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Update: I’ve promised updates for some time. At this point I really cannot say when, but stay tuned. Updated pictures will include the big dipper, a drive through red forest (couldn’t stay there long), more “illegal” shots of the power plant, and hopefully a page navigation mechanism if I can find a decent plugin to do that. If anyone has any suggestions, drop em in comments!

This site is all about my recent trip to Chernobyl exclusion zone. You will see more than just a photo of sarcophagus. You will see checkpoints, buildings where people still live and work. Meter readings will be explained, not just a number thrown in your face. I will do my best to explain every photo to the best of my knowledge, and I also welcome anyone who wishes to comment.

Not all photos will be of a zone. The road to zone, road signs, office where tour company gave us a little bit of history, explained safety, and (of course) charged us money.

The idea behind it is to share MY experiences, without any fake information, stock photos. Everything you see here, I photographed myself.

I am still working out kinks from the site, and things may change. Feel free to register and comment on any photos, I will do my best to answer any questions. If you experience problems, or need to e-mail me, feel free to contact me at admin@chernobyl2008.com

Yuriy

About 9 AM. We were picked up at Diplomat hotel, few minutes from Kiev’s train terminal. Group consisted of 6 people. Me, my girlfriend, 2 people from Australia, 2 from Ireland. Photo is taken while still in Kiev, around west side of the city

Power plant is located approximately 65 miles (110km) from Kiev. It took us about 2 hours to get to first checkpoint. Drive was relatively slow, and you would see tractors, horse-drawn carriages with villagers. Here we are passing one of villages on the way to the zone. Life goes on as usual for people here. New houses constructed, new stores opened. Still about 40 miles to the zone from this point.

Forgive me the blurriness. Taken while driving, through car’s window. A gift shop. Newly constructed building, modern car behind it. All in the same village. About 40 miles from the zone. Still far from the zone

As we get closer, things begin to look more like this picture. There was a number of abandoned buildings. Not sure if that was because of proximity to the zone, distance from Kiev, or whatever else it may be.

The road sign for roundabout. Chernobyl up ahead, Ovruch to the left and Ivankiv to the right. This was the first mention of Chernobyl on the way to the zone. Quick stop here for photos, and according to the driver, not an unusual request.

The Egg was built here as a symbol of the beginning of life. Inside the egg is a time capsule. Children of Chernobyl wrote messages intended for future generations. Not a lot of info available about when the capsule will be opened. Unfortunately, we were not able to stop there

First checkpoint. KPP Dityatki. KPP stands for “Kontrolno Propusknoy Punkt” - “Control Access point” if translated from Russian. Dityatki means “Kids” in Ukrainian. Not a very busy day, only few cars were there. Most people I’ve met on checkpoint were foreigners.

In order to enter the zone, a “day pass” is required, along with a form of identification, usually a passport. Our tour company took care of day pass. They had to file application for 3 passes, one for Zone 2 (this checkpoint), 1 for Zone 1 (KPP Leliv, shown later), and one for Pripyat city.

It was prohibited taking pictures of personnel manning this checkpoint. Guards seemed to be a bit grumpy checking our ID, but didn’t mind us running around with cameras, taking pictures of checkpoint itself

Checkpoint’s sign. Says “KPP Dityatki” in cyrillic. Curiously, “Dityatki” is a Ukrainian word, but it’s written in Russian. I am guessing this sign was placed before 90’s when Ukrainian became an official language.

Map of the zone and contamination levels. Orange is Zone 1, where people still live and work, but only on zone-related things. There are some villages in this place where re-settlers live. Their population, however, is very small, compared to zone employees. If you read Ukrainian, you may understand tables in this photo, showing radiation levels in fish, mushrooms, and expected radiation in Zone 1, Zone 2, and Chernobyl NPP