Europe > Russian Federation > Siberia-Central > Lake Baikal > Articles > Tigers of the Taiga

In a recent article for Geographical I wrote about the Kamchatkan tundra and how it is being threatened by over-fishing and river pollution. 1600 miles further down the Pacific coast lies a glorious area of mixed coniferous and deciduous forest, the eastern end of the vast taiga which stretches right across southern Siberia. There, in 1992, I managed to fly in a small helicopter for six hours over a scene of utter devastation. A Russian-South Korean joint operation was ripping out the virgin forest in from the coast at a rate that seemed unstoppable. A small port had been built and colossal barges looking like giant overflowing matchboxes were being towed the short distance down the coast to Korea.

The people whose livelihood was most threatened by this operation were the Udege, a small tribe of hunters. Their traditional territory is the Bikin River which meanders inland from the coastal mountains almost to the Chinese border to reach, eventually, the Amur River and flow back into the Pacific 500 miles to the north. The Udege economy depends on trapping throughout the long winter and fishing in the river during the summer. The Bikin is also the most important remaining refuge of the Siberian tiger, 40 of which, out of a wild population that is probably now below 200, live and breed successfully there.

Survival adopted the Udege case and, thanks to their own strenuous efforts, strongly supported by most of the rest of the local people, and those of their champions worldwide, an extraordinary judgement was handed down by Russia’s Supreme Court three months after my visit. The loggers were ruled to be in breach of the law, not only because they were destroying valuable and irreplaceable forest, but also - and this was the first such ruling - because they were infringing upon the lands of indigenous peoples. It was a rare victory, especially as the company announced that they would now shut down.

Two years later, two things happened which made an irresistible fit. The Udege had told me that they never killed their tigers, however much they were offered for their skin, bones and organs by the Chinese trading across the border. They recognise them as the top of the food chain, the best indicators of the health of their whole environment. They were proud that their numbers were increasing. Then, in 1994, I learned that there had been a dramatic increase in the number of poaching incidents on the Bikin, not just of tigers but of all game and fish. Logging roads were being cut making access easier and nothing stood between the poachers and their prey except the Udege. They formed a druzhina or anti-poaching brigade, entitled to bear arms and arrest those who invaded their land illegally. They sent me a list of things they needed to be effective - outboard motors, weapons and, most urgently, a 4 x 4 vehicle to give them access to the new tracks.

Just then, I was invited with several other explorers to take part in the launch of the new Range Rover. The first new model for twenty-five years, it was to be revealed to the world simultaneously in a variety of exotic locations accompanied by suitably exotic people. We were not paid for taking part. Our reward was a new Land Rover Defender to give to a good cause. In my case it had to be the Udege and a beautiful white model, covered in Survival logos was duly dispatched in a container to Vostochny, the port of Vladivostock.

The only trouble, I was then told, was that there was little chance of the vehicle reaching the Udege, once landed. That part of Russia is now virtually bandit country, ruled by the Mafia, which controls almost all transactions. Pavel Zulandziga, the leader of the Udege, would need help if he was to take delivery. Fortunately, my wife Louella and I had been sent to Japan with the three Range Rovers we were launching and a film crew to record us driving them about. I persuaded Land Rover that it would be a good idea to film their other vehicle being handed over to the Udege and they generously agreed that we could all fly across to Siberia.

Vladivostock has, I believe, sixteen airports but they are all military ones and you cannot fly there from Japan. We flew to Khabarovsk and travelled down there on the last stage of the Trans-Siberian Railway to be met by Pavel. Once at the docks the fun began. Containers stretched to the horizon, many of them broken open, the contents littered on the ground. At every turn it was suggested that there were massive charges due. Whenever this happened, the film crew set up their equipment and asked the official to repeat his request for the camera. Somehow, by fast-talking and bluff we avoided both Mafia and bribes until the great moment came and we stood before the correctly marked container - and opened it. The gleaming white vehicle was there and undamaged. It started on the first turn of the key.

Now came the 500 mile drive to Krasny Yar (population 700), the Udege people’s main village. On the way, we passed two dozen check points, at each of which surly and often drunk guards, their fingers curled around the triggers of Kalashnikovs, attempted to arrest us. At last there was a simple ceremony at the village when the keys were handed over.

Now we had another chance to over-fly the logging area near the coast. We had heard that logging had started up again and as our helicopter swooped over the beautifully forested ridge above the upper reaches of the Bikin we came on a huge new camp. Clear felling had taken place right up to the watershed and, in a couple of areas, over it. If that continues, floods of polluted water will run down into the river each time the snow melts and the fish, the wildlife and, of course - as the Udege have always known - the tigers, will go.

We landed among rows of huge yellow machines bearing Hyundai’s name and confronted the workers, getting some dramatic footage of shifty foremen and muddy moonscapes. I talked on camera about the implications of what we were seeing before we thought it wise to take off again. The film crew had to fly home then but Louella and I were dropped off in a small clearing on the Upper Bikin where we had arranged for a couple of Udege hunters to meet us and take us back down the whole river to Krasny Yar in a canoe. Snow was falling on the hills around us as we sped over the water, but the surroundings were so beautiful they took our breath away and we could see why the Udege love their land so much.

The river bank was rich with game. One of the hunters crouched in the bow with a 12-bore shotgun ready to bring down one of the mallard or teal that flew up at our approach. Fish eagles soared overhead watching for salmon leaping over the rapids. Within an hour of setting off, he had shot a roe deer, skinned and cleaned it. The joints were shared out among the isolated trappers we met and stayed with on the way. The story of the renewed logging was subsequently shown on Channel 4 News. It goes on.

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