Dutchman Surviving in Sakhalin, Russia’s Far East | Peter van der Wolf 

❤️ If you’d like to help Peter 🤝
🇳🇱 Dutch ABN Amro account: NL75 ABNA 0623 8637 31 tnv P.A.J. van der Wolf
🇷🇺 Sberbank account: 4276 5000 3105 3646
For volunteering, visit to Sakhalin & any inquiries:
/ vanderwolfpeter
🎥 This story was filmed right before the deadly snowfall that hit the Sakhalin island ❄️ Our respondent Peter van der Wolf had to deal with a huge blizzard, one of the worst that the island has seen in about 15 years 😱 You can check it out in our Shorts video: • SOS: Ecologist & His H...
🇳🇱 Peter van der Wolf, ecologist and an environment protection expert from Netherlands, has been living and working in Sakhalin on the far East of Russia for 18 years, and his first visit was even earlier, in 2003.
🇷🇺 «Why Russia? Well, Russia came about by accident»: Peter and his wife started working on a project studying grey whales 🐋 led by «Sakhalin Energy» and «Exxon» companies.
«I imagined that in Russia, it was all about road blocks, Kalashnikovs, soldiers, KGB, all these stereotypes perpetuated by the West»: Peter became an expat in Russia, rescuing grey whales, killer whales (orcas) 🐋 and eagles 🦅 He had some horses 🐎 and dogs 🐕 of his own, lived a simple life while searching for his place and purpose here. Russia is big, so the enormous travel distances saddened Peter: the downside is that you can’t be with your loved ones, your relatives or parents. He lost his father while being on a flight from Sakhalin to bust him in the Netherlands 😢 His marriage also didn’t stand the test of time.
For what reason did a dutchman migrate, just to live in the far East of Russia? What can this amazing land offer a foreigner? 🎥 This video will surely guide you through!
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00:00 Meet Peter van der Wolf
01:52 First time in Russia
03:45 Wife, gray whales, Sakhalin Energy
05:42 Rescuing the killer whale
07:41 2003: Leaving the dream project
08:45 2022: Why didn’t Peter leave?
09:16 Rescuing horses
12:11 Education: from illustrator to ecologist
12:59 Peter’s survival
16:00 Kakashka
17:07 SOS: volunteers needed!
19:14 Peter’s recipe for happiness
20:00 Why Russia? Why not Colombia?
23:57 Russian winter: yes or no?
26:52 The first expedition around Sakhalin
27:30 The worst part about Russia
28:35 Why did Peter stay in Russia?