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The nature of West Siberia
This region is widely known for its rich deposits of natural oil, gas and gas condensates.

The first stop on our way to tundra – night spent in the forests of Samara region.	On the reindeer path.	The typical landscape of sub circumpolar forest-tundra. The main ground there is peat with Reindeer moss (Cladonia spp.) mixed with ledum (Ledum palustre; its close relative, Ledum groenlandicum is called Labrador tea) growing on it (you can see this on the background picture). It's very hard to walk through such landscapes, especially through thickets of dwarf birch and willow on floodlands...	There are also a lot of lakes	Our group after crossing the swamp behind. Usually one can easily cross these bogs with a sense of caution, though. They are less dangerous then southern marshes because of permafrost nearby.
A lake which is going to become marsh in the nearest future. Such lakes are called "hasyrei".	The sample of water is ready to be analyzed for dissolved oxygen – one of the most important indices in a qualification of natural waters.	In the bushes of wild red currant.	You can turn this picture upside down. The still surface of tundra lake is so perfect that you won't find the difference.	Typical larch and peat bog scenery.
The helicopter was able to land only on open peat spot. So, our first task is to transfer the camp equipment to the opposite sandy side of the lake..	The local plant sheathed cottonsedge (Eriophorum vaginatum) – "Siberian Tampax" as we called it – is typical for the northern up-marshes; one of the early spring forage plants for reindeers.	Setting up the camp. Larch (Larix gen.)is a common tree in that area and is considered a weed plant in the forestry. So we used its trunks extensively as a stand poles for our tents. My specialty was building of "hydrotechnical structures" like log-paths and gang-ways.	View of our camp from the landing spot.	The bank of Pyaku-Pur river in the taiga zone.
Sandy banks of Hadyr'yakha river near the town of Urengoi.	One of the forgotten forever equipment garbage dumps in West Siberia.	Other view of Hadyr'yakha river.	The grave of oil pump used for about 25 years on Ob' river near Nefteyugansk.	View of Ob' river at sunset.
Technological gas burning station in tundra.	Crossing the Polar Circle.	This is not a lake, but its germ, a big pool only about 10 cm deep, formed after summer melting of permafrost and subsidence of the ground.	The real tundra beyond Polar Circle. No trees, no stones. You cannot hang yourself, you cannot drown yourself. The only option is just to freeze in the permafrost.	Autumn on the banks of former river bed of Pur river.
Another view of the same former river bed lake.	It's raining. The rain is drizzling, but can last for several weeks.	Our mission is completed. It's time to get back to the wilderness of civilization…	The last thing to do is to make a photo stop and load our baggage under the stormy air stream coming from helicopter's rotor blades.