Earlier this year, I worked on the Channel 4 documentary From Russia To Iran: Crossing The Wild Frontier, presented by British explorer Levison Wood. Wood is known for his trecherous expeditions that include walking the entire length of the river Nile and pursuing a death-defying trek through the Himalayas. I was the producer on this shoot and was responsible developing, casting and producing the series, as well as planning the route from Sochi to Dagestan in Russia’s North Caucasus, for which I joined the crew. We chose the Caucasus because it’s a very diverse cultural region yet almost, yet not many people in Europe have ever heard of it. Located between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, the North Caucasus includes seven distinctive republics: the Republic of Adygea, Karachay–Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia–Alania, Ingushetia, Chechnya, and the Republic of Dagestan. Each republic has their own language, traditions and culture like no other. Dagestan alone has around 30 ethnicities and 14 official languages.