SamuelGrowing up watching a number of documentaries listing the infamous event at Chernobyl’s nuclear power plant as one of human’s worst technological disaster, never had I thought of visiting this location when I grow up. Yet, my travel curiosity is proven to be too strong which had brought me to this once off-limit place.
Indeed, in the aftermath of the disaster, the surrounding area was declared uninhabitable and designated as exclusion zone due to danger of radiation exposure. As a result, the settlements spread throughout the zone were abandoned, resulting in an eerie post-apocalyptic scenery.
The area is not the most obvious travel destination in the world, yet, nowadays the zone is proven to be completely safe for a short visit and the radiation level in most area is much lower than what people is exposed to in a long flight.
On a bright early summer day in Ukraine, we visited Chernobyl during our stay in the country’s capital, Kyiv. What an eerie and eye-opening trip it was.
Getting there:
Located north of Ukraine’s capital and largest city, Kyiv, most if not all traveler would embark on a tour to Chernobyl departing from there. To visit this strictly controlled area, there is a strict procedure in place and travelers must apply via one of the designated tour operators.
We applied for our one day visit via Chernobyl Tour, who also organize multi-day, even a week tour in the exclusion zone. The tour is quite pricey and has to be booked in advance with some down-payment involved. Those with deeper pockets can also book private tailored tours through the area.
Getting ready for the trip
On the day of our visit, we gathered at the meeting point close to the Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi main train station early morning. We had to wear long-sleeved clothes paired with long pants in order to be admitted into the exclusion zone. It was not the most ideal outfit considering the 30+ degrees sunny weather we were about to encounter that summer day.
Before boarding the bus to Chernobyl, the tour crew checked the participants one by one and collected the remaining of the payment. There must’ve been a few dozens other people. We were also handed a Geiger counter, a small yellow device for measuring the radiation level that I kept throughout my visit.
Passport was mandatory since there would be an official checkpoint by the military to verify our identity before entering the exclusion zone. One person forgot to bring his and he was simply not allowed to board the bus to Chernobyl.
Entering Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
After about two hours ride, we finally arrived at the first checkpoint. To my surprise, there were about a dozen other buses also waiting in line to get into the exclusion zone. This place has been the next Disneyland! Before you know it there’d be Mickey Mouse walking around handing over cotton candy.
After passing the checkpoint, our first visit was one of the abandoned villages in the exclusion zone. The crew told us that it was an example of a typical village in the area.Slowly being reclaimed by the forest, there was outgrowth of vegetation everywhere.
A small path led us through many decrepit and dilapidated houses, among which lied a small grocery store with big gaping holes in the ceiling. In many of the houses lied small old dolls left to degrade, adding an element of creepiness.
Our next stop was a small kindergarten nearby. Just like the houses, this place was also left to decay, slowly being swallowed by the nature. Beds used by the students to nap were left to rot. Again, plenty of creepy old dolls litter the whole school.
The crew told us that so-called ‘hot spots’ are spread over the whole exclusion zone. These hot spots are places, small and large, that exhibit unusually high radiation level compared to the surrounding area. One of the crews showed us one spot not far from the school and she was right, the value on my Geiger counter suddenly shot up as I put it close to the hot spot.
Bypassing the town of Chernobyl, we then continued to a large Pripyat sign (Припять), indicating our proximity to the now infamous city where thousands of the power plant workers and their family used to live before the disaster.
Not far from the Pripyat sign, the crew pointed to the forest in the distance. With a radioactive warning sign put in place to deter people from approaching, the seemingly innocent forest was apparently the so-called ‘red forest’, a forested area that was badly affected by the radiation after the disaster that the trees actually turned reddish.
Pripyat and the nuclear power plant
We finally entered the city of Pripyat. Once a thriving city with huge apartment blocks, large public squares, government offices, sporting centers and stadium, hotels, restaurants, and supermarkets, the city now lies abandoned.
The crew guided us through the streets of Pripyat where the vegetation was slowly creeping on from the side. He showed a picture of how the street looked like back in the days, lined with tall buildings. That same street was completely unrecognizable, with only trees visible all around.
We entered one of the large buildings to get an impression of its interior. What used to be a large school lied in disrepair, with torn down basketball field and swimming pool.
A short walk further and we reached the renowned Pripyat amusement park with its iconic ferris wheel and bumper cars. We learned that the amusement park actually never opened to the public before the disaster struck.
Throughout the tour, the crew also told stories about how life back then was in Pripyat and during the Soviet era in general. They said that because Pripyat was a ‘model city’, that is a city built from scratch as a utopian Soviet city, it enjoyed special privilege.
The residents could actually own an apartment there, not only living in a place designated by the government before moving on, which was more common during the time. The supermarkets were also always well stocked, even with foreign items, a luxury that most couldn’t get.
There were many other eye-opening stories shared by them about how life was and how the condition has improved since then in Ukraine. Throughout their stories, I could feel a bit of resentment towards the Soviet past from the guide. Whether it was genuine or not, I would never know.
After Pripyat, we were brought to the closest point we could get to the old nuclear power plant. The destroyed plant is now completely encased in a gigantic metal dome or ‘sarcophagus’ to limit the radiation emitted to the outside world.
A monument to the disaster now stood firm in front of the nuclear reactor area. We were also told that massive amount of work had gone to the clean-up and restoration of the area, with large international collaboration that is still ongoing to this day.
More oddities and uniqueness around
We were then brought to a canteen(!) not far from the reactor to have lunch. I was actually dumbfounded. There was actually a proper functioning canteen with food and water right next to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
When opting for lunch provided by the tour, I thought the tour company would bring the food for us. It never crossed my mind that the lunch would actually be provided from a canteen in Chernobyl itself. The food was not exactly haute-cuisine, but hey, this is Chernobyl, not France.
Before entering the dining area, we were made to undergo a radiation check through a large strange-looking metal device. The machine would supposedly scan for any radiation trace that might linger on our body, clothes, or other personal items. Well, luckily we passed.
Before heading back to leave the exclusion zone, we went to one last stop in the area, which was a gigantic old Soviet radio installation. Technically, this place had nothing to do with the nuclear power plant but was nevertheless another relic of the Soviet time. Located in the middle of the forest, this odd massive wall-like metal structure stood tall defying the test of time.
According to the guide, this structure was used during the Soviet time to eavesdrop to any potential radio signal coming from the US. Looking in the map, the structure is indeed facing the US over the arctic area.
They further said that this area used to be a top secret location, and was covered up as an abandoned summer camp. In fact, in the old Soviet maps, if there was a place designated as an abandoned summer camp, you could almost be certain that it was another top secret government facility.
We made one last stop in the unassuming town of Chernobyl to visit the memorial dedicated to the people sacrificing themselves during the disaster. Originally only dedicated to the firefighters who perished during or after the disaster due to the radiation, the aptly named ‘Monument of those who saved the world’ was then modified to also include the doctors, clean-up workers, and everyone else directly affected while fighting the disaster.
As we headed back to the checkpoint and through another radiation screening, I could reflect on a day full of mixed emotions imagining those days during and after the disaster as well as processing the Soviet era oddities I witnessed or heard from the crews.
Well, at least the total radiation shown by my Geiger counter was lower than what I’d get from flying for a few hours and I can vouch that until now I did not grow another leg or arm or turn fluorescent green.
