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A Tour of Chernobyl as it exists today

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So heres my trip to Chernobyl in pictures.
The trip was booked with www.tourchernobyl.com. I just emailed info@tourkiev.com, and got in touch with the guy who runs the whole place, Sergei. Really, really helpful guy who talked me through the whole process and answered numerous dumbass emails i sent him. You can book everything through them, from the flights (cost me about 500 euro) to hotel (160 euro for 2 nights), to a pickup at the airport and dropoff when leaving ($40 each).

First off we need to give props to our guide, Yuri. Yuri has worked in the zone for about 8 years now, i doubt theres many people who know the zone as well as he does.

The tour kicks off with him telling us about the zone, how polluted it still is (or isnt, in some areas)

Just outside Yuris headquarters is the monument to the firemen who died after the explosion. The monument was erected by the firemen themselves. After the explosion, firemen raced to the plant withihn 2 minutes of hearing the alarm, unknowingly exposing themselves to lethal doses of radiation.

We stop not far from the firemans memorial, at the remains of a tiny village. The village was destroyed, and then buried under orders from the soviets for being too radiactive. The geiger counter here doesnt show much radiation, Yuri believes it was buried out of the soviets desire to cover up the accident more than anything else. Ironically, the name of the village translated to english is called ‘diggers’, kinda prophetic really.

The sign for the ‘diggers’ village

Just across the road from the ex-village, Yuri points out a radar station just past the treeline. Its an abandoned military base that was used to detect incoming missiles, and for general spying on America. Aparrently, it shows up on old maps as ‘pioneers camp’. We move on, closer to the plant now.

A mile or two down the road, and we get our first glimpse of the plant. Reactor 4 (left) is the one that blew up, the reactor on the right was under construction at the time, and was never finished. The geiger counter is beeping stronger here.

Its reading 0.139 Roentgens, and by the time we picked it up out of the grass, it had gone up to .2, and was climbing. Its still nowhere near being lethal, but put it this way, you wouldnt want to stretch out on the grass for the afternoon. The grass is deadly around here, the asphalt was fine however! It doesnt absorb radiation like the soil did.

Further down the road, and we get our first proper view of the reactor. Its a pretty awe (or fear) inspiring sight, and the people on the tour are getting alot quieter, and maybe a bit more nervous now. The only sound you can hear is the geiger counter beeping faster & faster. WE scramble back into the van and head off, directly to the plant.

This is just outside the plant. Everyone was wondering what in gods name this is supposed to be til Yuri told us…go on, guess what it is is. Got it yet?

Its a…

Its a……

Its a dove with an atom in its mouth! Yeah, we couldnt guess either.

This is a memorial to the first people to die from the explosion. Most of them died shortly afterwards, but 3rd right from the center (i think) was the first guy to die, whos body is still in the plant, under the sarcopagus somewhere.

Were directly in front of the sarcophagus now. The geiger counter is going mental. Its getting unnerving at this stage. Stand here for too long, and youll be going home with a healthy green glow. Some dumbass takes off his hat and puts it on the ground while he poses for a picture, Yuri almost kills him. ‘DONT PUT STUFF ON THE GROUND!!!’. Dumbass.

We move on, now were at the Red Forest. So called because on the night of the accident, the whole forest glowed red. The forest was cut down, and buried under 6 meteres (or feet, im not sure) of earth. The only problem being, the trees they planted on top of them, are now dragging the radiation up through their roots, meaning radiation here is going UP instead of down. This is one of the most toxic places on earth.

And behind us is a roadsign that fills me with both excitement, and dread:

Pripyat.

Rush hour traffic on the road to Pripyat.

Were standing on the ‘bridge of death’ here. So called because on the day of the explosion, people gathered on this bridge to see the beautiful rainbow coloured flames of the burning graphite nuclear core, whose flames were higher than the smoke stack itself. They were all exposed to levels of over 500 roentgens, a fatal dose.

We drive on, and enter Pripyat town.

And here it is! The finest hotel in all of Pripyat. At least it was, back in 1986.

Were going right to the top of it, Yuri tells us. **** YES!!

Graffiti in pripyat is probably the most bone chilling graffiti ive ever seen.

Check in desk. business is a little slow, noones checked in in almost 23 years.

Someone forgot their newspaper.

I ducked away from the tour for a minute to check out some of the hotel rooms. One room still had its bed, and wardrobe, and someone left their slippers behind.

Almostat the top..

The view from the top of the hotel. Theres broken glass everywhere in Pripyat, not just cause of vandalism, but also down to the fact that all the windows had to be left open in the town, to stop pockets of radiation collecting indoors.

Another view from the hotel roof. The building on the left is the palace of culture. Were heading there shortly.

On our way to the palace of culture now. Its not advisable to sit on these chairs for too long, if you value having working balls.

Inside the palace of culture…where some mong stuck his head in my photo.

The sun shining through a hole in the roof makes an excellent spotlight, on a stage that hasnt seen a performance in almost 23 years.

We quite literally exit stage right, and head around the back of the palace of culture. Apartment blocks in Pripyat still bear all the signs of being a former soviet state, the hammer and sickle is everywhere.

All this stuff in behind the stage in the palace of culture. I think it was due to be used in the labour day parade that year, but it never came.

Yuri tells us were moving on to the amusement park, i can literally feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Yuri puts the geiger counter down on a patch of moss in front of the amusement park, and it goes absolutely ballistic. I think it went up to a full 2 roentgens. 500 roentgens is fatal, 200 would put you int he hospital for a long time, 2 isnt going to kill you, but you sure as hell dont want to go walking on this patch of moss, put it that way. Youd beep so much going through decontamination theyd probably take you for a chemical shower.

The amusement park was setup for the kids for the may day parade (i think it was may day, i could be wrong tho). But for Pripyat, time stopped on April 26th, and may day never came.

And then here it is, the infamous star of the show, the Pripyat eye. In Ukranian, its known as the ‘devils wheel’.

From here, were moving on to the swimming pool.

Lenin puts in another appearance

Inside the sports centre.

Pripyat was a real jewel in the crown for the soviets. And seeing the swimming pool here its easy to see why, its not hard to imagine olympic athletes training here, for the 70’s/80’s, this place must’ve been the best around. The pool is HUGE.

Were moving on to the final part of the tour, and probably the part that brings home just what a tragedy this really was. Suddenly im feeling like i really shouldnt be enjoying this. I feel like one of those rubberneckers who slows down at the scene of an accident to get a good gawp in. We’re going back to school.

Walking under the archway into the schoolyard.

The kids playground is barely visible through the trees that’ve grown up around it. I dont think the rest of the pictures need captions.

Thanks for reading!

via - grcade.com

52 comments

52 Responses to 'A Tour of Chernobyl as it exists today'

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OakBehringer said, on January 8th, 2011 at 4:53 pm

I’ve always wanted to go there. I love your longer posts filled with history and pictures, not so much the posts with political posters and comments. More posts like this!
JoeJack said, on February 4th, 2011 at 1:41 am

Getting mad deja vu from this… I have been here before….
Chel C said, on February 4th, 2011 at 7:30 am

I liked it all. I found your pics to be emotionally charged.. i especially like the one of the railing on the “bridge of death” with the reactor in the background. Nice work. and thanks for the virtual tour
The Russ said, on February 6th, 2011 at 2:05 am

Very moving. I have looked at English-Russia many times, and thought it would be nice to have descriptions with the photos. The way you laid this out and described it was great. Thanks for sharing!
Anon said, on February 6th, 2011 at 11:08 pm

Call of duty 4 anyone?
Alan said, on February 7th, 2011 at 2:04 pm

The whole thing was dejavu for COD4. I think that mission is suppose to be chernobyl.
Jeff said, on February 7th, 2011 at 4:00 pm

Amazing pictures! Thank you for sharing! What camera did you use?
guyeye said, on February 7th, 2011 at 4:20 pm

Looks like my good ole’ hometown Detroit. Seriously.
Plaigarism Sucks said, on February 7th, 2011 at 5:05 pm

Thanks to reddit user tricksofthetrade, we can now give credit where credit is due. Those photos and commentary were ripped off from here:

http://www.grcade.com/viewtopic.php?t=2217
jamie dalgetty said, on February 7th, 2011 at 5:19 pm

good stuff. i always enjoy these types of photos… maybe one day i can make it out there myself…
Jem said, on February 7th, 2011 at 7:12 pm

Amazing! Thanks!
Anonymous said, on February 7th, 2011 at 7:53 pm

Modern Warfare nailed it…
Terry said, on February 7th, 2011 at 8:58 pm

Thank you for sharing, fascinating in a terrifying way!
Malte said, on February 7th, 2011 at 9:04 pm

Thanks for you post, it was very interesting and very well described!
Mark said, on February 7th, 2011 at 9:17 pm

Cod4 all the way.Remembering walking under the walkway to the hotel, walking by the buildings, jumping down from the pool and seeing The Pripyat Eye.Crazy stuff.Thanks so much for the virtual tour
Anonymous said, on February 7th, 2011 at 9:21 pm

Will someone take pictures of Hiroshima?
arvind said, on February 7th, 2011 at 9:45 pm

Very nice pictures. The place feels frozen in time.

And I was reminded of COD4 too. Eerie, indeed.
Ladoss said, on February 7th, 2011 at 9:52 pm

Awesome photos. It’s hard to believe the radiation is still a threat. That’s scary, to say the least. I would love to go and see it for myself, regardless of the threat.

I have to say, Call of Duty 4 nailed it. From the carnival attractions all so abandoned, to the broken tiles and foliage growing through the cracks, all very good representations.
Chris said, on February 7th, 2011 at 10:34 pm

Thank you very much for publishing this great pictures.
@Alan said, on February 7th, 2011 at 10:57 pm

uh….maybe because it’s in Chernobyl, and called Chernobyl?
Justin said, on February 7th, 2011 at 11:25 pm

Yeah, the COD4 designers took a ton of photos of Pripyat. That mission ends with you being at the eye. It’s actually kind of cool to have run all of those things in-game and see how close they are to real life.

How creepy would it have been if the clock in the sport centre was still working?
Shriphani Palakodety said, on February 7th, 2011 at 11:33 pm

Whoa!

I definitely want to make a trip to Chernobyl. It is so amazing that life has continued there despite all the contamination!
cameron said, on February 7th, 2011 at 11:50 pm

wow that was great i thoroughly enjoyed it
ive seen documentaries on chernobyl and played the stalker games too lol
Rambo said, on February 8th, 2011 at 1:29 am

Sure was a déjà vu from playing Call of Duty 4.
Sean said, on February 8th, 2011 at 5:01 am

Awesome thread man. Ty very much for teh insight.

Cheers
bata said, on February 8th, 2011 at 5:42 am

Thank you for your great effort!
koss said, on February 8th, 2011 at 6:03 am

The whole thing was dejavu for COD4. I think that mission is suppose to be chernobyl

It is
No said, on February 8th, 2011 at 8:40 am

get out of here stalker
Tom said, on February 8th, 2011 at 12:09 pm

@Alan and @JoeJack The mission in COD4 takes place in Pripyat it seems Infinty Ward went there especially, almost a carbon copy! Great pics
sabbo said, on February 8th, 2011 at 2:45 pm

Damn, I diden’t know much of present area in and around Chernobyl; but these pictures are truly interesting and enlightening. It sort of give me an idea of a post-apocalypse society, and I really hope to visit the place someday. Thanks for the insperation!

sabbo
Mighty Ponygirl said, on February 10th, 2011 at 2:08 pm

So you’re excited because a video game mined a real-life tragedy, and so real life reminds you of a videogame? Let me just get this straight.

Amazing photos. I’ve been fascinated by Chernobyl but I definitely wouldn’t have gone on this trip. You have balls of lead.
Lyn said, on February 11th, 2011 at 8:10 am

Thank you so much for sharing your photos – I’ve often wondered what it would be like now.
Jasmine Laurel said, on February 12th, 2011 at 12:50 am

Thank you for these pictures. Gives an deep insight on the situation there now. Good for History and Political Science topics in academics. Keep up the fine job!
Denis Veillette said, on February 12th, 2011 at 5:10 pm

Bonjour, vos photos sont bouleversantes de réalité. On dirait presque une fin du monde comme dans un film de science-fiction. En espérant qu’elles puissent faire réfléchir tous ceux qui les regardent pour que l’énergie nucléaire ne soit plus au coeur des filières énergétiques des pays…
Alsem said, on February 16th, 2011 at 4:21 pm

This must be the best photo-report of Chernobyl and Pripyat I’ve ever seen, I’m considering traveling to it myself someday!
PowerJunkie said, on February 19th, 2011 at 12:39 am

Thank you very much for sharing!! I was truly moved.
Jennifer Salisbury said, on February 21st, 2011 at 6:48 am

Thank you for sharing this. I am a former US Navy Nuclear Engineer, and did quite a bit of studying about Chernobyl. I was fascinated with your pictures. In my studies of why Chernobyl failed, and the reactor ultimately blew up, it never occurred to me that there was a city right near by. Thanks for making me realize there was life next to Chernobyl. That may be a very near-sighted thing to admit, especially since thousands of people died and many more are still recovering, but I appreciate the greater vision your pictures have given me. Wow. Again, thanks for sharing.
Cat said, on March 13th, 2011 at 3:35 am

Is that someone standing (they look black and white) in your picture of the stage in the cultural center?
Nat said, on March 16th, 2011 at 4:46 pm

Wow.
I’m only fourteen, so I wasn’t alive when it happened, but I’ve studied Chernobyl a LOT and I’ve always been fascinated by it. Although, I’ve also always wondered what it’s like today.
These photos were amazing. Thanks so much for sharing! I hope to go there one day when I get older to see it for myself and see if it still looks the same way.
Maria said, on March 16th, 2011 at 10:28 pm

Thank you for being brave enough to take this tour and making it available.
james said, on March 18th, 2011 at 12:58 am

i love that photo of the chair with the sapling right next to it.
Bill Reese said, on March 19th, 2011 at 1:40 am

Thank you, very interesting and great photography.
Uncle B said, on March 30th, 2011 at 9:00 pm

Tokyo in a decade? Will the American, ‘tea-pot’ pressure cooker style reactor from 1950’s, slide-rule and inches, pounds, gallons, engineering, post computer measurements, estimations and calculations hold up? Is there plutonium there? Will it eventually escape? The world will wait and see. meanwhile, search on net for Tsinghua University China, pebble bed gas reactor. Read this. You judge. Do the Chinese have a better idea? China has devoted billions of Yuan for Thorium fueled, safe, economical energy producing, plutonium free reactors. Will they achieve this? Where will U.S. sell its bomb-making contraptions if China succeeds? Can the U.S. even supply its own energy without the Chinese Thorium reactors? Will we see a pan-Asian empire based on Thorium fueled, cheaper, safer reactors from China? Will America fade into anonymity? Third World-ship? Stuck on oil? In this computer age, time moves faster, decade for the U.S.S.R. to disappear!How long does America have?
Ed Canela said, on April 1st, 2011 at 4:34 pm

This is a great piece…reminding us that nuclear energy is not as clean as we initially thought in the 60s. Can cheaper and sustainable substitutes be found? They should now be with us….today!
NameLess said, on April 19th, 2011 at 7:27 pm

I like seeing a nice personal collection of photos. Im doing a project on chernobyl and this has helped a lot.
Natasha said, on April 20th, 2011 at 2:46 pm

This was a very interesting read. i feel so sorry for these people. Things like this can happen anywhere anytime and we all need to be prepared. Nuclear energy is dangerous and scary. I hope the future brings great change.
Ed said, on April 26th, 2011 at 6:45 am

I would appreciate some translations of the Russian as I think that would help..
sarah said, on April 27th, 2011 at 2:27 am

that was depressing, yet interesting at the same time. images of people living there were going through my mind the entire time i looked at these photos. thank you for sharing.
Francesco said, on April 30th, 2011 at 11:49 pm

Oh, wonderful, I really hope Yuri will be able to tell his grandchildren about that time when he took people around for a visit of Chernobyl for a decade, so that tourists could post them on the internet and receive 48 comments about Call of Duty. And where does the wealth of their family comes from…

I guess he won’t.
Anonymous said, on May 19th, 2011 at 2:23 am

the only reason this is on the internet is to minimize the disaster in Japan. the soviets did not bury chernobyl to hide their failures, they buried it to keep the body count down and because it was radio-fucking-active. it’s certainly not safe to be gallivanting around Chernobyl without so much as a painter’s mask. this is propaganda people, and you all bought it.
Martin said, on June 8th, 2011 at 5:59 am

The Pripyat town sign is the same as in the Call of Duty: Black Ops map Grid. I’m inferring that the map was based off of this town. I felt like I have seen it somewhere and now, after seeing this for the second time, I’ve realized that the sign reads the exact same thing. Also Bloc on Modern Warfare seems to be a similar one.
Vetter said, on August 7th, 2011 at 8:11 am

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Call off Pripyat nailed it. It’s the best RPG ever played.

The biker chick who said she rode through, was a scammer.

A Tour of Chernobyl as it exists today

52 Responses to 'A Tour of Chernobyl as it exists today'

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