Getting Ready

On Wednesday, I'll be a bad lover again and leave Gatín alone back in Switzerland. Together with my flatmate Tigresa, I'm going on a pioneer river rafting to north east Siberia on the Omuljovka river in the Kolyma region. Some Siberians are going to find out whether this river can be used for tourist purposes. Tigresa and I are among five Swiss, who will serve as crash test dummies.



[Satellite Picture]

We will fly via Moscow and Yakutsk to Syrjanka. The last leg will be on a Antonov 24, a plane that could make it into any Indiana Jones film. At Syrjanka, a MI-8 helicopter will pick us up and drop an hour later at the banks of the Omuljovka together with the rest of the crew and the rafts. For the next seven days, we will probably not meet a single soul on our way down the river. At a parallel river, I saw once a bear. But usually, one is far too noisy to meet a lot of animals. However, I hope we will catch a lot of fish. There is no better food than the one direct from an unpolluted river. After the week on the river, the helicopter is supposed to pick us up again and we'll return to Switzerland immediately.

But the biggest obstacle will be to leave Switzerland together with Tigresa. Right now, she's involved in the cap drivers' strike at Zürich's airport. I hope she's not going to spend our departure in custody. Touch wood.