anyone been to Pripyat?

[pidsy]

i've been interested in "Dark tourism" for a while - since reading Dom Joly's book of the darker side of travel.

im on the mailing list of a UK travel company who specialise in this side of the industry. i'm not into it enough to got to Iraq or north Korea just yet, but i do fancy going to Pripyat and spending some time in the exclusion zone seeing the stuff you see on TV.

anyone else been?

the trip is for 3 days in october - is it still a bit dodgy in Ukraine at the moment?

[pidsy]

yeah, i'm not terribly surprised that there are still spaces on this years trips.

still less chance of grief than those on the fully booked up afghanistan/iraq trip in september.

[pidsy]

GuyW said:

Yes been twice now.

Not with any of the usual groups mind. You'll have no problems at all. Even April 2014 when things really were a little more up in the air you had no problems that far north. Even Kiev was fairly safe provided you stuck to the more urban areas.

cheers Guy. its with Lupine so should be well organised. they seem to have a good reputation.

[pidsy]

shirt said:

pidsy said:

i've been interested in "Dark tourism" for a while - since reading Dom Joly's book of the darker side of travel.

im on the mailing list of a UK travel company who specialise in this side of the industry. i'm not into it enough to got to Iraq or north Korea just yet, but i do fancy going to Pripyat and spending some time in the exclusion zone seeing the stuff you see on TV.

anyone else been?

the trip is for 3 days in october - is it still a bit dodgy in Ukraine at the moment?

have you checked out:

http://www.lupinetravel.co.uk/

owned/run by a mate of mine. great guy. he also organised the travel/shooting arrangements for the top gear special to ukraine/pripyat.

It is through lupine - think I mentioned them in another post. Certainly an interesting job your friend has!!
The guy I was going to go with has now dropped out - worried the Russians might get him. So looking for someone else for a trip early next year now.

[pidsy]

Proper thread resurrection.

Finally booked. 13th sept for 3 days.

Taking Mrs p so not quite the romantic getaway she had in mind but is excited none the less. Added on a day's military tour which will see us on an old base, driving some APC's and firing lots of very cool firearms.

Really looking forward to it!

[pidsy]

Thanks for the pictures. I'm taking my camera gear but not expecting to get anything different to everybody else who goes. In more looking forward to the history and impact it has on me in just being there. I'm only 35 so was very young when it happened but it's an event that's always fascinated me.

We booked through tourkiev.com (solo east travel). They seem to work alongside lupine here in the uk. We dealt with Natasha in the Kiev office. Prompt replies to our many questions and a reasonable price - cheaper than our quote from lupine direct.

Worked out sat $1030 for both of us including:

Flights
Studio in Kiev for 2 nights
Chernobyl tour
Transfers
Military tour and weapons package
Taxes etc.

The exchange rate didn't help £1 was $1.24 so more than it would have been a few months back but it's still not bad. Lupine, although they use solo east was about £500 more.

[pidsy]

jock mcsporran said:

I went through SoloEast, and Natasha, also. They seemed pretty professional and everything was in order.
I went through by bike, from Belarus, so just paid for the tour and stayed in their cottage about 10km from the checkpoint. In hindsight I should have stayed in Kiev but I was struggling to find a hotel with secure parking for the bike.

High points? Low points?

I've read that lots of water is a must, along with snacks as lunch will be late. Anything else to bear in mind?

[pidsy]

moleamol said:

pidsy said:

Lupine, although they use solo east was about £500 more.

It's a small world and as with shirt, the lad that runs Lupine is a good mate of mine. If he has been a bit tardy with responses it might be because he got married on Saturday, but he loves what he does and would do everything in his power to make sure you had a good trip. He's normally right on the ball but wimmin! Etc.

I think it was your mate who replied to my email. Great response, friendly enough and plenty of in but couldn't match price. Lupine do lots of trips of love to go on so I'm sure I'll be back soon.

Should we get proper walking boots?

[pidsy]

2 weeks to go.

[pidsy]

We are back.

What in incredible few days away! So many photos to edit over the coming days but it was a great trip and huge thanks to tourkiev and particularly to Constantine- our guide for the whole trip.

I'll write up something more in depth later but it really is somewhere people should go.

[pidsy]

The arch itself is finished but there is still interior work to be done. The workforce if much bigger than I thought it would be. We were told that late Jan/Feb would be sliding time but it could be longer.

[pidsy]

There are about 2500 there currently working on the project, 24hrs. Considering it was meant to be in place this time last year, I think they're just throwing timescales out there now.

It's such a shame that the old "traditional" view of reactor 4 will be gone. The new dome is stunning in its size but won't win any design awards. The planned work due to go on once it's in place is impressive too.

Did you visit the Russian woodpecker? I was blown away by it. To think they thought they could hide it by marking it on maps as a children's summer camp!

The photo editing starts tonight.

[pidsy]

couple of pictures from our trip:
couple of pics of the new containment...


Chernobyl reactor 4 new containment by dave and jodi piddington, on Flickr

Chernobyl new containment by dave and jodi piddington, on Flickr

Duga:

Duga whole array by dave and jodi piddington, on Flickr

and the obligatory pool shot:

Pripyat swimming pool shallow end by dave and jodi piddington, on Flickr

[pidsy]

Not too warm and no mosquitoes which was a bonus.

There was so much to see that we didn't get a chance to see more - looks like we're going back in Feb for 4 days.

[pidsy]

just watched a piece on Sky news on the containment being moved over at the moment. the guy they had on there being interviewed was pretty excited.

quite sad that we were some of the last people to see Reactor 4 in its (almost) original state.

they said it should be covered in the coming days.

[pidsy]

All the stuff you just mentioned in your post is why we are going back in march for 4 days in march. I was so taken by the area (and Kiev) that I need to do more exploring.

Awesome place.

[pidsy]

llewop said:

?Timelapse video of Chernobyl arch sliding http://po.st/xSdApv via @EBRD?

It took a few days to complete and looks like they had a swarm of drones scattered about to capture it! I knew they had started a couple of weeks ago, but not seen confirmation it was complete until today - was getting worried it had got stuck half way along the track!

I must admit - I googled it when I got back to work after lunch and saw it was done. The sky coverage was so half hearted that it doesn't surprise me it's already been done.

[pidsy]

That should be interesting. Thanks for posting the details.

[pidsy]

KimJongHealthy said:

I believe a lot depends on a tour guide, our has been going there for over 10 years now, he works closely with few national scientific institutions and even organised entry for some TV crews in the past, so he personally knows almost everyone there.

Same for wandering freely for hours in Pripyat, I've seen groups being driven from building to building in a minibus, we could just walk around the town almost unrestricted (there was some extra security due to presidential visit preparation).

I'd love to know who you go out there with - I'm looking to go again in the coming months and I'd like to see more of the non-touristy bits.
Feel free to PM if you don't want to post openly.

[pidsy]

So the route I was going to take is being problematic (he's in hospital).

Going back in April with someone else. 3 days this time and we should see some of the more unseen parts of the area.

Can't wait.