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Kamchatka |
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Kamchatka makes up the North Western part of the Ring of Fire
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Walk up one side of the volcano and skate on a valley glacier to descend
Kamchatka was born of fire, like the Earth itself. For most of the Earth, though, the violence of creation ended long ago. Kamchatka has never seen quiet -- its history is one of continuous, violent rebirth.
The Kamchatka Peninsula stretches for 1000km and along its spine lie some of the world's most magnificent volcanoes. Many of these are active and some rise to well over 11,000 feet in height. One rough road serves the peninsula, thus many areas are very remote and can only be reached by helicopter, 4WD vehicle or on foot. Trekking here is an outstanding experience with a rich wildlife, salmon-filled rivers, campsites by hot springs or lakes, craters with fumaroles, steam jets, red-hot lavas and a wild coast line.
Fishing on the Fast River
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On the way to the Valley of the Geysers......Click picture of volcano to see eruption
The Valley of the Geysers
The Geysers Valley was discovered only in 1941, by a Russian woman scientist named Ustinovich. Since then the valley, northeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, has been protected as a zapovednik, or national preserve. The valley is about two kilometers long, with many different geysers. Every geyser has its history and its name. The biggest are called Giant, Jubilee and Malahitoviy. Geysers are a manifestation of volcanic activity. Between volcanic eruptions, volcanic processes are manifested in gas and steam eruptions, in the appearance of hot springs and in geysers. All these phenomena are known as geothermal activity. The effect, in expert opinion, is no less than that of volcanic activity itself. Geysers cause great changes in geological structures, wash and carry away minerals and even form new ore fields. At Geyser Valley there is a great variety of geothermal activity, including hot springs and lakes, mud kettles and mini-volcanoes, pulsing sources and erupting water fountains. Hundreds of steam columns rise over places of thermal activity. When a geyser erupts, the stream of water will be 10 or 20 meters high. Lots of gas bubbles burst over the boiling lakes' surface. Geothermal activity has a great effect on the development of wildlife and vegetation in the area. In spring, trees and grasses in these places come to life long before they do in other regions. River banks in such places are usually overgrown with warmth-loving plants such as water-lilies and forget-me-nots. Bears come here for food after their winter-long sleep. Ducks, woodcocks and swans teem on the banks of lakes, swamps and rivers. Many waterfowl spend winter in the Geyser Valley. And when winteris at its height, animals and birds are sure to find food near the places of geothermal activity and in lakes and water-reservoirs, which never freeze. It takes two hours to fly by helicopter from Petropavlovsk or Elizovo to the Geyser Valley.
History of Kamchatka
It was not until 1724 that the Tsar Peter I of Russia commissioned the first official expedition to Kamchatka. His chosen leader of the expedition was Vitus Bering, a Dane who served in the Russian navy for 20 years. Bering was sent to discover whether there was a land bridge between Asia and America to the north, and although his mission did not achieve this particular goal, it was successful in bringing Kamchatka to the attention of the world's scientists. Aboard Bering's ship was a man by the name of Georg Wilhlem Steller, whose expertise in the area of concocting medicines from Siberia's plant life saved hundreds of crewmembers' lives from scurvy. Unfortunately, Steller could not save Bering, who died of scurvy in 1741. Steller's most recognized success, however, was on Kayak Island, one of the Aleutian chain, where he was able to describe 160 plant species. Steller died at the age of 37 in 1746.
Steller was the first to ignite an interest in the vast mystery of Kamchatka and the Bering Sea area, but the first full account of the peninsula was recorded by a natural scientist named Stepan Krasheninnikov. This Russian-born professor and explorer succeeded in describing the religion, myths and beliefs of the natives, their customs and their language. He experimented with the land by trying to grow grain, and lived in a house full of plant and animal collections that he studied. He got along extremely well with the indigenous peoples of Kamchatka, a friendship that was given full value in his book "An Account of the Land of Kamchatka," published after his death in 1755.
In Krasheninnikov's footsteps came the tyranny of fur hunters, aroused by the world's interest in this strange and vacant land. The peninsula's primary wealth lay in its sable, silver and red fox, kalan sea otter, fur seal and the brown bear. In less than 100 years, the seemingly inexhaustible resource of fur was nearly exhausted. By the mid 19th century, the kalans and walrus had nearly disappeared. Despite the overkill, the hunters only slowed their massacre in some places. Finally, in 1934, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve was set up by a natural conservation act. Today, it remains one of the largest nature reserves in Russia, covering more than a million hectares.
Throughout the discovery of Kamchatka, there was significant struggle for power between the Cossacks and the indigenous peoples of the peninsula. Many violent incidents occurred due to the indigenous Itelmens' pride and refusal to be humiliated out of their culture. Countless Itelmen suicides took place due to Cossack cruelty, and many Russian occupants were speared and burnt to death in traps. The last rebellion in Kamchatka was in 1731, when the Russian government held an enquiry and punished Cossack officials who mistreated the indigenous peoples. Although an unsettled peace came over the peninsula, the native peoples were brutally hit by an infection of small pox. The Itelmen and Koryak populations were so severely diminished that together they amounted to little more than 10,000 people. Today, most of Kamchatka's inhabitants grew up on the Russian mainland and emigrated to Kamchatka later in life. Although the mass of land is nearly the size of France, only 400,000 people live there, three-quarters of them residing in the capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
Why few people know of this undisturbed paradise
In 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Westerners and other outsiders were permitted for the first time in over half a century to visit Kamchatka, one of the most mysterious regions of the former Soviet empire. Kamchatka is a 900-mile-long peninsula roughly the size of California, yet only 400,000 Soviet persons were allowed to live there, and all with special military clearances. The reason for the secrecy was Kamchatka's far eastern location: A little bit west of the Aleutian Islands, the peninsula was just far east enough to eavesdrop on the United States during the Cold War.
While Kamchatka was shrouded in military secrecy, its animal population was left to flourish. Some of the largest grizzly bears in the world roam Kamchatka's interior, while tens of millions of salmon invade its undammed streams and rivers each summer, just as they have for thousands of years. Kamchatka is also one of five major geothermal areas in the world, making it a main link in the Earth's "Ring of Fire," a circular pattern geologists have named for the location of volcanic fissures in the Earth's crust. With more than 200 volcanoes, 30 of them active, Kamchatka is a prime spot of study for the world's vulcanologists.
Although Kamchatka has been a Russian secret until fairly recently, the land mass does have quite a history to speak of. The Russians were among the first to discover Kamchatka, but not nearly the last to make use of its abundant wildlife for trade and survival. Three hundred and fifty years ago, a Cossack explorer named Fedor Alexeyev discovered this bubbling geyser of lava and abundant animal life involuntarily; he is thought to have been stranded there for quite some time, although his ship and crew were never found. Small huts still stand in Kamchatka today that are believed remnants of this first traveler. The first to erect a flag of ownership was another Cossack by the name of Vladimir Atlasov. Reportedly, Atlasov was incredibly cruel to the native Itelmens and Koryaks people, forcing them to pay respects to the Russian empire by providing a surplus of animal furs. Anyone who refused to pay the price was killed, their village burned down. It is no surprise that Atlasov was killed by his own crewmembers in a mutiny.