May 25 Bucket list day!

We were loaded into a 4-seater helicopter and are about to lift off

Me and Lindsay flying high and loving it!

Wednesday 25 will remain a very special and memorable day for us - a day of firsts and realised dreams. Volcanoes, helicopter rides and bears. After a slightly anxious morning waiting to hear if we could make it over the peninsula's volcanoes and into the Valley of Geysers - the entrance to the valley is narrow so winds are a problem and is fog - we lifted off at 1pm! 

Flying in to the Valley of Geysers via a snow-encrusted corridor

We munched on statistics and exotic-sounding names most of the day but only remember a few - our guide Elaini was very knowledgeable about Kamchatka and very passionate about her home. She is a lecturer in tourism at the Kamchatka University and has traveled extensively often on specialised assignments with people such as wildlife photographer Mark Brazil (Birds of East Asia).  

Our helicopter was a 4-seater and was very 'cosy' but it afforded us almost panoramic views. Our pilot, Alexi ,was very skilled so we felt safe the entire time. The winds were a bit blustery so the ride was a little bumpy as our little bubble of 'glass' and metal was tossed about, but that made it feel so much more real and exciting. We communicated through headphone speakers because the noise level is really high - the rotor is only feet above your head after all! Lindsay (who is a little fearful of heights)bravely sat in the front with all that nothingness under him. What a star! but it was his 70th birthday present, albeit 2-odd years late, so he got to be in the birthday seat!

Ash-coated snow

I felt that I could almostb reach out and touch this magnificent volcano

We flew through valleys and alongside towering, and not so towering, volcanoes - hard to believe that we were right there so close to the rugged crags of live volcanoes.  There are a few hundred on the Kamchatka Peninsula but at the moment only about 30 are active ... wow! We saw a couple like sleeping dragons breathing out plumes of gas/smoke/steam and one which, although not active yesterday, is perpetually black and 'smooth' because it constantly spews out black ash.  The snow for miles around is grey - truly mind-boggling .  We saw the footprints of bears weaving bizarre trails in the snowy slopes and we were told that a mother and a couple of cubs were found wandering inside the rim of one crater - keeping warm no doubt.  Evidently the bears do venture up pretty high, but normally concentrate around the many rivers during the salmon season gorging themselves on salmon until around October when they seem to only eat the roe - they stand on the fish and squirt the eggs into their mouths, clever things. They also eat the fishes' brains - all high fat and protein food to last them through winter. The rest of the time they live on cedar nuts, berries and meadowsweet (or some herbaceous plants like that).

We were surrounded by volcanoes - what an awesome spectacle! We learnt about the different types of volcanoes on Kamchatka and in fact saw all 5 so we felt very fortunate. The destination of our flight, the Valley of Geysers 200Km from PK, was discovered by a woman geologist back in 1941. 

The helipad for the Valley of Geysers - from there you walk

Valley of Geysers - you had to be there

The valley is quite beautiful - green and lush with a river barreling through it, the valley walls variously coloured with smears of sulphur and other minerals deposited by the many geysers and springs that dot the floor and walls of the entire valley. Then further up the slope there are pools of blue water, gorgeous to look at but quite toxic, mud pools of various sizes plopping away like saucepans of simmering chocolate custard but to be avoided at all costs.

The bears had used the stairs before us leaving muddy paw prints

The valley walls were like stained-glass windows

Steps! I lost count but Lindsay reckons the walk down into the valley from where we landed was equivalent to the height of a 20-storey building. We descended, walked, then ascended halfway, wandered some more - and then we saw him!  A beautiful brown bear about 20-30 metres away grazing quietly. What an amazing experience! I felt safe as we had a ranger with us to protect us - but mainly the bears. He carried a gun just to scare them off. Incidentally we saw seven bears throughout the day. The bears here are Kamchatka Brown Bears Ursus arctos beringianus also known as the Far Eastern brown bear. They are omnivores and very closely relatived to Grizzly Bears.

Our guide Elaini with Lindsay 

A beautiful brown bear amongst the greenery happily munching on nuts and berries

Fortunately for us Elaini was passionate about the natural world including plants so she had my attention! We saw tiny violets, dwarf Japanese Cedar, alder trees sprouting their sweet smelling catkins, Dwarf Willow, Stone Birch, wild grasses, Cow parsley, ferns and curious herbage that grows only in the hot acidic waters and mud of volcanic regions.  Elaini told me an intersting little snippet about the Cow parsley: the indigenes of the region used to stuff the long hollow, almost woody, stalks with salmon, smoke it and take it with them as a 'snack' when hunting. A botanist's dream place. I could write a book on the whole wonderful day, but maybe later.  On the way back, we stopped in another valley where there are hot springs.  Unsurprisingly, there are hot springs all over the place but this string of pools has been made accessible and a lodge built for people to visit the area. It was very rustic but totally delightful.  We floated in silence in the warm sepia-coloured water watching the sky fade and the snow take on the faintest blush of pink. By this time it was about 8pm - and mozzies about the size of our helicopter were starting to dine on us! So we clambered out of the pool and climbed back into the chopper to head home for a very late supper and then to fall into bed completely exhausted but feeling wonderfully replete. And this is just the start of our Russian odyssey! Next .........

National Park - just us and the view!