The Anadyr is 1,150 kilometres (710 mi) long and has a basin of 191,000 square kilometres (74,000 sq mi).[2][3] It is frozen from October to late May and has a maximum flow in June with thesnowmelt. It is navigable in small boats for about 570 kilometres (350 mi) to nearMarkovo. West of Markovo it is in theAnadyr Highlands (moderate mountains and valleys with a few trees) and east of Markovo it moves into theAnadyr Lowlands (very flat treelesstundra with lakes and bogs). The drop from Markovo to the sea is less than 100 feet (30 m).
It rises at about 67°N latitude and 171°E longitude in the Anadyr Highlands, near the headwaters of theMaly Anyuy, flows southwest receiving the waters of the riversYablon andYeropol, turns east around theShchuchy Range and passes Markvovo and the old site ofAnadyrsk, turns north and east and receives theMayn from the south, thereby encircling the LebedinyZakaznik, turns northeast to receive theBelaya from the north in theParapol-Belsky Lowlands, then pastUst-Belaya it turns southeast into the Anadyr Lowlands past the Ust-Tanyurer Zakaznik and receives theTanyurer from the north. AtLake Krasnoye, it turns east and flows into theOnemen Bay of theAnadyr Estuary. If the Onemen Bay is considered part of the river, it also receives theVelikaya from the south and theKanchalan from the north. Other important tributaries are the Yablon, Yeropol andMamolina from the right and theChineyveyem andUbiyenka from the left.[4]
In 1648,Semyon Dezhnev reached the mouth of the Anadyr after being shipwrecked on the coast. In 1649, he went upriver and built winter quarters at Anadyrsk. For the next 100 years, the Anadyr was the main route from the Arctic to the Pacific andKamchatka. In the 18th century, the Anadyr was described by the polar explorerDmitry Laptev.
The country through which it passes is thinly populated, and is dominated by tundra, with a rich variety of plant life.[a] Much of the region's landscapes are dominated by rugged mountains. For nine months of the year the ground is covered with snow,[5] and the frozen rivers become navigable roads. George Kennan, an American working on theWestern Union Telegraph Expedition in the late 1860s, found that dog sled travel on the lower Anadyr was limited by lack of firewood.
Reindeer, upon which the local inhabitants subsisted, were once found in considerable numbers,[b] but the domestic reindeer population has collapsed dramatically since the reorganization and privatization of state-run collective farms beginning in 1992. As herds of domestic reindeer have declined, herds of wild caribou have increased.
There are ten species ofsalmon inhabiting the Anadyr river basin. Every year, on the last Sunday in April, there is an ice fishing competition in the frozen estuarine waters of the Anadyr's mouth. This festival is locally known asKorfest.
Henny, Charles J. (January 1973). "Drought Displaced Movement of North American Pintails into Siberia".The Journal of Wildlife Management.37 (1):23–29.doi:10.2307/3799734.JSTOR3799734.
