Once I published long-distance taxi rates that can be taken into consideration while traveling within Yakutia. But I’ve never written a post about pecularities of using such a ground transport, precisely about advantages and disadvantages of going from Yakutsk to Magadan via the Road of Bones (Kolyma Highway) by taxi.
UAZ is used as a long distance taxi within Yakutia. Photo provided by Slava Mestnikov.
This time I decided to fill this gap. First, let’s recall the route and list “pros”, then I’ll mention some important things to remember.
Route
As far as you know, the route is the following: Yakutsk – Churapcha – Ytyk Kyol – Khandyga – Kyubyume – Ust Nera – Artyk – Kadykchan – Susuman – Magadan.
Remember, Kyubyume – Ust Nera – Kadykchan is the new road that goes through the northern part of the Oymyakosnky region and that is maintained the whole year around. Kyubyume – Tomtor (near Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold) – Kouronakh Sala – Kadykchan is the old route on which the part Kouronakh Sala – Kadykchan is buried in snow and appeared to be impassable in winter.
When you are up to travel by taxi and you are lucky enough, you have to keep in mind actually the name of one location only. That’s Ust Nera, because the perfect itenerary for winter travel must consist of two rides by taxi:
1) Yakutsk – Ust Nera. 1.5 day trip for ~7500 rubles.
2) Ust Nera – Magadan. 1 day trip for almost the same price.
If you follow this scheme, everything will be okey. You just need to reserve a few extra days for any happenings on the road. But that’s not what travelers usually want.
They want to travel along the Road of Bones with visits to remained GULAGs and Oymyakon (the Pole of Cold).
A big obstacle
Right. A big obstacle is travelers’ wish list. They wanna visit the Pole of Cold and go further to Magadan and make turns to GULAGs. And everything must be done by taxi.
In this case there is one option:
- take a taxi from Yakutsk for Oymyakon (for 4500 or 5000 rubles);
- take another taxi from Oyamyakon to Ust Nera;
- take the last taxi from Ust Nera to Magadan.
If the local taxi service was Greyhound, you would purchase three tickets only, stop worrying and try not to miss the departure of cars. However, the local cab drivers are not as such.
Pros
1. Travel by taxi is cheaper than car rent. If you follow the mentioned perfect itinerary, your maximum expenses will be ~14500 rubles.
Renting a car for your travel from Yakutsk to Magadan with all mentioned stops, turns and visits will cost approximately 60,000 or 65,000 rubles. Plus you need to pay for fuel. Let’s say, in winter, when an engine is running all the day, a car can consume 30 liters for 100 km. The distance between Yakutsk and Magadan via Ust Nera is about 2,200 km. Add 500 km for your driving Kyubyume – Tomtor – Oymyakon – Tomtor – Kyubyume. Add also the taxi’s way back to Yakutsk from Magadan. So the total distance will be ~4,900 km, and consumed fuel is 1,470 liters. One liter costs ~28 rubles. So… your fuel expenses will be around 41,160 rubles. The whole trip will be as low as 101,160 rubles. That’s really expensive. Note, I didn’t even list accommodation charges, 1000-1500 rubles per night.
Oops, there is only one advantage. That’s the cost. Actually, you can fly from Yakutsk directly to Magadan for 11,000 rubles only, but you won’t see the real Siberian beauty and experience the exciting road adventure.
Cons
1. A taxi doesn’t stop on the route at your requests. It stops at road cafes only. So if you see splendid landscapes worth to take pictures of, you will be forced to enjoy them through a windshield. And no turns from the road to GULAGs.
2. A car will depart for the long journey on conditions that it will be totally packed with passengers. If you will be the only passenger, the taxi won’t go.
So if you plan to go to Ust Nera on Thursday and your order was accepted by a taxi operator for that day, it is not guaranteed that you’ll go on your wished day. On the planned day of your departure, an operator can call you and just say “There are no other passengers going to Ust Nera. Let’s try to send you tomorrow.” He/she can repeat those words on the other day. The same can happen to you in Oymyakon and Ust Nera.
So it is highly recommended to make an order for Wednesday or Thursday on Monday, and for weekend in the middle of the week. The same precautionary measures must be done in case with Oymyakon and Ust Nera.
If you will be the only passenger and, nevertheless, you keep insisting to go, you’ll be asked to compensate the whole amount of the planned revenues. The taxi is able to deliver 7 passengers. One ticket for Oymyakon costs 4500 rubles. It appears that the total earnings are expected to be 31,500 rubles (fuel expenses included.) That’s the sum you’ll be asked to pay.
3. It will be very hard to get from Oymyakon to Ust Nera. A car goes from Oymyakon or Tomtor to Ust Nera very rare. Maybe, once a week. Just the Pole of Cold residents do have little relations with Ust Nera. I rresume that officials of village administration tend to visit Ust Nera mostly.
If you’ll be really lucky, you can manage to get from Oymyakon/Tomtor to Ust Nera by taxi and pay as low as 2500 or 3000 rubles. If you won’t be lucky, you can be stuck out there. Nobody can predict, when enough people will be gathered to go on the same day with you.
Yes, you can ask a local driver to give you a ride on his own car. But he won’t do it for free. No one wants to spend 20 hours (one way takes 10 hours) on the road in the extreme cold. In December – February the highest temperature is -40°C. Usually the temp varies between -45°C and -55°C. Besides, you have to know that every long distance ride affects a car negatively. A car rent price is calculated in the same manner as described above and one way trip might cost around 17,500 rubles. Plus you need to cover his fuel charges on his way back.
From Ust-Nera to Magadan a taxi goes more often. That’s two or three times a week.
Conclusion
1. Reserve more time for your trip from Yakutsk to Magadan. 1 or even 1.5 week.
2. Order taxi in advance.
3. If you got stuck somewhere, in Khandyga, Oymyakon/Tomtor, Ust Nera, don’t hesitate to ask locals for helping you, for instance, to find a car (not a taxi) or truck going to the wished destination.
4. Yeah, find other alternatives like private vehicles or trucks.
Ben Judah’s journey
Two weeks ago I received a message from a Moscow-based Standpoint Magazine correspondent Ben Judah, who also writes news stories for the Associated Press. He asked me some favours. One of them was to arrange the trip from Yakutsk to Oymyakon and then to Magadan. Moreover, he wanted to visit GULAGs and meet GULAG survivors. Actually I didn’t expect that it would be so hard to organize.
First, at that time, as I was reported, winter roads to GULAGs (they are located away from the Kolyma Highway) were impassable yet, because small rivers hadn’t been frozen enough. Second, I wasn’t sure about meeting with GULAG survivors. I’ve heard that almost all of them returned homes in West Russia.
Third, I was staggered with the information received from my Oymyakon contact, Semen Baishev. He wrote his familiar driver asked 25,000 rubles for the ride from Oymyakon to Ust Nera explaining that the distance was 450 km and his total run with his way home would be almost 1000 km.
When I passed this info to Ben, he was stunned as well. He said “Actually I can spend in Oymyakon 3 hours and it will be enough for me to collect the data about the life in the village.” Thus, this first plan (to go to Oymyakon by one taxi, to Ust Nera by the second, to Magadan by the third) was cancelled.
I called the Riksha taxi service in Yakutsk. I asked “Is it possible to take a taxi going to Ust Nera?” The reply was “Yes, for 7500 rubles.” “Is it possible to make turn to Oymyakon, stop there for three hours and continue driving to Ust Nera.” The answer was affirmative “Yes, for 9500 rubles.” I said “Perfect. Accept my order for tomorrow.” “A car will pick your guest up tomorrow, on Thursday, between 4 pm and 6 pm,” said a taxi operator.
It was already promised 4 pm of the next day. No sign of a car. I called the operator. He said “Excuse us, but the car won’t go to Ust Nera, because there are no passengers, except your guest. We can send him to Khandyga.” Damn! “I need to think.” I called another taxi service. Heard “We will have a car for sure, but on Saturday only. By that day we’ll get enough passengers. Can you wait?” “No!” I called back to the Riksha service “What did you say about Khandyga?”
Well, in the evening of Thursday I sent Ben to Khandyga for 2500 rubles, but a Riksha operator promised me to find a car going to Ust Nera via Oymyakon for Ben at the cost of 7000 rubles. On the next day at 5.00 am I received a call from a taxi driver. He said that the car arrived in Khandyga, he drove for 10 hours and totally forgot what assignment he got from the operator. I explained him that Ben needs a car to get him to Ust Nera and make a stop in Oymyakon for 3 hours.
After the lunch a Khandyga driver called me back:
“There is only one car going home to Ust Nera tonight, and no passengers at all. Nevertheless, a driver is ready to deliver Ben, but for much higher price, 7500 rubles, because Ben is the only passenger.”
“Does the price include stop in Oymyakon?”
“No!”
So I start negotiating about making the turn to Oymyakon. He agreed, but for 10000 rubles plus fuel. It was Friday.
The next time I heard from a Brit reporter Ben Judah was Tuesday. He messaged me via Facebook that he was in Ust Nera and alive, and he didn’t want to stay there for another night, and he needed to get to Magadan as soon as possible. There were no taxi planning to drive to Magadan on that and next day.
Later I learned that he didn’t make it to Oymyakon. A driver refused to go there without extra payment. However, as Ben said, a driver was perfect for his story, his parents survived in a GULAG, and he was so touched by Ben’s attention so he decided to show to a reporter all GULAGs on the way to Ust Nera.
I called the administration of the Oymyakonsky region in Ust Nera, asked the chief of youth policy department to help Ben with a car going to Magadan.
Another message from Ben I received already on the next day. He informed me that he was in Magadan, they managed to find a wild gold miner, who gave him eventually a ride to the final destination. “You’ll definitely like my Kolyma Trail,” he wrote to me in the end.
Another conclusion
Travel from Yakutsk to Magadan by taxi in winter might appear a real road adventure!
Similar Posts:
- Is it dangerous to travel to Oymyakon, the Pole of Cold in winter?
- Yakutsk – Ust-Nera – Magadan. By a taxi.
- Taxi & Flight: Yakutsk – Oymyakon – Ust Nera – Yakutsk
- What settlements to pass on the way to Magadan through Oymyakon?
- What is the standard tour to the Pole of Cold? Travel time, activities, accommodations, prices?
