Abandoned Kansai

After half a day of sightseeing in Kiev (most of it while rain was pouring) my second day in Ukraine started the main event: The trip to the Zone Of Alienation.
Meeting point was a hotel in the city center and my contact person was easy to find since a rather large group of about 25 people gathered on that sunny Saturday morning. Luckily I didn’t have to join the day trippers since I booked a 2 day tour, joining two guys from Switzerland, Sebi and Michi. If you do the day tour for about 160 US-$ you get the standard program: Transport by bus to Chernobyl, quick introduction about the history of the place and a lection about how to behave in the zone and then the well-known locations Sarcophacus, Amusement Park, Swimming Pool – maybe one or two more, like the Palace Of Culture or a School; always with the group (= always somebody in your way when trying to take a picture) and no time to improvise. A 2 day trip (about 500 bucks, depending on the group size – it can be considerably more if you travel alone) is way more relaxed and in-depth. You basically have your own guide plus a driver, transportation is by mini van, you can choose where you want to go and if you want to stay longer at a place it’s usually not a problem. Also included are an overnight stay at the hotel in Chernobyl and several meals.
We were supposed to see a documentary about the Zone Of Alienation during the two hour drive from Kiev, but since the mini van was lacking the necessary equipment Maxim, the guide, told us to get some rest since the day will be packed with information and places to see – but to me the drive from the big city to the middle of nowhere was interesting since of course it showed quite a different side of Ukraine. Even 20 minutes outside of Kiev the country is rural. Really rural…
The Zone Of Alienation begins 30km away from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant with a road block guarded by special units of the MVS (Ministry of Internal Affairs) and therefore the area is partly excluded from the regular civil rule – which is kind of scary considering that even normal MVS units have a dubious reputation according to Wikipedia, though you don’t need to have a look at Wikipedia to know that you don’t wanna mess with anybody inside of the zone.
Chernobyl itself is actually quite unspectacular – a small, wide-spread town with rather low buildings (two or three stories) that once housed the people cleaning up after the nuclear disaster; even before the catastrophe Chernobyl was actually quite a small town (14,000 inhabitants) since most of the employees of the power plant lived in the newly constructed city of Pripyat (50,000 inhabitants) – closer to their place of work and way more modern. Pictures of abandoned, rotting buildings taken in the ZOA are almost always taken in Pripyat, not Chernobyl – but since people associate the name Chernobyl with the power plant, they naturally assume that Chernobyl must be the decaying city. The most interesting fact about Chernobyl is that all the piping is actually above ground since the old water pipes were unusable after the disaster and the new ones had to be easily accessible. Nowadays only 500 people live in Chernobyl. Almost none of them permanently, most of them guarding or guiding – or supporting the guards and guides, like the hotel and kitchen staff or the people running the two supermarkets in Chernobyl.
Arriving in Chernobyl we went directly to the hotel to check in (i.e. dropping our bags in a room of the container building) and then met up with the day tourists for the introduction meeting. Maxim later told us that in 2009 10,000 people visited the zone, by July of 2010 it was already 8,000 for that year. About 1,000 scientists and journalists, the rest all kinds of people; from teenage game freaks in camouflage outfits to senior citizens who can finally visit the former “Evil Empire”. While the tour was organized by a private company, our guide was actually a state employee with the State Enterprise Agency of Information, Internal Co-operation and Development “Chornobylinterinform Agency”, which is part of The Ministry of Ukraine of Emergencies and Affairs of Population Protection from the Consequences of Chornobyl Catastrophe – gotta love the old fashioned way of naming institutions!
After the introduction meeting we were told that we would have lunch first to get some strength for the things to come. We were guided to a room next to the kitchen and it felt a bit like what you can read about the guided tours to North Korea – the mid-sized room was filled with tables covered with lots of food, but us three were the only ones eating; Maxim and the driver were nowhere to be seen. So we sat down and dug into the great salad, sausages and bread. A hearty meal, and being used to Japanese portion size a pretty filling one, too. But then a waitress came in and brought us some borscht – the salad actually was just the salad, not the whole meal… and of course the borscht was just the soup, not the main dish – that was some meat and mashed potatoes! So after having our 3,000 calories lunch we finally made it back to the van to start our trip exploring Pripyat and Chernobyl – the meal, prepared on location from produce delivered from outside of the zone, was great by the way and one more reason to book a 2 day trip instead of going with the 1 day option.
(If you would like to know more about my trip to the Zone Of Alienation please *click here* to get to the “Chernobyl & Pripyat” special. For a map of the area please *click here*.)
Addendum 2012-12-19: The Chernobyl Hotel mentioned in this article is NOT the the Countryside Cottage Chernobyl Hotel just outside of the Zone Of Alienation in Orane! When I was visiting Pripyat and Chernobyl I was able to stay overnight at a container hotel in Chernobyl…