There is not much to be said about this mysterious land, that appeared on maps no sooner than in the 30s of the 20th century. The access to Putorana Plateau has been blocked by nature and the Russians since many years and the area remains a white spot on the globe mostly due to the fact, that one needs special permissions to visit the vicinity. What makes the region so impenetrable? Rich deposits of nickel, copper, platium and rare earth metals.

Putorana Plateau is a mountainous area within the Arctic Circle at the northwestern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau.Yenisei River establishes the western border, Nizhnyaya Tunguska River the southern and 150 000 km² within is covered with siberian swamps. The Putorana Nature Reserve together with the buffer zone covers more than 35 000  km². When you look around you will see only lakes, swamps, rivers, canyons, ravines and waterfalls which density is the highest on the planet. This specific and rich topography is the result of lava solidifying after it rose the bottom of the Arctic Ocean 250 milion years ago. Later, tectonic processes broke the rock formations and created a typical fiord landscape with huge rivers, ravines and deep and long lakes.

The geographical location determines the harsh climat, flora and fauna. The flora is quite poor – arctic desert in the highest mountains, then tundra and taiga on the lowest level. The animal world has developed more widely. 34 mammal species inhabit the Nature Reserve (including endemic Putorana Bighorn Sheep and our favourite wolverine), many birds from more than 140 observed species build nests to nest in, and plenty of coldwater fish could be found in rivers.

The best moment to visit Putorana Plateau (if you were lucky enough to receive all necessary permits ) is between June and August during short but relatively warm summer. The beginning of the Arizzon Wolverine Expedition is planned for mid July – the warmest month with average temperature of  14,2ºC, while its finish for the end of August with first frost and winter on the threshold. After this time the real winter starts and it can be truly severe – rivers freeze to the bottoms and waterfalls create beautiful walls of ice.

In 2010 Putorana Plateau was inscribed on the World Heritage List what made visiting the region even more difficult. For what we know, none Polish expedition reached the strict reserve because none of them had the permission to enter. Our team already has it so keep your fingers crossed for our sucess!

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End of August, 2012.
We came back from this unique place with wealth of experience. We managed to get all the necessary permissions so Arizzon Wolverine Expediton became the first Polish expedition that entered the strict reserve of Putorana Plateau. We were also the first Europeans who, with their own eyes, saw the endemic Putorana Bighorn Sheep. We learned the hard way that PP is not the place where you trust maps blindly. After alalyzing the map, we found a perfect spot to go down to the valley of Bunisjak River. The nature proved us wrong – our perfect spot turned out to be an unknow and gigantic waterfall. Maybe even the highest in Russia.
Browse our gallery to see it all!