Overland Camping in Siberia – Inaugurating the Taiga Pitch Campsite (Where are We – Russia 2)

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(originally published May 2018 / updated August 2019)

The reason to update the blog is because the Taiga Pitch Offroad Camp moved to another site. At the bottom of the page you’ll find the new GPS Waypoints, and the link will lead to the new website – for all practical information about the Taiga Campsite please no longer rely on this story but check the website again.

“They can bake bread for us. Do you want that?” Coen asked, scrolling down his iPhone and reading Moritz’ message.

What a question. “Of course!”

When a German offers to bake bread, you say yes. While the Russian bread we have been able to buy has been okay, nothing beats a homemade, dark sourdough bread.

“What else does he write?” I asked.

“That the overland campsite isn’t finished but that we are welcome to stay,” Coen answered.

After thousands of kilometers of driving through Siberia, we finally had a place to just camp for a bit. Bliss.

(Okay, and do a shitload of chores because the Russian roads are killing our Land Cruiser already.)

Read More: Windshield Views from the Far East

Dust not flying into the car due to non-fitting weather strips on the doors, but through holes in the floor.
A new creative way of patching holes using bitumen.

Modern Ways of Connecting

There are times we look back at our early years of traveling. A journey without Facebook and Instagram or any other social media, no Skype, no Wifi. Connecting with family and friends depended on (at times dodgy) internet cafés, email, and collect calls. Life was much quieter with fewer useless distractions.

This was life on the road until about 2006 when the digital world started to evolve very quickly. Gone are the days that we check email no more than once a week, if that often. Gone are the days of quickly ‘only checking messages’ and being drawn into the screen and losing another hour or more on god-knows-what, most-likely-unimportant things.

But then there are moments we celebrate these super easy and accessible ways of connecting these days. Facebook’s overlanding groups and Instagram streams of like-minded people, among other places, enable us to meet locals in a way that before wouldn’t have happened. Russia has proven to be an excellent country to connect with people in this way.

Read More: How to Start an Off-road Adventure in Russia

Coen giving Moritz a helping hand for a day.

Through one of these channels, from a question to an answer, to an ‘Oh but meet my friend,’ kind of chain exactly such a connection happened. As a result we are now at the brand-new, still-in-the-making Taiga Pitch Offroading Camp just outside Ulan Ude run by the energetic couple of Moritz and Olga.

Travel Guides for Russia

(click on the images to look inside)

Insight Guides – Russia

DK Eyewitness Travel Guides – Russia

Lonely Planet Travel Guides – Russia

Products from Amazon

Overland Camping in Siberia

With fondness we look back at such wonderful overland campgrounds in South America where we’d set up camp among kindred spirits and often lingered for weeks on end. Salta in Argentina, La Paz (Mallase) in Bolivia, and Cusco in Peru come to mind.

In this part of the world, Oasis in Ulan Bator (Mongolia) now is the place for overland camping, but there are plans to build similar campsites in the region.

Read More: Stupidest Things Overlanders Brough on their Journey

Overlanders' Campsite Taiga Pitch in Ulan Ude

Meet Moritz & Olga

In fact, there is in the making as we speak. After a couple of years of wandering about the German Moritz, an avid motorcyclist who has overlanded himself and who runs motorcycle tours, and his Russian wife Olga decided to settle in Ulan Ude, not too far from Olga’s roots.

Combining a place where their kids can go to school with a crossroad on East Russia’s overlanding route, they bought a piece of land about 10 kilometers northwest of Ulan Ude, along the main road to/from Irkutsk.

Recommended Books on Overlanding

(click on the images to look inside)

Left beyond the Horizon – Christopher Many

City of Myths, River of Dreams – James Marr

Crossing the Congo – Mike Martin

Products from Amazon

Meet the Taiga Pitch Off-road Camp

The overland campsite lies at the foot of hills covered with pine trees. Tracks leading into the forest are good to take your bike for a spin or to go for a nice hike.

Right now the campsite has a fence, potable water from a well, electricity, pit toilets, and a grassy field with a campfire place. On the list to be added are an open-air kitchen, shower facilities, yurt cabins for motorcyclists to sit and sleep nice and dry when need be. Moritz is building it all by himself.

Oh, and not unimportantly, as mentioned earlier: They can bake a delicious bread for you!

Read More: Accommodation & Overland Camping in Russia

Working on our To-Do List

Even though the campsite is not finished and not officially open, we were more than welcome to camp there for a bit. This was exactly what we were looking for. Tired from a long period of flying across the world, running around, driving way too many kilometers, being everywhere but not really anywhere, we were in need of just being somewhere.

I stocked up, we updated our to-do list and set up camp.

The first couple of days Moritz daily worked on the site and Olga and kids joined later to water the grass. We’d all enjoy dinner around the campfire. It was pleasant, relaxed, and easy-going but all of us were so busy doing our own stuff that we forgot to take photos of our time together.

The first evening Olga cooked a delicious potato soup that came with a salad and even a bottle of wine. What a great introduction to our stay and during dinner we swapped stories as the fire kindled to life.

Read More: Problem Solving on the Road

Over the past week we have worked on our never-ending to-do list. We patched rusting holes with PU sealant and put a layer of bitumen underneath the carriage where the holes were too big for PU sealant. The rear indicator lights work again as do the radio and the horn. The interior has been cleaned of a layer of dust and we’ve ticked off a dozen other chores.

We’re feeling proud of what we accomplished.

Read More: Overland Travel Information on Russia

Spring! We are so ready for you!
The toolbox can be put away again.

The weather has been extremely pleasant with 23 degrees but also freezing cold, including a shower of wet snow, and we’ve had a couple of stormy nights. It’s May 8 and I am still wearing a woolen sweater. Summers are late in this Siberian part of the world.

Recommended Books on Preparing your Overland Journey

(click on the images to look inside)

Overlanders’ Handbook

Motorcar Overland Camper Manual

Motorhome Self Build and Optimisation

Products from Amazon

What’s Next

As to the question what next, well, we came to Ulan Ude and got our visas for Mongolia with the intent to go there after our stay at the Taiga Pitch Offroad Camp. However, I interpreted the Russian visa rules differently than they are and so we changed plans once more.

This change would give us a splendid, leisurely one month of camping and slowing down around Lake Baikal (UPDATEread here).

Read More: Schedules, Maps, and Guidebooks for Central Asia, Russia and Mongolia

Back to the parking lot in Ulan Ude to get some welding done.

However, on our last evening at the campsite the Land Cruiser revealed yet another unpleasant issue that needs urgent attending and that will keep us in Ulan Ude for now. That’s for another story though.

Practical Information

  • GPS Waypoint: 51°49’37.7″ N, 107°29’34.1″ E 51.82713, 107.49282
  • We’ve added the Taiga Pitch Offroad Camp to Ioverlander.
  • For now, make sure to contact Moritz beforehand because the campsite is not officially open. There are many details I haven’t mentioned but you can find all those on their colorful website, taigapitch.com.

Read More: Books about Russia

Carefully calculating the days we are allowed to stay in Russia.

Check it out: the Landcruising Adventure Tote-Bag Collection

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