T h e f ir s t ma gazin e o n vo lunte ering j o urn ey s
GoodSurfer december 2018
BEARLAND VOLUNTEERING IN THE KRONOTSKY NATURE RESERVE
KAMCHATKA AND GONE WITH YOU! HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST BACKPACK
UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE IN KAMCHATKA / KAMCHATKA: APPROVED BY VOLUNTEERS / SURFING IN KAMCHATKA THE PENINSULA THROUGH THE EYES OF IGOR SHPILYONOK / HOW TO FIND CHEAP TICKETS TO KAMCHATKA goodsurfing.org
EDITORIAL CONTENT UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE IN KAMCHATKA Page 4
TO RIDE A WAVE Page 5
THE PENINSULA THROUGH THE EYES OF IGOR SHPILYONO
KSENIYA GUSHCHINA
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Chief Editor
KAMCHATKA AND GONE WITH YOU! / HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST BACKPACK?
Dear friends,
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You are reading the first edition of Goodsurfer, a digital magazine created by volunteers for volunteers.
THE KRONOTSKY NATURE RESERVE
Why we decided to issue this magazine? Just because we can do it! Our incredibly interesting world attracts everyone and thematic magazines as National Geographic or Geo provide inspiration to discover it. However, there was no magazine about traveling with meaning so far. So, we thought that it is time to fill this gap.
KAMCHATKA: APPROVED BY VOLUNTEERS
We are proud of our team and the community, who contributed their time and efforts to implement this project from the idea to the first issue. What is the mission of Goodsurfer? Probably, we aim to ensure that as many people as possible know about the opportunities to experience the world by volunteering. The world is open for those, who wants to discover it. We are know celebrating the 4th anniversary of the Goodsurfing community that initially emerged online from a social media page with volunteering tips and tricks for likeminded friends and evolved into a growing offline movement of passionate people. The first issue is decided to Kamchatka. The distant and mysterious land of geysers, volcanoes, protected areas and, of course, bears. What does the real Kamchatka feel like? Is it really as inaccessible as believed or maybe there is some ways to see its beauty?
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HOW TO FIND CHEAP TICKETS TO KAMCHATKA? Page 23
E d i t o r i a l Te a m Anastasiia Kopylova, Nargiz Aituganova, Evgeniy Ionis, Elena Zatcepina, Ksenia Gushchina, Kristina Iakovleva, Ilia Popov
Copy Editors Marina Larina, Anastasiia Kopylova
Cover and Spread Photo Igor Shpilyonok www.shpilenok.com www.shpilenok.livejournal.com
Design Marina Ilyasova
E n g l i s h Tr a n s l a t i o n de de cemb cemb er er 201 201 8 8
Drejk Barkov, Nargiz Aituganova
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UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE IN KAMCHATKA Kamchatka is a special place for everyone, whose heart begins to beat faster just hearing something about travelling. It attracts and calls, shakes imagination and fascinates from the first photo found on the web. Be careful: after several reviews and articles it is possible to fall in love with the peninsula and to decide to see it one day with your own eyes. There is one serial natural World Heritage site in Kamchatka called the Volcanoes of Kamchatka. The word ‘serial’ has nothing to do with TV series: it means that UNESCO World Heritage site designation was given not to one area, but to an assembly of territories or so called components. In case of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka, there are 6 components: Nalychevo, Southern Kamchatka, Bystrinsky and Klyuchevskoy Regional Nature Parks, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve and Southern Kamchatka Wildlife Reserve. They constitute almost 4 million hectares, which is 15% of the entire Kamchatka peninsula! The loss of any of the components would be irreplaceable for the whole humanity.
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According to the UNESCO, the Volcanoes of Kamchatka have a whole treasury of outstanding universal values, including: • landscape of exceptional beauty (huge symmetrical volcanoes, lakes, rivers and a picturesque coastline) • spawning areas of salmon and other places of concentration of rare species (which is important for the biodiversity of the planet) • active volcanoes (they are not only dangerous and fascinating, but also important for natural sciences) • exceptional diversity of the Paleoarctic fauna (some of which can be found only on the peninsula) • birds, including rare and endangered species (for
example, 50% of the Steller’s sea eagle population could be found in Kamchatka); fish and mammals (dolphins and whales often come to coastal waters). The World Heritage designation of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka would probably mean its automatic inclusion to various must-see lists. However, this status also opens more opportunities to be directly involved in the preservation of its nature for the future generations, including volunteering. You could find some of them in GoodSurfer and start your own journey with meaning to Kamchatka.
Authors: Nargiz Aituganova, Ksenia Gushchina Photo: Alexia Shoffa
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TO RIDE A WAVE Goodsurfer invites you to surf the Pacific Ocean waves with Taras from the surf camp in Kamchatka
15 years ago, when Quicksilver appeared in Kamchatka, Taras offered the company to promote surfing in the peninsula. At that time, there was only a small group of guys, who did surfing on their own. Today, the situation has changed dramatically: more people know that it is great to surf in Kamchatka, so they travel here to live in the surf camp and enjoy the beauty of the peninsula. Moreover, in 2018, the surf came has finally reached equal distribution between locals and non-locals among its participants. ‘One year ago, we have implemented Go Longboarding / Snowboarding project. We were supported by the brand to provide free lessons of snowboarding or longboarding
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for everyone. It had a strong mission to give the local community a real opportunity to try themselves in extreme sports and decide whether they like them or not. So, anyone could try to get up on the board with the help of professional coaches. The meaning of the project was quite simple, maybe it is the reason why it had attracted a huge number of participants.
will have right facilities to do surf in Kamchatka. There was one way to achieve this goal by establishing a surf camp on the Pacific coast, which we named as Kamchatkasurf. Kamchatkasurf lets anyone surf from retired people, who are amazingly attracted by extreme sports, to young people, who also bring their families and children to join surfing.
Afterwards, we decided to launch a similar project focused on surfing. Initially, we had nothing to implement it: no boards, no wetsuits, no equipment. We started to cooperate with local surfers, and suddenly realized that it is the infrastructure that is actually needed to be developed, so, more people
We are proud to be the team, who actually founded surfing in Kamchatka. Initially, we were three, me (Taras), Tatyana and Aleksey. It was Aleksey, who, in some way, became the initiator of this development. Thanks to his energy and dreams about developing surfing in Kamchatka, the project was launched as quickly as possible.
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Kamchatkasurf Quicksilver Surf Camp is a non-profit project. Our partners support us in the development of necessary infrastructure, investing to promotion of extreme sports in Kamchatka.
were able to discover surfing in Kamchatka during the first summer season. By the way, the majority of the participants continued to surf afterwards in an independent way, bringing their own surf boards from overseas to Russia.
I believe that Kamchatka is the best region for surfing in Russia. There are ocean waves, dozenkilometre-long beach and the absolute wildness of nature. Although, the water temperature is
After the first season, we got a strong motivation to continue the project. In 2018, we started to build the infrastructure, transforming the surf school into the surf camp, as there was a demand. It is ideal to surf in Kamchatka in early mornings and sometimes in evenings, so many people would like to come to the shore to spend a night on the ocean, surf early in the morning and then to return to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky until the evening.
only about + 10 +14 degrees in summer, it is quite comfortable to surf in diving suits. Initially, even locals had this misperception that the ocean is dangerous and freezing. We tried to show the another side: we have acquired special soft boards (training boards) made of soft material especially for the project. They are larger in size and significantly reduce the risk of injury for beginners. The only difficulty that we met was to find the right certified instructor to deliver surfing lessons. We found such professional in Saint Petersburg. Pavel came to Kamchatka for 3 months (for the whole summer). Yana, his girlfriend, also joined the project as an administrator of the surf camp, whereas Pavel delivered theoretical and practical classes in our improvised Surf School. To participate in the training, it was necessary to fill in an application form on our website (kamchatkasurf.ru). We received over 300 applications for the first season! This was an amazing result for Kamchatka. We realized that our project raised much interest. Thanks to the variety of questions of the application form, we managed to find really amazing people interested in surfing, those, who did not perceive the project as an entertainment, but saw it as a real opportunity to make their dreams came truth. This is how about 100 people
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However, the most important outcome was that new people joined the team. In 2018, we had two professional surf instructors, Pavel from Saint Petersburg and Aleksey, who has significantly improved his skills and became a highly qualified professional instructor; Yana, an administrator, and our volunteers who contributed to the project as cooks or videographers. Our impression from working with the volunteers in 2018 is 200% positive. First of all, the guys, who joined us, are unique! They contributed a lot to the surf camp and to the whole project itself. They are very positive and energetic. It seems to me that only this kind of people could do such a huge work and so easily become a part of the team. Even now, we are still in contact, communicating with each other. I am very happy that we got this experience with the volunteers and many of them already want to return to Kamchatka in 2019. By the way, our volunteers would also like to join the volunteering programmes of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, so we provided recommendations for them. It’s necessary to note that we conducted a very careful selection of volunteers with several interviews, which brought amazing results. Our volunteers knew exactly what we expected form them. They were also absolutely ready for the extreme conditions of Kamchatka. We are happy that Goodsurfing made it possible to spread the call for volunteers. If last year, we were seriously worried about the future of the project, now we are fully confident in attracting participants and volunteers. de cemb er 201 8
It is great that we are all like-minded people and came not only from Kamchatka. I believe that our team is so strong because we see this project as our mission, which gives us strength and motivation. In this light, everything else becomes something secondary. Maybe if we did not have this meaning, we would have lost our motivation. You know, actually, all volunteering programmes and projects in Kamchatka are interconnected. Maybe, because there is no such concentration of wild nature in all possible manifestations anywhere in the world: volcanoes, the ocean, the sea, hot springs, flora and fauna. Everything is really close and easy to experience. Our team loves to travel around Kamchatka: we go on expeditions unlike the majority of locals. It is amazing that Kamchatka is unstable and constantly changing. It is a living land: sometimes, we notice that an already visited spots had transformed into something completely de cemb er 201 8
different within a year. For instance, in 2013, a volcano eruption created a unique cleft. And these processes are still taking place, the caves are cooling down, some new spots are appearing. The ocean is constantly changing even it seems that the ocean never changes ... It is completely different depending on season or event on day! Since tourism is developing in Kamchatka, we decided to add more activities to our surf camp, so participants and volunteers will be able not only to sleep, eat and surf, but also to do something else. We selected eco-tourism to be more attractive, especially for the residents of the peninsula. It is actually our secret plan that would allow people, who surf, and people, who do not want to surf, together. Over 20% of the people, who discovered surfing in Kamchatka, usually continue to practice this extreme sport. It is a great result and means that Kamchatka can have such a massive impact!
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Another key area for us is surfing for children. This year we had 2 boys, who lived with their parents in the surf camp. Both of them are now on surf boards, showing amazing results. It is great, when parents bring their kids to surf and we want these kids to join us, as the future belongs to them. We have been engaged in the development of extreme sports and surfing in Kamchatka for 15 years and we are now teaching the third generation of children: teenagers, who joined us 10 years ago as participants of snowboard competitions, had grown up and now have their own families with their children also practicing snowboarding. I see both of the projects as something encompassing several generations and it is inspiring. We love the project and we love Kamchatka, its nature and people from the bottoms of our hearts.
We combine all of the above mentioned elements in our projects to integrate the surf camp into Kamchatka’s environment, making possible for the local community to do various sports in a beautiful sport with all necessary facilities.
You may ride a surf board, but you won’t be a surfer. You may not ride a surf board, but you could be a Surfer!
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Author: Anastasiia Kopylova Photo: Quicksilver Surf Camp
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Kamchatka Through the Eyes of Igor Shpilyonok NATURE PHOTOGRAPHER AND THE FOUNDER OF BRYANSK FOREST RESERVE
‘I aim to show the beauty of the wild nature of Russian nature reserves and national parks to awaken people’s desire to preserve these places’. Igor Shpilyonok
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KAMCHATKA IS KNOWN FOR ITS GEYSERS You can see the Valley of Geysers and Geysernaya River on these photos. The valley is ingenuous due to the variety of climates and the diversity of its nature: hot streams of water, brown bears freely walking along the paths, waterfalls and thermal lakes boggle imagination.
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ANOTHER FEATURE OF KAMCHATKA IS ACTIVE VOLCANOES You can see the Kronotsky Cape on the photo. The cape is located on the shore of Lake Kronotsky and has the height of 3,528 meters above sea level. Please, do not be tricked with the serenity of its slopes, as the Kronotsky Cape is one of the active volcanoes of the peninsula.
Caldera (on the left photo) is a cup-shaped volcanic basin of the Uzon volcano with thermal springs and mud volcanoes. Caldera means a large cauldron in Spanish. Comparing to normal craters, it is usually larger and emerges, when crater walls collapse or damaged by catastrophic eruption. The special feature of the Uzon volcano’s caldera is the large amount of ore minerals. This is why the place is also called as natural laboratory.
The Burlyashchy (Bubbling – trans.) volcano got its name due to its natural features, namely, the presence of boiling water on the slopes. It is a comparatively small volcano located 1,100 meters above sea level between the Krymskaya and Olkhovaya rivers.
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SURE, HOW COULD WE FORGET ABOUT THE BEARS! You can easily notice the paths of bears or even some of them on the Travyanoy Cape. Bears inhabiting the coast of the Kamchatka peninsula are one of the largest land predators on the Earth.
Text by: Kristina Iakovleva
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Kamchatka and gone with you! HOW TO CHOOSE THE BEST BACKPACK? I usually answer to this question something like: ‘I have no idea! What for?’. A backpack is like clothing; it should have a purpose.
If you are going to have a serious sport route or trail for a long period, then you could choose a bigger backpack: 75-90 litres should be ok for 10-day-route, 70 litres and less would be good for the trips with several overnight stops. The size of the backpack also depends on the activity you practice. If you are doing water sports, skiing or hiking, I would recommend 110-130 litres. If you are planning to cross a forest, everything that you hang above your backpack will fall and lost, so it is necessary to have enough space to pack everything inside. Moreover, the sleeping mat, if tied outside, will pick up water during a long rain, and you could sleep in a ‘puddle’. Of course, it is possible to pack it on a waterproof bag, but it might be torn in forest! This is why, I always pack my sleeping mat inside. The 100-110-litre-backpack would be ideal for mountain trips. If you are traveling from a
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hotel to a hotel, then a 50 litres would be enough. What are other requirements for a backpack, except its size? I would say its construction. In general, hard back with adjustable suspension of shoulder belts, adjustable lap and chest belts are absolutely necessary. Please note that the height of the suspension of the shoulder belts should allow to place a packed backpack on your back vertically. It is better to check that shoulder belts are not pressing your shoulders (Ideally, shoulder belts should not touch your shoulders above). You can adjust this moment by suspensions on the back and on the valve side of a backpack. Lap belts should fix the backpack on pelvis (lean on pelvic bones). In any case, please, do not fix it on your waist. Chest belts relieves the shoulders and pelvis and it
would be better to tighten it at the level of the third rib, so it will not hinder breathing. What to do if you have just bought the ideal backpack with the right size and adjusted everything and then realised that it is impossible to carry it? What is wrong? The secret resides in proper packing. The basic rule is do not put anything sharp next to your back, otherwise, your might have an injury. The second rule is that the heaviest things are packed near the back side at the level of your waist. The last secret is to use a special waterproof liner (polyethylene/rubberized bag or just thick garbage bag) before packing anything to secure things inside from moisture. It is better, when the liner is larger than the backpack itself. Now we have an ideally packed backpack, so it is time to go!
Author: Evgeniy Ionis
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The Kronotsky Nature Reserve The Kronotsky Natural Reserve located in the eastern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula is one of the oldest nature reserves in Russia. It was established 80 years ago to protect nature and to conduct scientific research and assistance to ornithologists, mammalogists, seismologists and volcanologist to assess the state of nature and environment and preserve rare species. Recently, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve started to work in the field of environmental education, offering guided tours for visitors, who would like to experience the wild nature of Kamchatka. The reserve manages the territory, which totals in 1,147,619 hectares and is inhabited by 54 species of mammals, including the largest population of brown bears in the world, several rare bird species as Steller’s sea eagles, foxes, otters and sables. By the way, wild reindeers that used to be seen throughout the whole territory of Kamchatka, now live only in the reserve: unfortunately, only one thousand individuals are left.
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Therefore, the visitation of the reserve is strictly regulated with special code of conduct, whereas the staff of the reserve always accompany every visitor. At the same time, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve is absolutely accessible for volunteers! The volunteers are engaged in housekeeping, trail building, photo and video recording, research sample collection and basic construction works.
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Here are some important issues to consider, if you would like to join the volunteering programme at the Kronotsky Nature Reserve
A Magpie and a Steller’s Eagle Photo: A. Bezrukov
The first and basic requirement is to be at least 18 years old. Unfortunately, volunteering is not possible for those, who are under 18. The reserve provides accommodation for volunteers, however the food is the issue that is dealt solely by volunteers: it is necessary to plan your diet and bring your own products. The reserve also do not cover airfare to Kamchatka and does not meet its volunteers at the airport. However, the transfer from the helicopter aerodrome to the territory of the reserve is provided. The volunteers are supposed to be prepared for the transfer in advance and plan their accommodation either in Yelizovo or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, as the weather conditions may delay a departure for several days. In addition, it is important to remember that living on the territory of the reserve is very different from our usual habitat and, therefore, it is better to prepare carefully the list of items to bring to the reserve. There is no doubt that it is hard to volunteer here, but Goodsurfer team considers that this game is worth the trouble, just because as a volunteer of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, it is possible to see several dozens of inaccessible natural heritage sites as the Glaciers of the Kronotsky Peninsula, the Caldera of the Uzon Volcano, Nizhny Chachminsky and Tyushevsky hot springs, the Semyachik estuary, the Death Valley, the Valley of Geysers and others.
THE LIST OF RECOMMENDED ITEMS 1.
An inner layer of clothing (thermal underwear)
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A layer of warm clothing (fleece / polartek / softshell / primaloft or a simple sweater).
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A water and windproof layer of clothing (rainwear) and a raincoat
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Bog shoes / rubber boots
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Trekking shoes
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Lightweight shoes. Slippers
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A set of working clothes (for painting and construction works)
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Sun screen (highly recommended)
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Sun glasses (highly recommended)
10. Mosquito repellents 11. Sleeping mat and sleeping bag 12. Personal sewing kit for your equipment (thread, needle, tape, glue, scissors, etc.) 13. Personal first aid kit 14. Plate, mug and spoon 15. Folding knife 16. Flashlight with battery reserve 17. Personal hygiene items
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By the way, in spite of the fact that the Kronotsky Reserve became almost a synonym for the Valley of Geysers, it was founded at the time, when this spot was not discovered by the humanity. There was 7 years between state designation of the reserve and this outstanding discovery of the 20th century. The first geyser was discovered in spring 1941 (which was later named Pervenets (the Firstborn – trans.). In the summer of the same year, explorers found the soaring canyon. The Valley of Geysers in Kamchatka is the most compact one comparing to other geyser fields in the world. Its territory of 4 square kilometres fits the bubbles and seethes of hundreds of hot springs and geysers. Several fire-breathing capes are another symbol of the Kronotsky Nature Reserve: 8 out of 25 volcanoes are currently active. The highest of them is the Kronotsky Cape that rises 3,528 meters
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above sea level, whereas the most active one is the Kizmen Volcano, which woke up recently in 2010 after one century of silence. The Krasheninnikov volcano is inhabited by bighorn sheep, which is almost distinct. The Kikhpinych, Uzon, Gamchen, Komarov and Bolshoy Semyachik volcanoes are currently also active. The reserve opens its call for volunteers for summer 2019 in early December. What are we waiting for?
Author: Ksenia Gushchina Photo: kronoki.ru
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Kamchatka:
Approved by Volunteers Kamchatka is a peninsula in the north-eastern part of Eurasia in Russia. It is washed by the Sea of Okhotsk from the west and by the Bering Sea and the Pacific Ocean from the east. This is how the Wikipedia article about Kamchatka begins. Yes, it is dry and what is most important it is not able to give a glimpse on how it is feel like to be in Kamchatka? Scary? Inspiring? Dangerous? Beautiful? This was exactly what our team tried to find out asking our friends, who have volunteered in Kamchatka, to investigate the truth that is hidden under this name. Our first respondent, Nikita Nikolaev, admitted that he just wanted to spend his university placement outdoors. He had outskirts of Moscow and the land of volcanoes as options. Of course, the second option seemed to be more interesting. ‘Me and my friend, Roman Koshutin, prepared our backpacks and hurried to the plane. You know, the life of future cartographers is not easy! Moreover, our experienced tutors also advised to select Kamchatka. They even shared with us the contacts of volunteers, who might be in the peninsula at that time. We arrived there and we were completely
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impressed! The nature is amazing, the views are stunning!’, says Nikita. Considering the fact that the guys were creating a map of the area, they had walked through all tourist routes and recorded new ones. They also eventually found a great company of international volunteers already working in Kamchatka. ‘Intercultural dialogue, you know, it is amazing how internationals master their Russian language in six months! It is even more funny to notice how fast they adopt Russian traditions, customs, culture and even lifestyle’.
‘However, the most memorable incident … has never happened to me! I stayed at a local travel agency for mapping, whereas Roman went hiking with the volunteers. And they met a real bear! In the end, I have never seen bears in Kamchatka’. Nikita highly recommends visiting the peninsula, especially to young people under the age of 21: ‘We managed to get a subsidy for airfare. The round trip was only 15 000 (roubles – trans.). Volunteering is a nice way to get to Kamchatka, as ordinary tourism, as far as I know, is extremely expensive there’.
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Nikita decided that he will not succeed in entering the same river twice or simply revisiting Kamchatka, unlike our next respondent, Tatiana Dolgova. Kamchatka never lets her go. Moreover, she was answering to our questions on her way from Kamchatka to home. ‘This time, it started when I found a call of the Bystrinsky Nature Park for volunteers with experience in trail building. By the way, one of the advantages of volunteers that you are getting access to places, which are prohibited for visitation for others. This is actually a reason to consider volunteering, isn’t it?’ , comments Tatiana. On the other hand, there is another bunch of reasons: meeting a bear, sharing a house with 4 people, crossings a river and joining a strong supportive team. This is the benefits mentioned by Tatiana: ‘You can not go anywhere without your team, when building a trail, as the nearest village/town/city is miles away! It is either hit or miss, to love this land of geysers and return every year or to hate and never come back’. Tatiana could not resist: after returning home to Saint Petersburg, she quickly repacked and after short farewell, she moved to Kamchatka as the land of volcanoes (and not only the land itself) were waiting for her. On contrary, Tanya Morina, a volunteer, a yogi, a journalist, an opera singer and just a great person, arrived to the peninsula almost by an accident. She filled in the application for the volunteering programme of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka, but she did not manage to get through selection process. However, at the very last moment someone could not join the programme and Tanya received an urgent offer to pack as soon as possible and leave for Kamchatka within half an hour. And
who knew that Kamchatka would turn Tanya’s life upside down: ‘I divorced, quit my job and started to do what I was studying for and dreaming about. You know, I have achieved success in this field: I have started to travel solo to harsh northern regions. Before I was too scared to do it. I completely forgot about sunbathing somewhere in the south. Then, I created a website and started to publish articles about my adventures. Now, I am receiving offers either to write travelogues or to make joint trips’. Of course, we should mention that now Tanya also have a bunch of friends in Kamchatka, whom she regularly visits. Tanya says that she did not take these decisions immediately and there were both anxiety and doubt: ‘I thought, when I could do this if not now? This was my main argument, although not everyone perceived this in such a positive way. This trip and everything that happened afterwards was kind of a coup d’état. People go on annual expeditions, fly into space, move to other countries ... I went to Kamchatka only for three months, but I had a feeling that I have managed to do something impossible and unimaginable. Some people were admired or surprised, but not everyone could understand me. I agree, I did something unusual: I did not go to Thailand with a tourist tour and a bank card, so what? Sometimes, we are so attached to all inclusive lifestyle with 24-hour-work, a mortgage and 28 days of paid
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vacations per year, so any violation of this lifestyle might be perceived with a great surprise. I believe that it is better to study more and take risks, to break the rules and be curious instead of this lifestyle’.
Reviews of people, who took a medication of volunteering in Kamchatka: ‘When you live three months off the beaten track in 120 kilometres distance from the nearest village, you see more bears rather than people and new ideas start to come. It is dangerous, sometimes you could have a situation literally on the edge, when you could die or get a serious injury. These moments clearly show you the most important things in life’.
So, attention, dear friends! The volunteering programmes in Kamchatka sometimes might help to find your own way of life/profession/hobby Prescription note: please take one volunteering project per year as often as possible. Side effects: desire to live, develop, do what you love, inspirational people around, friends from Kamchatka, good health and many adventures.
As regards international volunteers in Kamchatka, there are the representatives of several countries. For example, Vitalina Lobanova from Belarus, who participated in the volunteering programme of the Bystrinsky Nature Park (implemented in partnership with Manfred Hermsen Stiftung Foundation, Germany). The programme offers 6-12-month-volunteering projects covering accommodation and travel costs to Kamchatka: ‘I found the programme via Internet first, and, then, through my friend who volunteered with this programme as well. It was necessary to fill in the application form, attach a motivation letter and send them both to the reserve and the foundation. My previous work contract had just ended at that time, so I decided to try’, she says. Vitalina is a zoologist and was offered a one-year-project. However, she collected so many samples that she needed an extra 4 months to process them afterwards.
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It seems that international volunteers are amazed by the beauty of the land of volcanoes. For instance, Alexia Shoffa, from France, says that she has been interested in Russia for a long period. She previously stayed in Saint Petersburg for 3 months to learn Russian. Then, she joined a project in a Ukrainian national park, where she found out this EVS programme in Kamchatka. Sometimes, we met real ambassadors of volunteering as Vladimir Buriy from Latvia. He was answering our questions literally from a field project focused on nature protection on the border zone between Russia and Latvia: ‘I first volunteered in Kamchatka in November 2011 and afterwards I worked as a coordinator of the EVS programme at the Volcanoes of Kamchatka. Now, I am working on other projects and locations, but still coming back to Kamchatka as I have my home there’. This is an inspiring movement on the career ladder from volunteering to coordination and assistance to other people in joining Kamchatka volunteers team: : ‘We were working on finding partners from Western Europe who could financially support the participation of volunteers in the programme’, added Vladimir. So, it is possible that these ways or other projects may lead you directly to Kamchatka, the place approved by both Russian and international volunteers. Who knows, maybe this path through Kamchatka may lead to other lifelong projects as well?
Author: Elena Zatcepina Photo: Alexia Shoffa
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HOW TO FIND CHEAP TICKETS TO KAMCHATKA Airpor: Yelizovo (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky) Direct flights from: Moscow, Anadyr, Vladivostok, Magadan, Novosibirsk and Khabarovsk Volunteering in Kamchatka often seems to be unreal due to unrealistic prices for flights to the peninsula. In summer, the costs of airfare increases so much that it seems easier to volunteer on a different planet rather than seeing the Klyuchevskaya Cape by your own eyes. But there is a way! We have collected three basic life hacks to help to save a GoodSurfer’s budget:
Life hack #1 Plan ahead (far ahead)
It is an obvious fact, but the usual ‘just buy a ticket 3 months ahead’ in case of Kamchatka turns into ‘6-7 months ahead’: for summer adventures, we advice to buy tickets in October-November (the prices are 40-50% lower comparing to spring).
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Life hack #2 Fly while you are young (The programme of subsidized airfare)
Every year from April 1 to October 31 Russian airlines operate special flights to the Far East with reduced fares. The government reimburses their losses so that several categories of citizens, including the youth under 23 years can visit their home / friends as well as Kamchatka. The cost of the MoscowPetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky-Moscow subsidized airfare is about 15 000 roubles. P.S. This programme works only for the citizens of the Russian Federation.
Life hack #3 Sales and mile cards
We will not mention any names of Russian airlines or banks, but it is worth of considering night sales, when it is possible to get a massive discount on tickets, or special bank cards with bonus system allowing to earn miles for purchases and then spend them for a flight in a year or two.
Author: Nargiz Aituganova Illustrations: Ksenia Gushchina
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