Kamchatka - Magnificent Russian Far East

Wilderness without bounds, in a typical Russian style.

There is a place in the world so remote and so wildly beautiful, that very few decide to go there and those who do, carry the enchantment for the rest of their lives. A land of towering volcanoes and magnificent Pacific coastline, as boundless and pristine as the Canadian North, but far less known and definitely less traveled. Life is harsh there, and the ghosts of the communist past are never too far behind.

With the exclusive permission of "Kamtravel" - Kamchatka photography site, we give you some examples of its exhilarating terrain (click to enlarge)



Avachinskaya Bay:










View on Domashny ("The Tamed Ones") Group of Volcanoes:



Old Man Island (looks like one of Alan Lee's "Lord of the Rings" paintings):



Three Brothers:



Around the Mutnovski Volcano:










Komandorskie Islands:



Steller's Arc:



Bering Island:
This sign literally points to the "middle of nowhere" (among a few other very far away places)





Winters are brutal, especially when supplies run out:



Power station almost buried in 10 meter snow:



Amazingly, it's still in operation!



Looking for the pump house, buried under 17 meters of snow:



City of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatski lies in the shadow of Avacha volcano, a particularly active one (called a "decade" volcano, with long history of explosive eruptions)







Closed "military" city of Vilyuchinsk:



Local way of getting around: