Bloomberg Businessweek - USA (2020-06-29)

64

TRAVEL BloombergPursuits June29, 2020

becamereal.A 6-year-oldtiger,Batalovsaid.Probablya male.

A fewmomentslaterweturneda bendandsawthetiger

asleepina clearing.It stooduponallfourstorevealitsdaz-

zlingstripes,thesnowfallingoffitsback.Thenit lookedatus

witha steady,fearlessgazebeforeamblingintothetrees,its

fiercegoldenflaresoonconcealedbya billionspindlytrunks.

Ifa life-changingtripisbornofreflection—agradual

shiftinwhatwebelieve,howweperceivewhatwesee,or

howwechoose tolive—the

tigermarkedthebeginning

ofmine.It wasuncannythat

suchanunlikelyencounter

not onlyshould have hap-

penedsosoon, butshould

haveoccurredatall.It feltasif

themeetingmeantsomething

morethana strokeofluck.

I wasintoxicatedbythe

silverysheenofthetaiga.In

Batalov’scompany,I wasalso

profoundlyinspired.Hislife

wasdrivenbya yearslong,

patientefforttoprotectsome-

thingprecious—withnothing

buta modestbudgettohelp

reasonwithlocalloggers.

Ourtimetogethercreated

sharedconfidences.Batalov

toldmeabouthisfather,a tal-

entedmusicianwhosemusic

broughtsolacetoa remote

Siberian town. I told him

aboutmyfriendOdgerelSampilnorov,a Mongolianconcert

pianist.Theextremesofthesteppeclimatehadwreaked

havoconherYamaha;theprevioussummerwe’dspoken

aboutfindinghera soft-sounding,historicinstrumenttowith-

standthetestoftime.Thebestplacetofindone,weagreed,

wasSiberia,a placerichinclassicalmusiccultureandtied

toherfamilyheritage.A pianothathadsurvivedgenerations

therewassurelywhatsheneeded.

Batalovnodded.Hedidn’ttryandtellmethatSiberia

wastoobigorthatPutin’sRussiawastooforbidding.“You

Patience and perseverance are virtues best learned in Siberia

By Sophy Roberts

Photograph by Michael Turek

F

iveyearsago,I hearda David-and-Goliathstoryabout

a conservationistprotectingoneoftheworld’srarest

bigcatsandflewtoRussia’sFarEasttomeethim.

AlexanderBatalov—abroad,shortmaninhis

mid-60s,dressedinfeltbootsgiftedtohimbyanarmy

colonel—foundmeinthecityofKhabarovsk.Forthefirst

time,I washeadedintothetaiga.Theso-calledtipsyforest,

it’snamedafterthelandscape’sswathsofleaningtrees,many

ofthemproppedupbytheir

denselypackedneighbors.

Humble and eloquent,

Batalovhadgivena largepor-

tionofhislifetosafeguard-

ingtheAmurtiger—aSiberian

subspeciesdistinguishedby

itsorangestripedfurandvast

proportions.An adult male

canbe 14 feetlongandweigh

400 pounds,anditsterritory

canspan1,000milesormore.

Only 500 or so of these

animalsremaininthe wild;

evenforprofessionals such

asBatalov,seeingonemight

happen once or twice in a

lifetime.Soforthenextfew

days,wewouldsimplybeset-

ting motion-activated cam-

erastobetterunderstandtheir

behavior.Inthetaiga,Batalov

explained,oaktreesarethreat-

enedbylogging.Theiracorns

arefoodforwildboar.Andthewildboararefoodfortigers.

Takeouttheoaktrees,andthewholeecosystemcollapses.

Asa journalistfocusedonconservation,I hopedtolearnand

tellBatalov’sstory.

Deepintheforest,snowdriftshuggedthebircheslikepetti-

coats. Our truck rumbled on through the silence. Then out

of nowhere, a line of crisp new paw prints appeared. Batalov

grabbed my hand. “Tiger!” he whispered. “Tiger, tiger!”

As I cautiously stepped out of the vehicle and put my

ungloved hand against the paw print in the snow, the scale

UNDER

THE

TIGER’S

EYE

The author and Batalov

follow the tracks

of a rare Siberian tiger