[SOUND OF SAWING WOOD]
AGAFIA LYKOV: [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
-Agafia Lykov is one of Russia's Old Believers, an
ultra orthodox sect of Christianity that still exists
in small communities around the world today.
Fearing oppression and death at the hands of Stalin,
Agafia's father Karp fled with his family into the Sayan
Mountains of Siberia in 1936.
Agafia was born into this harsh wilderness in 1944.
The Lykov family lived undisturbed for 40 years,
building a life in an environment where the winter
temperatures commonly dipped to minus 30.
The summer growing season is short, and bears and wolves
roam in abundance.
However, food was always scarce, and in 1961 Agafia's
mother Akulina starved herself to death so that her children
would have enough food to eat.
The area they settled in is currently over 160 miles from
the nearest town.
In summer, it's possible to reach the Lykov's cabin by a 7
day canoe trip.
In winter, while we had heard rumors of a treacherous
snowmobile route, it is virtually inaccessible by
anything other than helicopter.
In 1978, a team of Russian geologists spotted the Lykov's
hillside farm from their helicopter.
They later hiked in to meet them.
It was the first contact with outsiders that the Lykovs had
in over 40 years, and it marked the
end of their isolation.
Since that initial visit, the Lykovs have become famous in
Russia, as the family of Siberian hermits who didn't
know that World War II took place.
They also suffered unspeakable tragedy when the three older
children all died within weeks of each other, presumably from
pneumonia contracted from a visit by the geologists.
Agafia's father Karp later died in 1988, 27 years to the
day after his wife passed away.
Despite sporadic visitors over the years, Agafia lived alone
until 1997, when one of the geologists, a man named
Yerofei Sedov, moved to a cabin down the hill from her.
So now, 35 years after their first contact, Agafia is the
only Lykov left, living the same way she has since she was
born, in the only way she knows how--
off the land--
in one of the most inhospitable
environments on earth.
Our journey to meet Agafia begin with a 10-hour red-eye
flight from New York to Moscow.
Arriving in the morning, we met up with Gleb Lisichkin,
the editor of Vice Russia who would act as our host and
translator.
We then hopped on another flight to the city of Abakan,
which is right in the middle of the country, just north of
the Mongolian border.
Abakan is the capital of the Khakassia region, and with
165,000 residents is modern, but by no means a teeming
metropolis.
We then met Igor, an employee of the Parks Department, who
would be accompanying us to see Agafia.
-We use this time to check out the town.
The call finally came, so we jumped in a van and drove
several hours south to the Shushenskoye.
-However by the time we arrive, some severe weather
came and grounded our helicopter for another night.
The unexpected delay gave us time to buy some things that
were on Agafia's wish list, namely a rooster, and a goat.
On the third morning, the weather had slightly cleared,
and we were able to board the helicopter.
Despite some technical difficulties, which made us
second-guess our choice of aircraft, by that afternoon,
we were finally in the air on the final leg of our journey.
As civilization dropped away and the taiga grew, we made an
unexpected stop in a snow-covered field to pick up
Sergei, a Parks Department official who spends most of
his time living in the mountains, and has grown to
know Agafia over his years there.
Siberia is a region in the middle of Russia, covering
about 5 million square miles, an area nearly one and a half
times larger than the United States.
The area is sparsely populated, with few major
cities like Abakan, and is mostly comprised of large
swaths of untouched land called taiga, a subarctic
forest known for extreme cold and
massive amounts of wildlife.
It was into this taiga that Agafia's father led
his family in 1937.
We landed on the frozen river, unloaded our gear and gift
animals, and went to meet Agafia and Yerofei.
-[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]
-The helicopter left, and would only return in several
days time if the weather was good.
Hiking out wouldn't be an option.