THESE astonishing pictures capture life in one of the Earth’s most savage environments.
Siberian tribesman slaughter reindeer and drink their blood to stay alive in the Arctic tundra.
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
The tribes in the region drink the blood of the beasts to survive the harsh climates, which Brit snapper Timothy Allen dutifully joined in on
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
The tribesmen wrangle with reindeer as they migrate across the far away region of Russia
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
These stunning images show the harsh life in the Siberian tundra
The brave men battle the elements in the Yamal-Nenets region where temperatures drop as low as -45°C.
In English the region’s name roughly translates as “edge of the world”.
Brit snapper Timothy Allen, best known for his work on BBC’s Human Planet, trekked through the freezing Siberian wilderness to capture the stunning images.
He trudged for 16 days as he joined part of an 800km migration of reindeer in the area.
The stunning pictures feature the nomadic Nenets tribe, who drink blood to survive in the freezing temperatures.
Timothy’s epic journey, which will be revealed in an eight-minute documentary on Animal Planet, saw him travel across the bleak terrain of the frozen Ob River with the Nenets people in December last year.
The experienced photographer admitted if anything had gone slightly wrong he could have been dead in 10 minutes.
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
One of the members of the Nenets tribe that Timothy travelled with across the frozen plains
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
The reindeer frolic in the Arctic sun during there 500 mile journey
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
This ariel shot portrays the flock of reindeer as they make their way across the country
One of the Nenets tribe members pulls a reindeer back to the herd by its antlers
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
The sledges are lined up before the Nenets tribe wish to move on in their migration
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
For 16 days he joined the tribe trekking through the Siberian widerness
Timothy said: “In all honesty, I’m a 44-year-old bloke, but stuff like this still scares me. If something goes wrong out there, you could be dead in 10 minutes.
“Siberia is not a pleasant place to be in the middle of winter. I think this is possibly the most inhospitable place I’ve been to.
“We picked the coldest, darkest, harshest time of the year to go there and I think we paid the price.”
The Nenets migrate more than 1,000 miles on hand-made, wooden sledges every year; they live in reindeer-hide tepees, dress in reindeer fur clothes and eat raw reindeer meat – and Timothy had to make sure he followed these distinctive practices extremely closely just to survive.
Leading a nomadic existence on the Arctic tundra for thousands of years, there are still 10,000 members of the Nenets tribe who command a reindeer flock of approximately 300,000.
Timothy said: “This is a tribe of herders and hunters and this is at their core, this is their soul.
I’m fascinated by cultures that still exhibit their traditional values.
“There are some fundamental things, which they cannot let go of and they’re all connected to the reindeer.
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
Some of the travelling animals take a break and sleep in Siberia
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
Timothy Allen / Barcroft Productions
The herd of reindeer make the journey every year but some will not make the trek again having been slaughtered for their blood
“If you want water, you dig a three-foot hole in some ice. If you want to go to the loo, you have to walk out into the cold and risk life and limb.
“If you stick to the Nenet way, you’re absolutely fine. But you are constantly living on a knife-edge.”
Timothy was initially drawn to the Nenet tribe due to the extremity of their living values.
He was looking to pursue one of the most challenging experiences in the modern world – and he was certainly not disappointed.
“There’s just so little daylight. The sun must only appear for a few hours each day and then you’re in darkness again,” Timothy said.
“You can prepare yourself physically for an experience like this. But I’ve yet to work out how you prepare yourself emotionally.
“That was the hardest thing, knowing I couldn’t just pack up my stuff and leave whenever I wanted.
“But it was worth going. I know there are people that live this life and I’ve got a huge amount of respect for them.
“This is the absolute definition of a different culture.”
Timothy’s work allows him to travel the world and in the near future he plans to go free-diving with great white sharks, search for the lost apes of Borneo and go riding with the Mongolian eagle hunters.
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