The Russian outback is cold, endless and the perfect place to hide from the world. People went there to flee from war, disease or from the government.
The most famous case of isolated life in the Siberian taiga is the Lykow family. Since the father was a Christian extremist believing the world to be evil and corrupt, he decided to flee into the endless cold vastness of the Russian taiga when the godless communists came to power. The entire family moved to a place 250km away from human civilization at the upper reaches of the Abakan river.
Living according to the father’s extreme beliefs, the entire family survived without electricity. They led the life of medieval people. Some of the family’s living conditions even resembled life in the Stone Age. During summer they walked around barefoot, in winter they wore shoes made of birch bark- They didn’t use salt, they didn’t know bread. But they were capable of human language.
In 1978, geologists explored the banks of the Akaban and found the hut where the family lived. The father still lived there together with his two sons and two daughters. The mother died 15 years ago out of starvation.
Today, only the daughter Agafja is alive. When the news of the isolated family Lykow hit the news, the entire world looked at Russia. Helicopters were sent to the family, interviewing Agafja and asking her out. She told them about her hard life, her sufferings. Nevertheless, the last time the public heard anything from the last member of the family Lykow was in the year 2012. She decided to die in the Taiga, far away from civilization… just like the rest of her family.
