04/11/2021
Keniskun Bay on Chukotka's Arctic Ocean coast is home to the world's largest walrus colony. When the ice recedes in autumn, up to 118,500 walrus haul themselves out onto the land and form a rookery that covers up to 20km of coastline. This is about half the world's walrus population and almost the whole Pacific walrus population.
We visited this year in September, when the colony was just starting to form. There were about 1400 walrus on land and another 500 visible in the sea, swimming towards the main colony.
The colony starts about 11km from an indigenous village called Enurmino, population 300. Enurmino is accessible by twice monthly helicopter from the district capital, Lavrentiya. The helicopter is often delayed for weeks or cancelled altogether due to extreme weather conditions. Lavrentiya itself is only accessible by a weekly airplane or monthly 48-hour ferry from Chukotka's capital Anadyr, which has no land transport connection to the rest of Russia.
Enurmino can also be accessed from Lavrentiya by a 24-hour off-road ride in all-terrain vehicles across Chukotka's interior, which can easily turn into 48 hours with breakdowns, getting stuck in swamps, etc. Taking a motorboat along the coast from Lavrentiya is also an option, but you may end up waiting days or weeks for seas calm enough to try this.
In short, this spectacular natural event is something that very few people are ever likely to see. However, we can organise trips to visit the colony and live in a cabin right there on Keniskun Bay. In October, the walrus colony comes right up to the walls and windows of the cabin.
These trips are only for the VERY adventurous traveller with a flexible mindset and plenty of spare time!
