Running with Reindeer

Presents tales of living in Murmansk region of north-western Russia after collapse of Communism.

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Russian Lapland, a region of amazing contrasts. Here lies the last true wilderness of Europe, a rich and pristine ecosystem teeming with bird and animal life. But here too lie the dark, satanic mills of the former Soviet Union and the rotting remnants of the Northern Fleet's nuclear submarines. Despite its strategic importance to the Allies during both World Wars, Russian Lapland - renamed Murmansk Region and now frequently referred to as the Kola Peninsula - remained a forgotten corner of Europe, inaccessible to foreign visitors, until perestroika. "Running with reindeer" is the first account of life in this harsh but beautiful land for over a century. Roger Took is almost certainly the first foreigner since the Russian Civil War of 1918-1920 to have explored the region extensively, witnessing at first hand the disturbing aftermath of communism. Living among remote reindeer-herding and hunting families, he follows the lives and traditions of the indigenous Lapps, or Saami.
He meets pioneering villagers descended from medieval Novgorod fur-traders who are now learning to cope with the new economy, and the men and women originally forced north to mine Russian Lapland's fabulous mineral wealth but now unemployed and stranded. His arduous adventures take him to a lost Eden - home to bears, elk, reindeer and birds of prey, and fish that anglers dream of. And, avoiding the still vigilant security services, he explores the naval bases where nuclear-powered submarines are lying dangerously neglected. His encounters with the land and its inhabitants are dramatic and comical as well as emotionally disturbing and at times physically dangerous. Moving between the lines of the official histories, coping with arduous Arctic conditions, he writes compellingly. The result is a vivid account of a unique part of Europe.