Numto Park Station

The station is located in the town Labytnangi (66°39’ N, 66°24’ E), Tyumen region, Russia. It belongs to the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District. The nearest larger town is Salekhard (less than 20 km to the Southeast). Labytnangi is situated on the bank of the Ob River – one of the largest rivers in the world.

The station was established in 1954, driven by two main aims, i.e. (i) to conduct ecological investigations on a year-round basis, and (ii) to create a logistics base for the core activities of the Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology. The 32000 m2 of station area consists of offices and lab buildings, a garage, and storage for expedition equipment. Telephone, fax, copy machines, and computer with access to the internet are also available. The station can host 20-25 people at a time and a wide variety of field equipment is available for rent.

Labytnangi (c. 25000 inhabitants) is situated in the forest-tundra zone of the Yamal Peninsula. The taiga zone begins more than ten kilometers up the Ob River, and the shrubby tundra zone begins ten kilometers to the north. The Yamal Peninsula is a bio-geographical interesting area supporting the most eastern populations of many European animal species, and the most westerly populations of many Siberian species. Both taiga and tundra animals species are present in the area. The Polar Ural Mountains are just 50 km west of Labytnangi.

The Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District is one of the largest regions in Russia. It occupies a vast territory of over 750000 km2, and is primarily known for its large deposits of hydrocarbon raw materials. The population of indigenous people (Nenets) is about 37000. Yamal is one of the few places in the world where the traditional way of life is well preserved and about 13000 of the inhabitants still live a traditional nomadic life. Yamal’s domestic reindeer population exceeds 650000, the largest regional domestic reindeer population in the world.

There is a railway station in Labytnangi with daily trains to Moscow (48 hours trip). The airport is situated in Salekhard, just on the other bank of the Ob River, with daily flights to Moscow (3 hours trip) and Tyumen (1.5 hours). Regular helicopter flights to small villages are also available. For visiting Labytnangi or Salekhard, you must obtain a special permit for entering the border zone of Russia.