle for the new Sakha spirituality but also works as a healer.
With only a rudimentary National Heath Service, Kulan offers his patients an alternative diagnosis.
KULAN PLAYS HIS MOUTH HARP The vargan mouth harp conveys the emotion of its player by imitating the sound of nature.
This ancient instrument was banned under Stalin because of its links to Shamanism.
In the modern Russia, Kulan is now free to speak vargan to me.
Just the sound of that so close to my ear just sort of surged through, like, um, almost like you could feel the vibration, even though it's such a small vibration.
It's like it went, went all up through my nasal cavity and down through my throat.
I could really feel it.
It's a quite a powerful little moment.
It all seemed a little unorthodox, but he's strangely perceptive.
Throughout the Russian north, the solstice is a time of festivals.
One of the biggest of these is the Easach.
Under the Soviet era, this fertility festival was banned, and was used instead as a showcase for the athletic prowess of the Soviet Union.
It was only in the 1990s that the villagers were once again allowed to perform it.
CHANTING Today Kulan is the master of ceremonies.
CHANTING This cultural revival might appear a rather eclectic mix of old and new.
And it would be easy for me to question this reinvention of tradition, but what I have to remember is little more than a generation ago, all this spiritual life was illegal.
Kulan invites me to join his family's picnic.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Wow.
Tell me, how has this festival changed in your life time, that you remember? It's the solstice eve, the day before the longest day of the year, and I'm celebrating it with Kulan and his family.
Chai, please.
Kulan is a deeply spiritual man and I've been moved by his reverence for the natural world around him and his family's warmth.
It's the dawn of the longest day and Kulan is taking me to a remote village.
Here, he says, I will really experience something of the ancient shamanic connection with nature.
This is the welcoming of the sun festival and the beginning of a new year.
Well, it's 3.
30 or so in the morning and we're waiting for the sun to come up.
And it's a ritual that has happened all over the world for tens of thousands of years.
And these are all modern people, they could easily be tucked up in bed or watching late-night TV, but they've chosen to be here.
And I couldn't think of anywhere I'd rather be.
KULAN PLAYS HIS MOUTH HARP As I stand reaching out for the sun, it's impossible not to be moved by the devotion of the Sakha people around me.
Kulan might not call himself a shaman, but there's more than an echo of the ancient spirituality in his work.
When I leave you and carry on with my journey, what advice do you have for me? Thank you, amazing, really.
You taught me a great deal.
I feel a great sense of peace in your presence.
Thank you.
I'm travelling north, 800 kilometres into the Arctic Circle and the Land of the Midnight Sun.
For the next few weeks I will inhabit a world of endless daylight.
Even this remote part of the Arctic was once controlled by the Soviet Union.
20 years on from its collapse, and the Sakha who live here are returning to their roots to prosper.
The Sakha horse must be one of the world's toughest animals.
Over the centuries it has become acclimatised to this harsh landscape.
And it has enabled the Sakha people to colonise the Arctic.
I'm here to meet Sergei Lukin in the remote northern town of Sakharia.
He's one of a new generation of Sakha entrepreneurs.
A horse breeder who now manages a private herd of over 100 animals.
Even this far north they love their festivals and there is one event in the Sakha calendar that Sergei cannot afford to miss - the annual horse races.
Nice to meet you.
I'm Bruce.
So tell me, Sergei, how important is this race for you tomorrow? I'm only here for a few days, but if there's anything I can do to help you I'm very happy to lend my services.
No, I'm not a good rider at all.
You know, I can ride.
That wasn't really what I was thinking when I said that.
I was thinking more stable boy.
But, er, yeah, I can ride.
Up here, where the permafrost begins just below the surface, there is no real agriculture and animals have traditionally provided all the means of survival.
Under the Soviet Union, all livestock was state-owned and herding became less of a way life and more like a job.
In this modern era of private ownership, Sergei now generates part of his income looking after horses for a new class of owner.
There's a lot riding on these races and Sergei's keen to find out if he's landed himself a prize jockey.
I've been asked to demonstrate my horsemanship on an old, rather unruly Sakha horse.
You've got to be kidding.
Getting to the start line is proving difficult enough on a horse with only one rein, but finally we're ready.
That's what happens when you've no idea what you're doing and you hit the water obstacle! I think that has sealed my fate.
There was an outside chance of me racing tomorrow.
I think they've all seen what I'm like now.
There's no way in a million years they're going to let me loose on their lovely horses.
Yes, it wasn't good.
I take it you don't want me to be racing in your team tomorrow? Oh, well, I tried.
Thank you, Sergei.
I get the feeling that there's more to this than just medals.
It's something of a tradition and I've been invited to join Sergei and his family for a special meal.
What is this one? Reindeer? Reindeer.
OK.
And this So there's reindeer inside as well? OK.
And the soup? Soup is reindeer, too.
I love reindeer.
Never have enough.
Sergei's son Misha has just returned home from his studies in the city.
Are you racing tomorrow? Yes? Which one? Which race? Wow, busy day tomorrow.
Little more than a generation ago, and the state would have allocated all the resources necessary for a new teacher like Misha.
He's decided to return to the village to teach Physical Education, but in the new Russia, it falls very much to his father to help him succeed.
And Sergei's got his eye on first prize.
Ah Well, now Now I get it.
It feels very Soviet, it's ayou know, it's another, um, tool of productivity.
It's er it's not a crate of champagne.
Good luck, my friend.
I'll be with you and your family cheering on your team, and let's hope you get it.
This one especially.
Good luck.
It's race day, and the entire town has turned up.
Sergei is too heavy to be a jockey, so it'll be up to his son Misha to ride his team to victory and win the tractor.
My job will simply be to look pretty, and try and stay on the horse for the procession.
With the shorter races run, it's time for the final, epic, two-lap race.
Sergei's done really well - the first one he came first and third, the next one he got a third place - so this is the important one.
And if he gets this, he gets the tractor.
As the horses are led out to the start, Misha, with the headband, looks like he's in third position.
THEY CHEER SERGEI TALKS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE Go, Misha! Misha, Sergei's son, was in fifth place as he came past, but now he's in fourth place.
So he's edging up slowly.
CROWD CHEERS Oh, here's Misha coming.
Come on, Misha! That was super-exciting.
Even though Misha didn't win the tractor, Sergei is not going home empty-handed.
He still picked up a clutch of prizes.
CHEERING He may not have won first prize, but Sergei's performance has cemented his reputation as one of the region's top Sakha horse breeders and he wants his son to share in this success.
In the new aspirational Russia, he's going one better than the traditional Soviet gift.
Wow.
Congratulations.
'Misha gives me a tour of his new pad.
'Upstairs, Sergei has built a window so that he and his son can look out over this vast landscape.
' And that is where I'm heading next, to meet the Eveni people and one of the most iconic of all the Arctic animals.
BRUCE LAUGHS Oh, my God! And this is my transport to the hills.
'I'm travelling up with Innokenti, 'a local council official, in the community tank.
'It might seem an incongruous way to travel, 'but it's one of the few vehicles 'that can actually manage in this vast, boggy terrain.
' It's a new acquisition and the drivers are still getting used to it.
We'll be in the tank for a couple of days as we journey to a remote valley where I'm hoping to meet an encampment of Eveni herders.
'Perhaps it's not the greenest way to travel.
' Six hours from the village and we make a stop.
Here on the shores of a lake, my personal journey is reignited once again.
Shaman? From here? OK.
OK.
Oh, from Here? And this? All of it? All of it, OK.
Oh! The track's come out.
I've changed a few tyres in my time, but nothing like this.
Now we're talking! Like I said, I've changed a few tyres in my time, but now but I've never changed a track.
There's one village where I came from, which is over a day's journey, and the nearest next village is 250 miles away.
What? Oh! 'A few carefully delivered blows from a hammer 'and we've removed the broken link.
It's then just the tricky job 'of joining together the two ends of the track.
' There you have it.
One fixed track.
Living out here, you've got to be able to light a fire, ride a horse, fix a tank You name it, you've got to be pretty resourceful.
These are the foothills of the Verkhoyansk - a mountain range that stretches for 1,000 kilometres.
This is the coldest inhabited place in the world - minus 60 in the winter.
In the summer, temperatures soar into the thirties.
It's home to the Eveni people.
These are reindeer herders who, for millennia, have inhabited this extreme landscape.
There are fewer than 20,000 Eveni.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early '90s, the herds almost totally collapsed.
'I'm here to find out how one group has struggled back 'from the brink of extinction and with it saved a unique way of life.
' BRUCE GREETS THEM IN THEIR LANGUAGE 'This is Brigade Eight.
' BRUCE INTRODUCES HIMSELF Bruce.
Yegor.
Hi, Yegor.
'I've come at the busiest time of year - the count - 'when the herders will discover the exact number of new calves born.
' THEY TALK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE For me? Into the fire.
Oh, put this in there! 'It's traditional for new arrivals to feed the fire 'in gratitude for a safe journey.
' Just throw it in? Yeah? Yay! THEY CHEER BRUCE LAUGHS 'These men work shifts around the clock while there is 24-hour daylight.
'The reindeer need to feed continuously at this time of year 'so they can lay down enough fat to make it through the long, harsh winter.
' THEY LAUGH Tomorrow the Eveni will migrate to new pastures, some five kilometres further up the valley.
The specially trained reindeer who will help with the migration are called Uchakh and we need to catch 25 of these big males out of a herd of almost 2,000 reindeer.
I'm with camp leader Vassili.
'Uchakh usually have their rear antlers removed for safety, 'but as I go to catch one animal, his antler snaps.
'The Eveni have a special way of cleansing the wound to prevent infection.
'It looks worse than it is.
' With this? OK, so we're going to cut it here? Poor chap, I'm so sorry.
There you go.
And this one? OK.
OK.
And this one? BRUCE SPITS Well, I've never done that before.
Er, but, er Bit of a weird one.
BRUCE LAUGHS The entire camp must be packed up onto sledges for the migration.
'The Eveni are one of the few peoples in the world who ride reindeer 'and they do it in a unique way, 'by sitting high up on the animal's shoulders 'and using a stick for balance.
' It's absolute bliss being on this.
It's just so peaceful, calming, it's sort of therapeutic in a way.
You let your mind go blank and the scenery all around is so spectacular.
It's heaven.
Under the Soviet Union, the herds became the property of the state and the Eveni were compelled to send their children to school.
With no women or children left, the camps became dominated by bachelor men who would never marry.
It was to mark the end of a truly nomadic way of life.
With the collapse of Communism, many of the brigades failed to cope with the transition to private ownership.
Only now, with some state subsidy and hard graft, are the herds growing once again.
'One of the herders I'm getting on with best is Yegor.
'He's in his forties, but only joined the brigade a year ago, 'though he spent much of his youth as a herder.
' Someone told me that the reason that you face the tent this way is to do with the spirit world.
Is this true? 'I'm learning that the legacy of the Soviet Union 'is as much about ideology as it is economics.
'For the Soviets, the Shaman was the living embodiment of superstition 'and had to be eradicated.
'Even today it's a sensitive subject.
' On the migration today I felt I felt something.
It's almost like the mountains were were telling me something.
Do you think I'm mad or do you think there might be something in that? The boggy terrain and soaring summer temperatures provide the ideal breeding conditions for mosquitoes - billions of them that plague the reindeer and it's the job of the herders to try and reduce their impact.
I'm heading out with Piotr, one of the most experienced herders, on my first evening shift.
The herd.
Wow.
Wow.
Sit here and take it all in because it doesn't get more scenic than that.
PIOTR WHISTLES It's a totally different sensation, being with the herd when you're on the back of a reindeer.
It's like being on safari, on horseback or something.
You just It gives you an extra extra sensation of sort of being with the animals.
PIOTR WHISTLES AND SHOUTS Domestic life in the camp is run by Anna, a full-time cook.
She also oversees the young Eveni who come up in the summer months to learn about the traditional way of life and to help with this, the busiest time of year.
Whenever the herd returns to camp, we are back on the job of earmarking all the new calves.
HE SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE OK.
How many animals do you have? Yegor has got a day off, but he doesn't strike me as a guy to sit around.
How are you? Yeah, all good.
Up there? I don't know if I know what you're saying.
Go up here? OK.
Yeah.
With you? I think I understand.
I'm shaking on something.
I'm not too sure, but I think I know what you're saying.
Can someone tell me what I've just agreed to? Yes, you have agreed to have a competition with Yegor who is first on the top of that hill.
Oh, you're kidding! I didn't know that's what BRUCE LAUGHS GUN FIRES He's still ahead, but he's taken a different route.
I can hear squeals from below.
He's overtaken me again.
BRUCE BELCHES CROWD CHEERS Well done.
Thank you.
'Clearly I am no match for Yegor, 'but maybe there's another reason why he's got me up here 'and I think it's got something to do with my quest.
' Wow.
Wow, yeah, amazing.
'I had taken the challenge to be simply a macho Soviet-style contest, 'but standing up here, I now realise it's much more about the Eveni 'and their deep relationship to the world around them.
' That is quite special.
I'm so pleased to be up here with you today.
Thank you for the challenge.
Thank you for dragging me up here.
No mosquitoes, the most amazing view.
In the camp, supplies of meat are running low.
I'm quite used to this following around while Piotr is trying to find a certain type of reindeer, either one for milking, one for riding, one for pulling a sledge, one to cut the ear that belongs to a certain family.
But this is the first time I've been with him when he's been looking for an INDIVIDUAL reindeer.
Somewhere in here, the next animal that we're going to slaughter for the camp, is A reindeer.
And so, quite rightly, he's hiding! Have we found it? I think we've found it.
Is it the right one, is it the right one? Yes? The stake's there, I left the stake there.
He's got it, he's got it.
Not all reindeer are destined for the table.
The biggest male reindeer are frequently kept as Uchakh, or riding deer.
The process of breaking them in takes several weeks .
.
and today is day one.
MAN LAUGHS Does he Is he fully trained yet? He's not trained? BRUCE LAUGHS OK, I've got you.
BRUCE LAUGHS MEN LAUGH MEN LAUGH Your turn.
I think I've proved that I can't do that very well.
Exhilarating as it may be, I'm not the guy to train this this lovely animal.
It might look rather gruelling, but once trained, this reindeer will have a long life ahead of it.
'I've been with the Eveni for a fortnight now 'and though their skills are formidable, 'it's their reverence for the sacredness of nature 'that I find most inspiring.
' THUNDER RUMBLES It's the final tally after several weeks of ear marking.
Council official Innokenti records the number of new calves born to each private owner.
It's also a chance for the herders to find out how much their personal wealth has grown in the new privatized Russia.
And how many, er, new calves do you have this year? 36 just for you? OK, so Piotr has five, six, seven, eight 17.
OK.
How about Yegor? Yegor.
None? None at all? So far.
It's been a good year for Brigade Eight.
The herd has grown by almost a fifth and that means more work.
OK.
'It's my final day with the Eveni 'and I'm going out on a full night shift with Yegor.
' I know so little about him.
Yegor was brought up a herder, but only returned to this way of life a year ago.
I was wondering where he had been in the dark years following the collapse of the Soviet Union, when the herds teetered on the brink of extinction.
Thanks, my friend.
'Yegor, who had so roundly beaten me on the mountain, 'was now showing me something of the fragility of the indigenous people of the Arctic.
'It's all too easy to think of supporting these traditional ways of life 'almost out of a nostalgia for the past, 'like keeping something valuable in a museum for future generations.
'In reality, however, 'what I see around me is not the past but the future.
'Support for the Eveni way of life is simply good, modern social policy.
'It's the Eveni's skill with reindeer and their intimacy with nature 'that enables them to be productive.
'Once that link is broken, the consequences are often catastrophic.
'And perhaps it is this - their relationship with nature - 'that also answers my own personal journey.
' The spiritual revival that I experienced at the beginning of my journey isn't present here.
And at first, er, I was a bit bemused, maybe even disappointed, especially having come to a place where the word "shamanism" first arrived, first came about.
But the Soviets have got rid of all the shamans, there are none left.
But the interesting thing is that there's no need for a revival here because the herders are so in tune and aware of their animals and this landscape, that the spirit world that the shamans were only ever a pathway to anyway, is as alive today as it ever has been.
It's time for me to leave the Eveni and head home.
Really? Wow, thank you.
Thanks, man.
It's too much.
It's such a big thing for me.
Amazing.
All right, good luck.
Next time, I'm in the far north of Greenland.
This is the Arctic of the imagination - a frozen world that's home to the last Inuit hunters.
Weapons at the ready.
This really is a hunting trip.