This week’s dream: Bears and volcanoes in the Russian Far East
“Not many folks have heard of Kamchatka, and most who have know it from the game Risk,” said Carl Fincke in The Washington Post. That seems fitting, given that the peninsula in the Russian Far East is best known for two dangers: the world’s highest concentrations of both brown bears and volcanoes—with 29 of those volcanoes active—and all packed into an area that’s just two-thirds the size of California. When the Covid19 pandemic passes, you can consider a trip like the one I made last August, when I visited the region to observe brown bears prepping for hibernation and to hike volcanoes before they became blanketed in ice. This is very remote territory. Even the peninsula’s largest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is ringed by volcanoes and can’t be reached by road. I flew in just before joining a group to helicopter out toward the tip of the peninsula.
Our 120-mile journey begins with a pit stop to soak in hot springs, followed by a second landing at Ksudach Volcano, where the caldera is more than a mile across and contains two brilliant lakes. Soon we are walking along its rim, peering over the cliffs—“no paths, no ropes, nothing to stop you from going anywhere—including over the edge.” Then we are off again for our ultimate destination, Kurilskoye Lake, where the lodge we’ll stay in is surrounded by an electric fence to keep the bears out. Three armed rangers greet us and explain the safety rules. “Suddenly, over to the right—a bear, not 20 feet from us. A wonderful blend of fear and excitement hits us.”
We will see many more. From a viewing tower near the lake, we see dozens right away, many charging into the water for salmon at the first sight of a fin. “It’s mesmerizing,” and “for three hours we watch this classic lifeor-death struggle—salmon relentlessly trying to reach their destination, bears battling to snag precious protein to get through the brutal winter.” As the bears compete for fish, we begin silently rooting— “never for the fish, always for the bears”— usually backing the moms that are hunting for their cubs. The bears pay us no mind, but the guards watch us as we end a glorious day with a swim in the 40-degree water. A 10-day tour with Discovery Russia (discoveryrussia.com) starts at $4,967.