Volcanoes of Kamchatka

Visited this amazing site in July 2020. We were part of probably the first organized tourist groups after removing regional Covid restrictions. Kamchatka is considered one of the most outstanding volcanic regions in the world and is also part of iconic highlights of Russia. It is still not possible to determine exact number of volcanoes on the peninsula; usually the sources indicate 29 active volcanos and approximately 300 dormant volcanos. From time to time devastating eruptions take place; the latest was in 1975-1976. However many active volcanos continue to eject ash with various level of density and are closely monitored scientifically. On average, there are 3-7 eruptions each year in Kamchatka.  

Kamchatka is larger than Germany and Benelux together, while its population is only 313 thousand people, including 180 thousand in Petropavlovsk and 20 thousand in closed city Viluchinsk, naval base of nuclear submarines. This results in extreme wilderness and remoteness of the region with very limited access to mobile network, internet, hotels and comfort in general. At least I finally learned how to set up tents. 

Our trip started with a two-day rafting down the River Bystraya. There is high probability to encounter bears on the shores and (which is much less funny) during night stays in tent camp, however this is largely unpredictable and depends on the season, last year a similar group spotted 92 bears in two days; while we noticed only one. Our guide luckily had Kamchatka husky dog called Sever, and it is …

This is one of those WHS that truly deserve a trip of their own and contain so many parts and places that even with a week at your disposal, you'll be able to just cover couple of those places. I visited the Kamchatka peninsula this August with my husband Ivan. It consists of numerous nature parks/reserves and places. We started with the ascend to Avachinskiy volcano (2000m altitude hike over 8 km track), hiked around Dachniye springs (by the Mutnovskiy geothermal station), did a helicopter tour of the Valley of Geysirs and hiked the Gorelyi volcano. The nature is marvellous and out of the three "top" mainland Russia natural UNESCO WHSs, Altai, Lake Baikal, and Kamchatka, I have to hand it to Kamchatka as the most wonderful of the three. It's a beautiful place that will leave even seasoned nature lovers amazed.

As for the technical part of all of the tours, you get your plane ticket, if it's from Moscow, check a stopover in Yakutsk as an option, it will reduce the price of the overall ticket significantly. The return way is cheaper as it's subsidised. The accomodation and trip is arranged by one of the local travel agencies, we chose Kamchatintour. The service is quite mediocre, not very well organised, pickups don't arrive on time and the length of the ride with Kamaz (which is required for most of the destinations) depends on the driver on duty that day. What we covered in mere three hours one day …