Welcome to Barneo – Russia’s Arctic Riviera
Published 10 April, 2009, 09:28
It sounds like a tropical island, but it couldn't be more different. Barneo - a drifting Russian ice camp close to the North Pole - attracts thousands of tourists, who suffer freezing temperatures and severe winds.
But what is life like in one of the least hospitable spots on Earth, where people have to struggle with nature to survive?
Every year Barneo is rebuilt in a new place as close to the North Pole as possible, just as the Arctic night ends – at the beginning of April. A month later, when the ice gets too thin, it is evacuated.
For those who built the base, it’s an achievement, and a triumph of endeavour and endurance.
Base captain Mikhail Shumavtsov says:
“Fear is an essential feeling, so everybody can be scared. Anything can happen here, so the most important thing is to keep your head cool and not to wilt."
Facilities here are very basic. People sleep in tents, but since it’s really cold, they have to wear hats and jumpers. The menu is limited, but there is cooked food.
Crates with fuel and equipment are dropped from planes, which the staff – most of whom are professional Arctic workers – then has to find. After that, they must clear a runway, and erect a base. If they don’t find enough barrels with kerosene, there won’t be sufficient fuel to heat Barneo.
Finally, after a year of planning, and days and days of hard work, Barneo is finished, and the first visitors arrive on a plane. Among them there are scientists, surveyors, and explorers, but the majority are tourists.
Each has paid tens of thousands of dollars to be here, helping to pay the two million a year it costs to keep the enterprise afloat.
Over the coming weeks, some people will travel from the base to the North Pole, and others will conduct important experiments, but most will simply be amazed that they can live here at all.
discuss it
