Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 13 hours ago
This is one of the most inaccessible and remote regions of Russia – the Magadan oblast. Russia’s roads end here and the infinite seas begin. In the Soviet Union if a person was sent here, people said goodbye to him forever. The decision to build a settlement in this place was made in 1929, when gold deposits were discovered nearby. But there was almost no local population to hire workers. The Soviet Union solved the problem by organizing forced labor camps named GULAG around Magadan. Tens of thousands of prisoners mined gold, cut down forests, built roads and buildings. The government also carried out many executions here, so the sinister fame of Kolyma is not fiction. Let's see what life here is like nowadays!
📌https://elibakunova.su/ - more about my projects & partnerships
✉️ travel.elina07@gmail.com - email for partnerships
🤍 patreon.com/elifromrussia - you can find more content, get early access to my videos and support my channel through Patreon
📌instagram.com/tvoya_kolyma?igsh=dTh0c3c0OGN1a2Mz - discover the wildest and most beautiful places of the region with the guides from TVOYA KOLYMA
instagram.com/tvoya_kolyma?igsh=dTh0c3c0OGN1a2Mz
🔸What can you find on my channel?
👉🏻life in different republics and regions of Russia
👉🏻discovering ethnic groups of Russia
👉🏻Russian culture explained! (facts that you won't find on google) youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeQTCVW4juG8wDADr0OqmPLnv1mfnoYkr
👉🏻off-the-beaten-path places and raw adventures in Russia, ex-Soviet countries & elsewhere
📍 More videos:
youtu.be/A-RCnv5jhTY - Solo across the Deepest Lake in the World | Baikal, Siberia
youtu.be/F6cvaU2xWN4 - Visiting Russia's Weirdest capital & meeting the Mari people! | Mari El republic
youtu.be/R7dC5SHaqbQ - Nomadic Life of Khanty people in Far North of Russia | Yamalo-Nenets region
___
📸instagram.com/elibakunova?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= - more content about Russia, traveling, and my daily life
___
Time codes for this video:
00:00 The dark history of Kolyma
02:24 Magadan is an unpredictable city
03:23 Do people try to leave this region?
04:20 The Kolyma highway
06:00 Bears walking in the streets?
07:11 The Mask of Sorrow
08:17 Chocolate mammoth
10:35 The beauty of the city and surroundings
12:23 Karamken Crown hike
14:04 Explore your homeland :)
This is one of the most inaccessible and remote regions of Russia – the Magadan oblast. Russia’s roads end here and the infinite seas begin. In the Soviet Union if a person was sent here, people said goodbye to him forever. The decision to build a settlement in this place was made in 1929, when gold deposits were discovered nearby. But there was almost no local population to hire workers. The Soviet Union solved the problem by organizing forced labor camps named GULAG around Magadan. Tens of thousands of prisoners mined gold, cut down forests, built roads and buildings. The government also carried out many executions here, so the sinister fame of Kolyma is not fiction. Let's see what life here is like nowadays!
📌https://elibakunova.su/ - more about my projects & partnerships
✉️ travel.elina07@gmail.com - email for partnerships
🤍 patreon.com/elifromrussia - you can find more content, get early access to my videos and support my channel through Patreon
📌instagram.com/tvoya_kolyma?igsh=dTh0c3c0OGN1a2Mz - discover the wildest and most beautiful places of the region with the guides from TVOYA KOLYMA
instagram.com/tvoya_kolyma?igsh=dTh0c3c0OGN1a2Mz
🔸What can you find on my channel?
👉🏻life in different republics and regions of Russia
👉🏻discovering ethnic groups of Russia
👉🏻Russian culture explained! (facts that you won't find on google) youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeQTCVW4juG8wDADr0OqmPLnv1mfnoYkr
👉🏻off-the-beaten-path places and raw adventures in Russia, ex-Soviet countries & elsewhere
📍 More videos:
youtu.be/A-RCnv5jhTY - Solo across the Deepest Lake in the World | Baikal, Siberia
youtu.be/F6cvaU2xWN4 - Visiting Russia's Weirdest capital & meeting the Mari people! | Mari El republic
youtu.be/R7dC5SHaqbQ - Nomadic Life of Khanty people in Far North of Russia | Yamalo-Nenets region
___
📸instagram.com/elibakunova?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= - more content about Russia, traveling, and my daily life
___
Time codes for this video:
00:00 The dark history of Kolyma
02:24 Magadan is an unpredictable city
03:23 Do people try to leave this region?
04:20 The Kolyma highway
06:00 Bears walking in the streets?
07:11 The Mask of Sorrow
08:17 Chocolate mammoth
10:35 The beauty of the city and surroundings
12:23 Karamken Crown hike
14:04 Explore your homeland :)
