Would you be able to survive in the Siberian wilderness in -70°C with bears and wolves to keep you company? Well, the ‘world’s loneliest man’ can.
Samuil has lived in the heart of the Yakutsk forest five hours away from civilisation for the last two decades in one of the harshest environments on Earth.
The 67-year-old even moved away from his former small village in Russia because life was ‘quite boring’.
Samuil spends his time hunting for food, reading frozen magazines, and listening to the radio.
Life is hard for him because he lives in a cabin built just from materials he finds in the wilderness and to keep warm he cuts down trees to build fires.
Freezing air also seeps through the windows that have holes in because they are made of crumbling sheets of cellophane.
But he’s managed to keep some warmth in the cabin by lining the inside with tarpaulin, tin sheets and blankets.
His life is starting to take its toll on him as he nearly reaches 70 and he says a prayer each time he leaves his cabin.
He said in a documentary on YouTube: ‘My God, Jesus Christ, please help me. When I go to the village, please help me to find some food.’
The one big problem for Samuil is the threat of bears and he said: ‘I have seen many bears passing by my house.
‘They are walking around my house. My dogs are always barking. Thank God they don’t come inside they could be very dangerous.
‘But they don’t care about me, we are like neighbours.’
Samuil has also built an underground freezer filled with meat that doesn’t require electricity.
His food mainly comes from fishing at the nearby lake and he also hunts animals like hare.
To make some extra money Samuil sells brooms in the city of Yakutsk but the walk there is long and dangerous.
He showers by heating up water on a stove and pouring it into a funnelled tub hanging up outside.
The nearest city to Samuil is Yakutsky which is the world’s coldest city where -40°C is considered a warm afternoon.
Temperatures can drop to -68°C but this is considered bearable by locals.
People living in the area have to gather wood first thing for fires in homes because there are no heaters or radiators.
Finding clean water is also a struggle because pipework freezes over so instead water comes from ice blocks melted and shaved down.
Because of the cold conditions harvesting is impossible so many rely on a meat and fish diet.
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