31st – More radiation included in the tour

As planned we were picked up at the house at 0600 and only a few minutes later we arrived at the train station. We were met by the rest of the group who already had arrived and we boarded the train to take us back into the zone.

This train is solely for people working in the zone (and tourists not being able to check into the hotel in the zone) so it had a stop in Slavutych, just next to the Chernobyl powerplant and a small village in between. And it goes once or twice every morning and evening and that’s it. So if you miss the train in the evening you are stuck until the next workday.

We returned to where we had lunch yesterday and had breakfast; chicken and mashed potatoes. Don’t come to the zone and expect variety in your dining experiences. At least it tasted good so in the end there wasn’t a problem.

Radiation scanners. We went through a handful of times (train, arriving and leaving Chernobyl and at a few checkpoints).They weren't tall, I had to bend to fit into the spot to stand.

Today’s tour would bring us through Pripyat and we were soon at the entry checkpoint for the town.

There is often a bit of confusion when it comes to the naming; there is the town/city of Chernobyl and outside of that they built at powerplant, the Chernobyl Nuclear Powerplant. But due to the large number of workers (and their families) necessary to build it and keep it running they build a town at the powerplant called Pripyat. This has resulted in the fact that the Chernobyl powerplant is located at Pripyat, not Chernobyl.

Not a scene you see everyday.

It almost became a contest to get the highest reading. I believe around 22µSV was the highest reading on the tour

We started off seeing a hospital where they – among others – brought the firefighters called to the scene of the accident for treatment. Because this was the first location people got brought after getting hit by radiation this has made it one of the most contaminated buildings in Pripyat. All equipment and clothes are still found in the basement and are still highly radioactive. From here we continued on to a café with some beautifully stained glass, or rather what was left of it. Here we also found the presence of what is (or should be considered) the biggest threat to humankind (except from nuclear plants accidentally blowing up and such), global peace and the reason why aliens don’t contact us; an open can of surströming. Luckily it didn’t smell and I have no idea who got the idea to actually bring it along but seeing it there it was really, really weird.

Outside the hospital.

Entering the hospital.

The operation room. 

The stained glass at the cafe.

A view out onto the lake.

The view of Chernobyl lake.

To whoever left this here; don't you think this area has suffered enough already?

From there we continued to a cinema, a concert hall and a supermarket before driving to the post office and what I personally had been looking forward to; the amusement park. The limited visibility due to the mist really added to the character and the slightly haunted feeling. 

More stained glass, here seen at the cinema.

The cinema, or what was left of it.

Mural at the concert hall.

The really love their bling on the building walls.

Phone booths at the post office.

Bumper car.

The ferris wheel. 

A now not-so-usable football field.

From there we saw a school, indoor swimming pool and gym, and went to the roof of a 16-story building. In this case the limited visibility – and pouring rain – was not a plus. In clear(-er) weather we should have been able to see Duga towering over the trees in the distance but now you could just see the where the forest started and the town ended. While the weather did add to the mood of the place I would, in this case, have preferred clearer weather than we had. Random fact: I counted 300 steps to the roof.

The floor of one of the larger rooms at the school was covered in gas masks. They were all child-sized.

Notice the numerous stalactites hanging all over the place.

The swimming pool.

Ball court.

The weather wasn't being very cooperative.

From there we quickly continued on to the police station followed by the fire station before going for lunch at the plant’s dining hall.

Holding cell at the police station.

Cells.

After a quick lunch we were shown reactor 5 which again due to the visibility (or rather lack of it) was near impossible to see clearly. Having a light grey building in dense fog makes it hard to see no matter the size of said building. Then it was the sarcophagus which was equally hard to see despite it’s size and being within 100 meters of it. From there we reached the last stop on the tour; one of the now defunct cooling towers. Seeing one up close makes you realize how incredibly large they are, and that they create amazing echoes.

Reactor 5.

Memorial at the sarcophagus. You can barely see the sarcophagus itself in the background to the right of the memorial.

Really misty that day. According to the guide she had never experienced this much mist before. Gee.

Only 1 µSV this close to the sarcophagus that's covering the site of the accident.

Cooling towers are big.

Like.... REALLY big.

Painted by Guido van Helton (Australia) for the 30th anniversary of the accident, of a doctor based on a photo by photo journalist Igor Kostin who was the first on the scene to film/take photos and spent 20+ years on documenting the disaster and its consequences.

With the last stop done we returned to our bus, filled out a feedback form, were given souvenir shirts and then drove back to Kiev. We returned around 1800 and people quickly said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. We ended up 3 people who went out getting dinner together but after that we were on our own. One went to the airport, one grabbed an Uber to get to her hostel and I returned to my hotel where I checked in at 2100.

Kiev train station.

30th – Welcome to the Zone

The breakfast arrived as ordered (the sandwich was surprisingly large and filling with a yoghurt on the side) and half an hour later I checked out and left for the train station. There I easily located the tour guide, got referred to a specific vehicle and got in together with 13 others.

The view from my hotel room.

With introductions out of the way we drove 2 hours north before reaching the checkpoint at the border of the Chernobyl zone. On the way we watched a documentary on the accident to get into the mood. Watching is saying a bit much, though, as I nodded off not even half way though, and talking with others when reaching the checkpoint, I had not been the only one. We were all OK’d (luckily!) and entered the fabled zone. The temperature had dropped and large snowflakes started falling, there was a low cloud cover and foggy conditions which decreased visibility, something that continued the rest of the day.

A slightly larger snow plow than what I'm used to.

We drove around and started off the tour with seeing a small local village with a few houses and a propaganda building with its own theater/stage.

A small kiosk.

The propaganda center.

A car left behind, stripped of anything of value.

Small house.

From there we continued into the inner zone, the 10km zone, closer to the accident site. Here everything is abandoned as opposed to the 20km zone where 140 people have resettled and live. We saw the church, Chernobyl Lake and memorials before we reached an absolutely massive construction; Duga-2, a 500m long and 120-140m tall radar installation that was built to monitor for launches of ballistic missiles. The thing was huge and looked ridiculous and the best way to describe it is to compare it to a fence built to keep out T-rexes. Looking up at it from the ground it looked absolutely mindbogglingly silly.

Memorial for the first responders, workers and firefighters. The firefighters that arrived in the beginning was only informed of a fire and not what was causing it so they kept spraying the source with water with absolutely no effect. Within 2 weeks they were all dead.

Due to the radiation they tried using remote controlled vehicles so they wouldn't risk workers' lives. The electronics didn't react well to the radiation so they could only be used for short periods of time.

Duga-2. The size was absolutely.... something. 

From there we got to see the radar control building followed by the building where staff was taught how to recognize the different missiles. The buildings were a fascinating sight of disarray and varying degree of deconstruction and decay. While tragic it did without a doubt have its own beauty.

The control room.

Where the staff got to learn how to recognize and differentiate the various missiles.

From there we passed by a kindergarten before passing by the Chernobyl plant and going onto a train with all the employees at the plant who work there (keeping it safe during the teardown which will still last quite a few years into the future) which brought us to the town of Slavutych where we had dinner. At the train station we all had to go through radiation scanners to make sure that we hadn’t received too much radition during the stay.

The kindergarten.

This doesn't really make dolls less creepy.

After dinner we took a vehicle that brought us to our place for the night. Apparently the hotel booking for the tour got screwed somehow because we got split out into two different private residences. 6 of us got put into a house “with a double room and two rooms with two single beds in each” which turned out to be one room with 4 single beds (where one was an armchair that could be unfolded into a bed) and one with two singles and a double. It all seemed quite disorganized but suddenly the owner of the place we were staying at showed up and made us pancakes while showing us ship/car/bike crash videos on youtube on his TV. The pancakes were delicious but the entire situation was just weird.

During the evening I was made aware of that the train ride actually took us through Belarus before ending up back in Ukraine. Not for long, maybe 20 minutes, and there was absolutely no indication that we crossed a border and nothing looked different. But still, technically, I was in Belarus.

Early start tomorrow; we will be picked up at 0600 to return to the train station.

29th of March – Welcome to the concrete jungle

I had to get up early to catch my flight – my alarm went off at 0500 which I wasn’t a big fan of. And even on a holiday!  Apart from me not being a morning person everything went as planned. Unfortunately the steak restaurant at the airport wasn’t open when I arrived so I couldn’t fulfil my plans with having steak and wine for breakfast. What a disappointment.

Flight to Riga went well, I had a much-needed nap and one of the few on the flight who had a free seat next to me which gave me an isle and window seat! Going from Riga to Kiev we were stuffed into a Dash8 with less space (seats and for carry-ons) so it got a bit cramped. At least I must have been more comfortable than the guy I was sitting next to who was a fair bit taller (and equivalently larger overall) than me.

Got picked up at the airport, passed by an ATM (apparently Ukrainian currency can not be bought in Denmark and exchange in Riga was atrocious) and was delivered to my hotel. After getting settled I went for a walk at 1630 – first to see how long it would take me to get to tomorrow’s meeting point and after that just to have a look around.

Kiev is very Eastern European; blocky, concrete and… grey in more ways than one. It has its own kind of charm. And it’s cold and snow is found in piles all around. As opposed to the normal grey blocky-ness their churches look pretty nice, though, colourful and well maintained.

St. Volodymyr's Cathedral.

Mural outside St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

St. Michael's Golden-Domed Monastery.

Starting to look for a place to eat I took an underpass below the street instead of looking for a crossing and stood face to face with a heated 1-floor mall below street level! I followed the maps put up along the many exists and returned to the street, being confused out of my mind as I had passed through enough twists and turns I couldn’t relate the location to anywhere on my street map. It took me multiple tries and several walking back and forths before I finally found myself again.

I located a place to eat – which was needed at around 2000 and not having eaten anything since a small disappointing piece of chicken pie in Riga airport – at a fancy-looking restaurant called The Silver Spoon. The food was good but I had expected larger portions. Half an hour later I was on my way back towards my hotel for some much-needed sleep. Something that got a bit postponed due to the well-functioning internet connection at the hotel. Oh, well.

The hotel is located in an apartment building where they have bought a segment of one of the floors which they have closed off from the rest of the building. This means that they have no restaurant so if you want breakfast you order the day before (a range of various sandwiches) and have it delivered to your room at the agreed time. Room service!

I am being picked up at the train station tomorrow morning at 0800 which means I’ll leave half an hour before that. Breakfast can be served from 0700 which to me sounds like perfect timing.

Going east!

My interest for travelling to Asia has been on a low if it didn't involve some kind of trekking or climbing. This view has started to shift a bit in recent years as this part of the world is probably soon the only part I haven't visited yet and it being very different than what I am used to, I am starting to feel if I am missing something.

Because of this I have been thinking whether to do something about it. 

And it helps when finding out that Laos has removed visa requirements for Scandinavians this year. So...

22^nd – 23^rd of July

Flight from Copenhagen to Bangkok, Thailand. Arriving early in the morning which will give me time to roam the streets and do some sightseeing. And when I mean sightseeing I mean eating.

24^th – 25^th of July

Going on a tour of Bangkok before getting on an overnight train to Chiang Mai. When arriving the next day we will be getting a guided tour of the Doi Suthep temple before having the rest of the day off for relaxation or other activities.

26^th of July

Today we will leave Chiang Mai and head towards Chiang Khong via Wat Rong Khun where we will get a view of the Mekong river.

27^th – 28^th of July

Crossing the border into Laos and then getting into traditional boats on the Mekong and travelling to Luang Prabang. On the way we will get a guided tour of the Pak Ou caves.

29^th – 30^th of July

Spend time in Luang Prabang where it will be possible to go on tour in some of the local museums and see the Kuang Si waterfalls. Apart from that it’s free time open for relaxation or whatever activities that might be located and catch your interest.

31^st of July – 1^st of August

Travel to Vang Veng where we will have free time and spend one of the nights in a local village where we will get to see how to eat and live like a local.

2^nd of August

Travel to Vientiane, the capitol of Laos.

3^rd of August

Fly out to Hanoi, Vietnam.

4^th – 6^th of August

Spend a day in Hanoi of sightseeing before leaving late the 5^th and coming home the following day.

19th – Goodbyes and departure

I got up for breakfast with the others to say goodbye to everyone before they left. It was nice getting the last moment together before going our separate ways, and as the owner had let us remaining keep our rooms until 1300 there was only one thing to do; go back to the room and get a few more hours of extra sleep.

At an appropriate time we were picked up and brought to the airport. We said our goodbyes, I checked in, wandered the halls of the airport until departure, had my layover in Dubai and arrived home at the scheduled time.

And that was it. A short but satisfying (that leopard, though…) trip to do some wildlife watching in more luxurious conditions that what I am used was really nice, but I will admit flying for 14 hours for a single week is a bit much. But thanks to Shape of Water, The Snowman, Atomic Blonde, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Suburbica, Logan Lucky, 2307: Winter’s Dream (no… just no), Renegades, S.M.A.R.T Chase, 24 Hours to Live, What Happened to Monday, Shot Caller, S1E1 of Designated Survivor and Cardinal I kept my sanity during the flights and got caught up on movies I hadn’t gotten around watching yet.

Thanks to Soekie for being such a nice host in Johannesburg. While I do understand the security reasons for putting your house on lockdown in the evening it’s piss annoying that we on the last night together had to be in our rooms before 2130 because of that – and even more so when realizing the wifi got cut off too at that point. Thanks to Johan for being a great guide on the tour, and big thanks to Cobus and Adolf, our driver and tracker in the Karongwe Game reserve, you guys were fun.  Last but not least; big thanks to Andrea, Susan, Anu, Scott, Debbie, Gail, Bruce, Noreen, Paul, Stephen, Robin, Eliza, Steve and Aviva for being such cool people and making the trip memorable. It was a fun week and it’s too bad that we didn’t get more time together.

Full album can be found here.

18th – Last drive

The day started as planned like yesterday and at 0530 we were off on our last drive of the trip. The focus was to try and find the elephants further south in the park. There was a lot of driving and racing around but our driver and tracker had to admit that the elephants had gone into the thicket where we were not able to follow.

Despite the results of this hunt we consoled our selves with the fact that the weather for once was really nice and no ponchos were needed. It had turned truly enjoyable.

Gabar goshawk.

Brown snake eagle.

Rock hyraxes.

Lovely weather when crossing a riverbed.

The always elusive leopard was still on everybody’s radar and luck was with us – at least partially; we saw it for a brief 2 seconds while crossing the road in the distance. And that was it. Due to how fast it was over no one got a shot of it (including those in the other car) which was a bit of a relief for me as I didn’t even get to point the camera in its general direction before it had disappeared again. But officially the leopard had hereby been spotted.

A very short quill from a porcupine.

Having spotted to the leopard (albeit very briefly) I realized how much I had been focused on spotting one as I relaxed quite a bit afterwards and took the rest of the drive in a more mentally leaned back state than before. We did get a small bonus towards the end of the drive, though, as we (not literally!) bumped into the cheetah family again when we found them relaxing near the road. The cubs were more active than yesterday but otherwise there was still a lot of purring heard.

We arrived back at the lodge a bit past 0900 where we had breakfast after which I returned to my tent, had a quick shower and packed. The but got packed, bills were paid and we were off around 1030-1100.

African striped skink that seems to have lost its tail.

The drive back to Johannesburg was uneventful – we had our last break where all the rhinos were but this time we got lucky as they were all much closer to where we were. We arrived back at our destination at 1830 and an hour later we had our last dinner together.

More rhinos.

Sable antelope.

Even more rhinos!

I was not given my old room again so my 6’er streak was broken, instead I got room 9 which had a balcony form where I could see lightning in the distance. I set my camera up to try to do a time lapse with the view but it seemed as if I missed the majority of it.

Tomorrow most people will be leaving for the airport after breakfast at 0730 as they are doing this safari as part of a longer trip; some are returning to Cape Town, some to Vic Falls etc. 3 of us are staying a bit longer as our flights aren’t until almost 1900.