Ukraine Travel Guide

Dark Tourism Includes a Focus on Chernobyl

The negative effects of the disaster were gigantic. Since then, Chernobyl is sadly known throughout the whole world. The number of casualties is still not final. The estimates range from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of lives.

Today, local travel agencies offer extreme tours to the zone of death. The itinerary of a typical tour includes the prospect of the reactor number four from the distance of approximately 100 meters, “Red Forest”, a visit to the research center of physical and chemical laboratories, chance to meet local people of the Opachychi village, those who have decided to come back after the evacuation.

When entering and exiting the 30 kilometer restricted zone, every tour participant undergoes control measurements of radioactivity. Although the tours are safe, to avoid undue exposure to radioactivity it is necessary to strictly follow the guidelines and the instructions of the tour guide.

Another option to see “the Pompeii of today’s world” and move closer to the fatal events of the disaster is to visit the Chernobyl Museum, located in the center of Kiev. Although it is not easy to find the Ukrainian National Museum of Chernobyl since there are no signs around the city directing tourists to the museum, it is still worth visiting. All information and flyers are provided in Russian and Ukrainian and tours on offer are also only in these two languages. Despite such difficulties for foreigners, visitors can look forward to seeing numerous documents and video spots authentically portraying the explosion and its effects.

For many travelers the museum is quite unique and fascinating. It remembers the fate of people who rescued the world – people who risked their lives, and did not know what danger they were in. They walked around the place of accident without any protective equipment; all they had was a textile cover of the mouth and canvas gloves.

Visitors can also see pictures from the city of Pripyat, a city that boasted of modern architecture, amenities, the city, which was a kind of showcase of socialist progress. It was built for the nuclear power plant and its staff. At the time of the disaster 50,000 people lived there, the average age of adults was around 26 years, the majority of the population consisted of young families with children. The city was evacuated more than 24 hours after the explosion – too late for most of the locals to be saved unharmed.

Z-Games 2011 in Ukraine. Z-Games 2011in Crimea ... - Travel Ukraine

Z-Games 2011 is the biggest sport-music festival in Wester Europe.

Z-Games 2011 sporting contests of extreme sports started in Ukraine on July, the 17th (Kazantip cape, 28km from Eupatoria, Crimea). The project Z-Games symbolizes rebirth of Kazantip’s sporting traditions. The most popular action sports at present are united within a framework of the project Z-Games.

The entrance visa Z-Games is effective from the 18th July to the 1st August and allows its owner to enter to the territory of Mars. Since the 1st August 2011 the visa Z-Games doesn’t allow entering to the Z-Republic.

Festival participants can choose one of the following variants of accommodation.

Private sector: you can rent a dwelling in the Popovka village, in the Mirny village or in the cooperatives on the Spit after the Mirny village.

Tent camping: from the 17th to the 31st July a tent camping will function on the territory of Z-Games. Living in a camping tent costs 25 hryvnyas per a person + 25 hryvnyas per night (3 $ + 3 $).

A camping tent has all modern conveniences: electricity, a shower, bio-toilets, luggage rooms, guard, mobile phone charger sockets, a charge-free zone WiFi.

Auto-camping: auto-camping is planned for those people, who drives in an own caravan car.

You can buy complex three meals daily, priced at about 100 hryvnyas (12,5 $), in the camping mini-kitchen.

Official site of Z-Games 2011 in Ukraine: z-games.com.

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