Looks and sounds beautiful, but this is travel for the one per cent.
1
Beautiful article on the landscape of wondrous Kamchatka. Inclusion of descriptions of the indigenous people who have the peninsula home since time immemorial would add greater depth to the article. This is their homeland and they deserve to be honored along with their relatives, the salmon and bears.
3
Wonderful article - about a beautiful place. I wish it were easier to get to - but then that would be the end of it.
What I remember Kamchatka for is quite the opposite - I was I think in high school or college in India when sometime in the 80’s(?), the Soviets shot down a Korean Airlines passenger jet due to some misunderstanding and miscommunication, somewhere off the Kamchatka peninsula. It was horrifying to read about it then. Since then, we have of course had other accidents, most nota Lt the Malaysian Airlines plane that got shot down - also by the Russians or Russian backed rebels - over Eastern Europe.
Nice to see a completely different picture of Kamchatka!
1
Other commenters mentioned “Disappearing Earth,” an intriguing novel set in Kamchatka. In the book, the tensions between “Russians” and “natives” were prominent, and an important plot moment occurs at a native cultural festival.
So I was surprised that there was no mention of the indigenous population and its history in the area in this otherwise excellent article.
5
For more insight into Kamchatka read “ Disappearing Earth” by Julia Phillips. A great read that describes the land and the people in fascinating detail.
1
I’m bringing my fly rod ... and a lifetime supply of bear spray.
Great piece, thank you!
Here's some trivia:
The opening scene of 'Dr. Strangelove' was filmed over the fog draped volcanoes.
I spent a number of months living in Kamchatka at the time of perestroika and glasnost in the early 1990s. I led the first official post-WWII American scientific group allowed there, to survey its volcanoes, which were at that time, only poorly known to us in United States.
I spent time up and down the peninsula and got a taste of a very special undeveloped corner of the world, complete with its unique challenges and opportunities for tourism and scientific study. I came away with a deep appreciation for the land and the people who live there, who themselves are unique and special.
At that time, though, security challenges were formidable, with the then still active KGB and Soviet military intelligence keeping a close eye on us while we were there, even though we had official permission and cooperation from high levels in the USSR government. After all, Avacha Bay in Petropavlovsk was the home of the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet.
Nevertheless, tourism was nascent then, and Alaska Airlines for a brief time actually had regular air service into the Russian Far East. So Americans started showing up in our latter days there, including a reporter for the New York Times, who wrote about our project.
This article makes me nostalgic for the place, fondly remembering some of my Kamchatkan friends and colleagues like Alexei Ouzerov, and our shared positive experiences, as well as reminding me of a few tough times we had there, over 25 years ago, when we were all young.
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@David Pieri Thank you for your wonderful comment.
5
@David Pieri
Wow. Lucky you. I have been dreaming about that exact area for awhile now. Sounds like it's time.
4
@David Pieri , hearing from people like you is why I cherish The New York Times. Thank you for your reminiscences.
4
Kamchatkans should take a lesson from Northwest California, where we are struggling to protect the last of our once-abundant salmon and steelhead populations from lumber companies, vintners, cannabis growers, developers, and high-octane recreationists who fiercely believe "people are more important than fish" without understanding how important fish are to the wellbeing of people. We all need to better understand the role fish play in enriching the entire ecosystem on which human life depends.
11
Kamchatka has an interesting meaning in the Russian vernacular. To sit on Kamchatka means to sit all the way in the back, whether in a classroom or at an event. It's very common to hear a Russian say something like "I got the tickets to the concert on Kamchatka".
6
I trekked and pack-rafted across Kamchatka in 2017. It is heart-stoppingly beautiful and untouched. Humans cannot exist away from the cities, Kamchatka is too wild, and there are no habitations in the interior. It is unclear to me that you could drive any kind of vehicle (we found an abandoned boat-tank thing) much outside of a 50km radius from Petropavlosk. We spent most of our 14-day unguided adventure in a state of near-panic.
The bears are lovely, and encounters leave an indelible emotional mark. Soft of fur and fleet of paw, their cubs are the cutest things in the world. However, all citizens of Petropavlosk (the state capital) know someone who has been eaten by a bear, and the beasts unfortunately take their time over this meal. It is usually not possible to dissuade a 650kg bear from eating you once it has set its mind to it, when you see the bears you realise that only the double-barrelled bear rifle has a chance of stopping them. Fortunately, the bears have plenty of salmon to think about, for the moment at least.
It is hard to recommend Kamchatka as a tourist destination. There is simply nothing there, other than bears, salmon, mosquitoes and the occasional human-sized fish eagle / pterodactyl. Petropavlosk is a rough provincial Russian city. But those who want to see the Garden of Eden in all of its glory will be drawn to Kamchatka.
11
@Toby Rowland The mosquitoes especially. I only flew through P-K on the way to Magadan, but spent a summer working in the Russian Far East, and my greatest fears were the roads and mosquitoes. So many bridges out everywhere, just from the freeze/thaw cycles. Had to ride in cars in giant trucks through meltwater heavy rivers. Generally speaking about the Russian Far East, there just isn't any infrastructure outside of the handful of cities, and they struggle to maintain population due to mine closures on the regular.
I adored my time there, but I think it's going to take a lot more than some money from the west to establish anything close to a tourist trade. Go to Alaska and experience the same thing but without the threat of the FSB or collapsing infrastructure. Still mosquitoes, though. LOL
2
@Toby Rowland Why would you even mention the words rifles and bears in the same posts? Leave then alone, and they will leave you alone.
Sounds exciting to be working in Magadan. I was thinking of taking a trip there.
Let me add my voice to the chorus here who would prefer tourists (and industrialists) stay out. The Russians have a chance to not repeat the mistakes we made in Alaska and other wild places - the food chain for critters and the habitat is still intact.
3
This place sounds primitive and fascinating, a world apart and beyond the reach of most of us. The closest I ever came to this experience was many years ago when my now-wife and I booked one of the Forest Service cabins on a remote lake south of Ketchikan. Would like to do it again, even as a senior.
5
Fascinating article.
Note that there are some charter flights in summer from Alaska to Kamchatka. There are also cruises from east Asia to Alaska that stop over in the Kamchatka region.
And, as some have pointed out, you can see much the same scenery and wildlife on the other side of the Bering Sea in Alaska -- bears fishing for salmon in Katmai; whales, sea lions, seals in Prince William Sound and many other coastal regions; mountains -- including volcanoes -- and glaciers (while they last).
No need to fly on Aeroflot or in Russian helicopters.
7
Beautiful, simply beautiful. This is what more of the world could look like if there were far fewer humans.
Depopulation is essential to fighting climate change. Humans are the most invasive species on earth; they need to be banned from places like this.
9
Being part of Putin's Russia, I'd never visit (and neither should anyone) but maybe Canada or the US or some other country can annex this beautiful land for their benefit? You know, like Russia did to Crimea?
Oh no, the one place no one knows about gets written up in the Times..
1
All players of the original RISK board game were very aware of Kamchatka.
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@Maxy
Yes that was the first thought crossed my mind, my brother and I were fascinated by the intriguing names of the far off places in that game. He would nearly always win.
1
@Maxy
How funny. I'd totally forgotten about that.
This is a nice article. Though I would love to go, I am just so saddened by every place that is pristine and then becomes a major tourist destination only to be ruined. Like is happening to Antarctica. For this reason, I will not go to this place. I go to other rare places and enjoy the beauty of nature there. I go to places to which I have a special connection, either from family or close friends. I would suggest everyone choose their own special places and don't just visit everywhere. We do not often realize how damaging a little bit of humans are to the ecosystem. Choose your experiences wisely, don't just go to go. Also, refuse wisely and for good reason. You can find peace in many places.
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@Justice
There are 7.8 billion people on the planet currently. We add >80 million more very year. I know how you feel, but the solution is not to stop enjoying this amazing place but to save it. First and for most by getting the word out that the problem is far too many people for this planet to ever maintain sustainably or even at the most basic level. We can have it all. We just can't do it if there are billions more humans than the planet can tolerate. Support free, accessible, safe, family planning. Here and around the world. If we don't, nothing will be saved no matter how many people stay home.
1
Oh my gosh - the various photos of nature and her creatures are some of the finest I've seen in awhile.
Particularly touching to the point of being teary-eyed is the brown bear flock on the shores of Kurilskoye Lake and the sea lions jumping from rocks of Russkaya Bay.
WOW! I never realized such beauty and majesty existed in Kamchatka. Heck, I never even HEARD of Kamchatka or the Kamchatka Peninsula until reading this captivating article.
Thank you so very much Eva Sohlman and Neil MacFarquhar for sharing this adventure and these breath taking photographs.
This article alone is worth the yearly subscription to the NYT.
Many thanks again.
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There is a truly wonderful new novel out about this very region. Julia Phillips’ DISAPPEARING EARTH. She portrays this gorgeous landscape from the point of view of the locals, both Russian and native. Highly recommend it.
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@Joanne Serling Thanks for book suggestion! On hold for me at my local public library ;-)
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@Joanne Serling I agree, great book!
I visited Kamchatka 4 times from 2007 to 2016 using local (not US based) tour agencies or friends there. I have been on trips to Greenland, high Arctic of Canada (Ellesmere and Banks and Baffin islands) and many canoe, rafting and backpacking trips in Alaska (all 8 National Parks and ANWR). Kamchatka is a jewel of wilderness on this planet, among the best trips I have done. The people there are friendly and helpful. The infrastructure is not at standards of the US but the experiences will be unforgettable and unique.
9
So amazing! Would love to see it, but I won’t add to the tourist traffic. Maybe National Geographic or Russia’s own naturists and splendid photographers can offer us more of a glimpse?
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@GCAustin National geographic already did a nice article in Aug 2009 magazine.
1
Film it for us to see it and enjoy it, but don't touch it!
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When will technology make our planet larger?
3
How glorious! This is a part of Russia I would love to visit, while it is still wild. Thank you for the article and its gorgeous photographs
@ml
And then it will be less wild.
It’s long been a dream destination of mine! Why I am so beguiled with this part of the world I do not know! A few years back a did a version of the trans Siberian railroad journey from Ulan Ude to Moscow. I have plans for May 2022 for a two week expedition cruise with the Hapag Lloyd Cruiseline. Small ship with kayaks and zodiacs so a more water based adventure.
2
To see what seems like an ecological paradise with orcas, bears, salmon, birds, insects in perfect balance makes me want to cry. The world once looked like that. The Arctic refuge could still look like that. There are just some places we should just leave alone.
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@macman2 there are places to leave alone, animals and plants to leave alone. I am disheartened to read about the poaching corruption. If locals and governments and scientists can get a jump start on preservation it offers hope.
1
In dark times like these, this story is an open window that let in a new world. Nothing is lost on these writers—we are with them on their farewell journey, a trip they take without a drop of self-pity and a wry understanding of distances, elegies, and time.
4
Great story and pictures. I would love to see that place, what have you done?
Thank you for the beautiful photos Sergey, Neil and the NYT. Such a wild and wonderful place!
1
I am glad Kamchatka remains relatively unspoiled.
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Kamchatka, where the Siberian Cossack Atlasov helped to lay claim to the peninsula for Peter the Great & where the collection of Yasak or fur tribute from the indigenous people had led him. Apparently, part time brigandage was also a part of his plan. It was here where the first Japanese, a sea drifter, carried in a storm on a rudderless hulk was stranded & proved a treasure trove of information on his native land to the trade craving Russians.
The mysterious Ainu inhabited an island at the south tip, now called Atlasov Island. Are there any of these people left?
What a fantastic place with the bears, salmon, & volcanoes. A world treasure to be valued for posterity. More power to the conservators. We're with you.
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@Apple Jack
There were Ainus in the Kurils and in Sakhalin. They were all expelled by the Russians in 1945 and resettled in Hokkaido.
1
Very beautifully written. Looks like an amazing place to visit.
1
The pictures of the breathtaking beauty, abundant fish and animals have convinced me, who in their right mind would feel this planet needed people on it to foul it all up? Trump’s hardly the only thing mashugana, his like-mindedness ought to tell us something.
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2/2
3. In the summer, sometimes people will go into the woods to pick berries, “but I don’t go because sometimes they get mauled by bears.”
4. We toured a church that had some scaffolding outside and inside. Someone said they noticed the renovations and asked how old the church was. She replied it’s brand new but hasn’t been finished yet, “because nothing ever gets finished in Russia.”
5. We asked about the local economy and she said there are many runs of different salmon throughout the year, “but it’s for the export market and it’s very expensive, so we buy from poachers.”
6. She explained that the indigenous people of Kamchatka didn’t have an easy time when the Cossacks arrived. There were a lot of suicides because the indigenous people were treated so badly. Then a cultural note: the indigenous people don’t cremate or bury their dead. “Instead leave them outside the village so the dogs and animals eat them.”
1
Well, thanks. The one place I've travel-lusted to visit because of its intriguing position on the map, but the cover is blown. Although, thanks for the guidance.
No place stay untouched, eventually Tourism takes over, trashes every bit of land.
It will happen, It happened to Everest.
4
It sounds wonderfully beautiful. Can’t we just leave it alone? Don’t go there. Cordon it off from human intrusion.
The only way to keep places wild is to keep us humans out.
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Beautiful! Looks like California must have been 150 years ago, before it was overrun by 40 million people. May it never happen to Kamchatka.
14
Am I the only one that is well fascinated by the far east parts of Russia but just as afraid to go to Russia.
I've been to many countries with poor law and order but Russia.
So glad you could go there. I wonder what that did to your carbon footprint? Oh well, as long as you were drinking from reusable cups.
2
Kamchatka, especially the shores of Kurilskoye Lake, where brown bears gather to indulge in a salmon feast - remind me of Katmai National Park, Alaska.
I hope I would be able to visit this part of Russia - one of the very few pristine spots on earth with stunning scenary - snow-capped volcanoes, plains and the Pacific ocean.
It’s a paradise for lovers of outdoor activities - skiing in winter and surfing all year round.
I do hope that conservationists will continue to protect this unspoiled region from commercial exploitation.
God bless Kamchatka! God bless Alaska!
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Love the references in the comments to the Game of Risk! Of course I remember Kamchatka! (And Irkutsk. and Yakutsk, and . . .) - - - Oh, NY Times, your article is wonderful too. Thank you!
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@BGZ123 Thank you! Actually I had a bit of a Risk trifecta this year as I filed a story from Irkutsk in March and from Yakutsk in August.
1
Heavenly! So glad Kamchatka is staying wild and preserving the salmon for these incredible top-level predators.
What a contrast to the status of orcas and brown bears in the eastern Pacific and Alaska: starving from lack of salmon, as dams block the migration pathways to/from spawning grounds.
The closest I've been to this part of the world is Dutch Harbor, Alaska, on the western edge of the Aleutian chain- also home to bald eagles, as well as puffins and humpbacks. One day, I would love to continue westward, and add this peninsula to my travel list- perhaps by sea?
As for flying: Many years ago I took a 4 hour Aeroflot flight from Moscow to Central Asia. The equipment was... interesting: real wood trim on doors and cabinets. Cyrillic characters on the passenger signage. Drafty seals around the emergency exits.
Upon boarding, all passengers were instructed to sit in the forward cabin with barely any space between us. Shortly into the flight, I walked to the back of the plane and discovered row upon row of empty space that savvy passengers soon migrated into, to stretch out in relative luxury.
We needed sweaters and blankets though- the cabin was cool and a bit drafty.
I'm sure the equipment has been modernized and improved- but it made for a memorable trip to the Black Sea.
14
I visited Petropavlovsk for a day during a trans-Pacific cruise in 2018.
The city has lots of crumbling cement and peeling paint, and to complete the cliché, there’s a Second World War T-34 tank on a plinth at the main intersection, and a statue of Lenin near the dock.
During a bus tour we had a university prof as our guide. A professional guide would sugar coat things, but as an educator she answered all our questions candidly.
1. When the “Cossacks” arrived in Kamchatka, they found a friendly sea creature in the waters and promptly hunted it to extinction because it was easy to catch and was tasty (manatees?).
2. There was a photographer who lived in Petropavlovsk, and he befriended a bear. One day the bear died so he befriended another bear. Then the bear killed him. And then helpfully, “But you can still buy his books of photography in the town.”
1/2
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@John Hunt
2/2
3. In the summer, sometimes people will go into the woods to pick berries, “but I don’t go because sometimes they get mauled by bears.”
4. We toured a church. Someone said they noticed the renovations and asked how old the church was. She replied it’s brand new but hasn’t been finished yet, “because nothing ever gets finished in Russia.”
5. She said there are many runs of salmon throughout the year, “but it’s for the export market and it’s very expensive, so we buy from poachers.”
6. She said the indigenous people didn’t have an easy time when the Cossacks arrived. Then a cultural note: the indigenous people don’t cremate or bury their dead. “Instead leave them outside the village so the dogs and animals eat them.”
During our tour of the volcanology museum, the director took questions translated by his assistant. I asked if there are any health effects from breathing the ash that must regularly drift through the city due to it being surrounded by volcanoes. The answer needed no translation: “Nyet.”
I then asked if there is an evacuation plan for the city. How do you get 180,000 people out of here if a volcano erupts and there are no roads to the outside world? There is an airport and a fleet of fishing trawlers, but there’s no way everyone is getting out quickly. The assistant translated the question. The director replied in Russian. The translator translated: “There is an evacuation plan at city hall.” Umm, OK.
1
Manatees? More likely Sea Cows. Also hunted to extinction in the 1800s in Alaska.
1
@Dave Sea Cows indeed. They were first seen by the members of the Vitus Bering expedition when they returned from Alaska. They were confined around the Komandorskiye Island off the coast of Kamtchatcka (not Alaska). These extraordinary and harmless mammals were promptly hunted to extinction. As usual all the details in Wikipedia.
1
The fly fishing is supposed to be fabulous too! It's high on my bucket list.
2
Fly fishing for steelhead. I've been on flights to Kamchatka from Alaska almost filled with fishermen going for the huge steelhead, so they told me.
@Scott W. Nelson
Scott, I fished the Sedanka River, a wonderful spring creek, in July of 2015. Using the Fly Shop out of Redding, CA, it was an epic trip. We were lucky with the weather - helicopter in and out went as planned. Contact them or Yellow Dog out of Bozeman. They can make the arrangements - warning...it aint cheap.
Thank you for this article.
Even though it makes me feel quite jealous. My grandfather, Nikolay Zorin (1909-1985) spent a few years in Kamchatka, serving as the directory of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve that's mentioned in the article. The place is supposed to be, well, wild - both figuratively and literally. It includes, among other things, the "Valley of Geysers" - "the second largest concentration of geysers in the world" (after Yellowstone that is; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Geysers). It's not mentioned by name, but it sounds like the authors may have visited it too (based on the description of a "narrow valley", with all the "sulfurous smell" and hellish hissing of the volcanic steam, "billowing skyward from open holes in the earth").
Growing up I kept hearing about the natural wonders of the place, how pristine and unspoiled it is. I've never been myself, and I've come to terms by now with the fact that I will never get to see it. Hence feeling a bit jealous. But grateful for the story nonetheless. (For once something that's not all doom, gloom and general awfulness coming from my old country)
37
@Leonid Andreev They were not describing Valley of the Geysers, but entering the crater of Mutnovsky, which is (relatively) easily reached, I have been there twice. VoG is hard to get to, and some of the best parts of it were damaged by landslides in recent years.
1
Kamchatcka inspired musician Modest Moussorgsky for writing his fantastic piece "Night on the bare mountain" depicting an aquelarre or demon reunion.
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@Oscar Torres
By the way, I think the proper English translation is probably "Night on the bald mountain", as "bald" is traditionally a term applied to mountains with bare (bald) tops. But revisionists will have their way.
2
@Thomas Zaslavsky Further adventures in translation. When I was a correspondent in Egypt, the state television bought an American soap opera that they mistakenly translated as "The Bald and the Beautiful." It provoked endless discussions about when the bald guy was going to show up.
2
@Oscar Torres , I have always heard it called "Night on Bald Mountain". Sounds correct especially as there is no definitive article in Russian (or most other Slavic languages).
This on the agenda for my wife's and my next trip to Russia. We also want to stay a day or two a Russian national park that encompasses the territory of the few remaining Amurskie, aka Siberian, tigers. Due to the vastness of eastern Russia, the abundance of preserved natural resources of fauna, flora and geology is extraordinary. Not unlike the USA's western territories, but vastly more varied and vastly larger.
10
I've seen it doing spec ops from the deck of a US Navy frigate in the 1980's during the Cold War. We were warned away, but now I would definitely like to go back now to visit.
6
Avoid the expense and ridiculous red tape. Visit the Alaskan Peninsula and Kenai. The stellar eagles will be replaced by bald eagles, but all the other natural attractions will be there: volcanoes, glaciers, brown bears, black bears, humpbacks, orcas, stellar sea lions. I just finished paddling from Kodiak to Seward in July, and I saw it all.
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Growing up I used to love looking at maps of the world. The huge spaces in eastern Russia were of particular interest because there seems to be so little information and stories about it.
This article provided great insight, totally fascinating.
18
Just made it a bucket list destination. Hard to believe that this at one time would represent the majority of our glorious and pristine planet.
7
My own takeaway from this article is the rather miserable wish that all media coverage of this special place be banned. It will not thrive for long if people start to visit it, whether for pillage or recreation. Who can possibly deny that our species acts like a raging cancer to the depleted wild places of our planet?
98
@Narwhal Share your fear but reason that tourists (in limited numbers) are better than industrialists. Perhaps a balance in favor of conservation supported by tourism dollars can be struck to keep the economy afloat without allowing the rapacious natural resource extractors to ruin it all.
7
Magnificent...
I have been intrigued by Kamchatka since I was a child playing Risk..
Any flights available from Japan or Port Arthur ??
7
@paully
If the answer is yes, then it will be totally overrun. Enjoy!
@paully I think you'd need to fly in from Vladivostok.
@paully There are flights from Japan, China and Tokyo via Vladivostok
We’ll ruin it too just give us some time.
Another natural history note: the islands offshore were the last redoubt of the Stellars Sea Cow. Oh yeah people killed it off also.
15
@Alan C.
Agreed. It will all be gone soon enough. That’s what we’re particularly good at.
1
The author forgot to mention the fabulous "Disappearing Earth," debut novel by Julia Phillips, who had a Fulbright in Kamchatka and set her story there. Highly recommended!!
30
Wait, does this article not mention Julia Phillips' 2019 National Book Award nominated novel, "Disappearing Earth?" Please read this beautiful book.
23
... and just leave it alone.
71
What a fantastic article--I had never known or heard about this part of the world, and would've assumed looking at a lap it would only be covered in frozen tundra. Truly stunning images and writing...this is why I subscribe to the NY Times--always broadening my horizons!
41
I was in Kamchatka just a few weeks before Neil and I loved it so much, I plan to go back in the winter for heli-skiing. I was lucky with the weather and had clear blue skies for climbing volcanoes, tracking bears, swimming in the hot springs and catching fish. On the rainy day, I went to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy with a local guide who gave me a thorough tour. One of the highlights was the boat tour of the bay where the captain dove in and collected a whole sack of fresh sea urchin for our lunch. If you love adventure and are drawn to off-the-beaten path locations, Kamchatka is for you.
13
@New York Times reader
Sea urchin is overfished. Thanks.
1
Kamchatka is also key to world domination in the game, Risk.
83
@Tom You read my mind. The mere title of the article brought back memories of all night and weekend long games with my buddies!
10
Tom
Many Risk players have lost the game trying to control Asia, myself included. Tepeatedly.
Ahhhh--all-night games of Risk at the cost of a mere handful of college classes missed.
4
@Tom "Attacking Kamchatka from Irkutsk."
Wow! Fabulous, wonderful article. Also makes me think how precious and beautiful is the planet that provides our many needs, yet we are failing to care for it, thus putting ourselves with planet Earth in great peril. Time to wake up people!
22
I’ve always wanted to go there. I think it would be Like how the planet was at the end of the last Ice age. Pristine. Raw. Dangerous. Beautiful.
16
We are one major, catastrophic eruption away from further climate changes. Yet I never see articles or discussion on this.
12
@Elizabeth
A great point. Look at what Pinatubo did. Get a slew of them and you have another Little Ice Age.
How did the earth deal with variable methane emissions for eons? With plants being the swing consumer. and turning the heat into coal.
And in such a case, what will all the hyperventilating about global warming be worth? Not even 0.001 degrees of warmth.
5
@Weiss Man Oh sure 'cause science you know all about natural climate change, but despite science, human-caused climate change not so much. And try just over 1 degree C of warming due to us already.
And Elizabeth: just because you haven't seen articles about massive eruptions doesn't mean there hasn't been any. The NYT itself had an article about Yellowstone not that long ago.
1
@Weiss Man
Do you know what you're talking about? I don't see much sense in it. Hint: hyperventilation is not the cause of global warming.
Kamchatka has been #1 on my "bucket list" for many years. I spent 5 years from 1992 to 1997 working in concert with a retired Exxon engineer exec involved with GASPROM. Travelled most of the country specializing in oil and gas exploration. Unfortunately, never got to Kamchatka! So, the recent article by Sergey Ponomarev made me smile quite a bit....with great wishful thinking/dreaming. Thank you!
7
The author never got around to telling us whether they have any good coffee shops in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
4
@Larry Fish Don't let Starbucks know. LOL!!
1
@Larry Fish There are a few inside shopping "malls" with decent espresso, but not compared to big cities in Russia and elsewhere.
Never been to Kamchatka but I did visit Chukotka once, to the north of Kamchatka. I travelled there from Alaska in 1993 when the ice curtain (similar to the iron curtain) had fallen. It was much like Alaska.
Kamchatka looks lovely, just as wild as Chukotka, and a bit warmer. Thanks for sharing photos. I hope it doesn't get ruined with too many visitors now.
12
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing this.
5
Image if we can visit it, it means double the national parks of Alaska and BC province. The wildness, the sea, the mountains ...
5
What an interesting article about a place I know only from a 1970’s era Risk board!
13
Excellent article - sounds like a wonderful region.
But why is it in the Europe section when Kamchatka is on the easternmost edge of Asia?
10
@Fred Humble Perhaps because Russia is more commonly thought of as a European country, though it's actually the biggest country in both Europe and Asia.
2
@Fred Humble When I first was working on Kamchatka, I went to find maps in my library, and indeed, Russia as a whole is assigned to Europe, even though the Urals are the boundary between Europe and Asia. But most of the population (and esp. considering many far easterners were sent there not by choice, originally) is in the west.
@Fred Humble, Start at Australia's easternmost point, Cape Byron (NSW), head due north, and the next country* you will hit is - guess where - Russia in Kamchatka!
*(excluding maritime boundaries of places like Solomon Islands and Micronesia).
This sounds beautiful but I really wish it hadn't been published. Every time something like this is published, it's an invitation to hordes of Western tourists to come and destroy the natural beauty. Journalists are not neutral observers who bear no responsibility for the things they write.
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@Frank Ramsey Luckily, the place is extremely difficult to visit. Both physically - it's just very, very far from Moscow and other developed and populated areas; with the nature reserves mentioned in the article being accessible by helicopter only! - and because of the extra travel restrictions enforced by the Russian government (foreigners generally need special permits). For once my old country being such a restrictive and totalitarian place appears to contribute to something positive - namely preservation of this natural wonder for the future generations...
28
@Frank Ramsey I agree but I think it's safe to say there will not be "hordes of tourists" going here. Thanks for the article Neil!
4
@Frank Ramsey
How NYC. It's not even a bucket in the Atlantic. Go and see, you won't matter.
The panic about the wide open spaces is greatest for people who don't really know them. The world is a lot bigger and stronger than you think.
11
Take me next time! Salmon and Bears and Volcanoes Oh My!
After this week in Trump, I would gladly throw my Ruby Slippers away in Kamchatka.
11