Rice, Rex & Dunia

Rice, Rex and Dunia were three faithful dogs that accompanied me in April 2010 for 140 kms in one week between Slautnoye to Kamenskoye, Koryak Okrug, Russia and this is why I count them as past expedition partners!

No! In response to some of your questions, they were not my sled dogs by any means, but rather roaming dogs that came to enjoy the trek!
My expedition is exclusively human-powered which precluds me of course from using any dog sleds!

Five kilometers after leaving Slautnoye, I stopped at a spot where koryak fishermen were ice fishing to do some filming.
We talked a bit and I was then invited to a great cup of tea around a fire, accompanied with diverse little snacks:bread, smoked fish, reindeer fat, and cookies.
These three beautiful dogs were sitting there near the fire.
I threw at them a few small reindeer fat and skin tidbits which apparently led them to believe that I might be a good feeding machine to follow...

I left the fishing spot, and from then on, they followed and preceded me for an entire week, sleeping faithfully outside my tent, rolled in the snow or on top of my sled.

They mostly lived off whatever they could scrounge along the trail (birds, moose leg, etc..) since obviously I did not have very much of spare dog/human food to share...

In the end, we covered together 140kms in a beautiful and memorable week!And yes, they were safely returned to their homes in Slautnoye a few weeks later, up the river on a barge once the thawing of the river was completed!

You can see and read about this odyssey in the following three posts:

Pictures of Rice, Rex and Dunia
Trekking with three travelling dogs
In Kamenskoye and getting ready to leave