2022 KSP REPORT - Justin Miller Travel Travel through Istanbul was easy. Overnight at the “Yotel,” inside the terminal upstairs on the departures level. A Covid test is still required for foreign nationals entering Russia. They had a lab downstairs, directly under the Yotel. PCR tests for $25 with results in 1.5 hours. Very convenient. Lost Luggage is very common with separate tickets on a complex Turkish Air flight to Istanbul, then Aeroflot from there to PKC. Aeroflot would not take the luggage through customs without me. So, it never showed up, but I recovered it all 25 days later on my return to Istanbul! The biggest issue facing US Sponsors traveling to Russia is purchasing flights into and within Russia. Silva at ProTravel cannot purchase Aeroflot flights, due to sanctions. I could not purchase them on my own on Aeroflot’s website without a credit card issued in Russia. We will need to find a booking agent in Russia that can legally purchase client flights within Russia, and that who we can pay in advance. Anatoly from Kamchatka Trophy Hunts cannot purchase all of our sponsor’s Russian flights and expect to be reimbursed on arrival, as he did for me, it is not practical. We could work with the Marco Polo Travel Co. Financial Issues Credit cards do not work in Russia. Cash only. Bring a lot! This is an issue for sponsors. If you run out of cash there is no easy fix, except to borrow from someone who may be operating with limited cash. Lodging en Route Martha is retiring. I had many serious conversations with her regarding the state of Russian tourism. Essentially, her business has ceased to exist and she says she is too old to wait for it to come back. Guides are always welcome, but no more guests for her. She may even decide to close her business as she is very conflicted and sad about the world at the moment, as is the rest of our crew over there. Thinking forward to better times though, Lena will still operate a guest house, but if we are flying all clients via Moscow, we might need a place that can support 30+ anglers, 2 nights a week during trout season. KSP might be OK, but if we can get the expansion at the Sopochnaya rolling, KSP will also need more beds than Lena can accommodate. There is not a new hotel at the PKC airport as was expected. Needless to say, it was a relief to get out of the city and into the forest. The day after I arrived the US Consulate instructed all Americans to vacate Russia. Everyone asked me what I would do and I told them I was staying with them. Operational Changes The future is very uncertain at the moment so it is hard to realize when the right time would be to spend money on the camps. The limited program recently has resulted in our outfitter barely breaking even. Based on the limited program we have been operating in recently, it may be difficult to operate beyond survival mode in the foreseeable future unless there is a loan, grant or other finance mechanism to ensure that there are critical infrastructure improvements required at each camp that must be addressed well before the Fall Expeditions arrive.
1
The 2022 Season The fishing was tough this year… the water just hovered above ideal levels. Every time we said the river would be in tomorrow, it would bump back up. We found fish but worked really hard for a few fish each day. Then we got hit with a major cyclone and the river rose to the highest water level I have ever seen on the Utholok. Miraculously it dropped back and we were scratching out a few more fish within 4 days.
The 2022 season was a struggle, but we did it, despite the long odds. I am glad I was able to get over there and back. I am very proud to show our team that we are still here and we are not going to bail on them or the program. I am fully prepared to do it again next year. That said, we need to be very realistic about our ability to have many US-based sponsors commit to traveling - unless we see some positive change within Russia. I do not believe many, if any, of our sponsors will take the risks and go through the trouble I went through to get there (and back) in 2023. 2