Indigenous Reindeer herders racing down a Sakhalin road
The Nivkh are the only remaining significant indigenous ethnic group, of a population that previously also included the Ainu and Orok people: around 5000 live on Sakhalin, mainly in the northern taigas, with the village of Nekrasovska near Okha being the largest remaining community. They are traditionally a semi-nomadic people, living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon; but in no small part thanks to Soviet centralist policies, and pollution of their natural habitats and food sources, the Nivkhs now live in mixed population villages and faring a fairly modern life style, and only a handful of principally anthropological factors have so far averted their total assimilation. Their unique language, which has not been proven to be related to any other language on Earth, is also under threat, and less than 20% of the Nivkh can speak it fluently.
It's not all doom and gloom – there has been a revival of Nivkh culture in recent years, and many Nivkhs are actively involved in the restoration of their cultural traditions and language, which is largely shamanistic and animist, with ties to Mongolian traditional beliefs. According to Nivkh legends, Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Sakhalin
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Sakhalin - updated May 2024
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Sakhalin Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
