Originally posted by
Monday, October 31, 2011
Kamchatka dreams.
It has been already 1.5 months since I came back to my home in Bryansk Forest. During the year that I was away, a great deal of work has accumulated here. So now I have to work hard and do not have time for many things. I did not even start sorting my photos from this year Kamchatka archive, because I decided to buy a new, high quality monitor to replace the old one to work them. But I will have to drive to Moscow to get one. (Translator note: Igor lives in a remote village in Bryansk region accessible only by dirt roads. It is at least 8 hours drive to Moscow.)
Nevertheless, Kamchatkan thoughts come to my mind independent of my will. Almost every day, without any practical reason, I check the weather conditions in Kronotsky Nature reserve. A week ago my son, Petya, came back from Kronotsky and showed his photos from reserve special task force team everyday life. These rangers (and Petya is one of them) just came back from a several weeks long patrolling expedition to the most remote corners of the reserve. Seeing his photos has started my Kamchatkan dreams; every night, just as if it was a tv-show, I started seeing dreams-episodes about Kamchatka.
Most frequently I see shoals of large fish in crystal clear water. I also see the animals that I know (today, for example, I’ve seen my friend – fox Alisa, she was hunting for mice). Also I dream about hiking to the places, to which I did not have a chance to go to yet… Couple of times, in my dreams I’ve encountered a bear and did not have my gun with me – those were scary and woke me up.
This is my life: I see Kamchatka in my dreams when I live at home, and when I live and work in Kamchatka, I have dreams about Bryansk Forest. It’s a pity that we can’t photograph our dreams yet:).
And also, many of my readers write to me, that they miss Kamchatka. So I decided that it will be easier to miss it together. So I’ll start publishing my photos from Kamchatka under the collective name – Kamchatka dreams.
My favorite volcano, Kronotskaya Sopka, is on this photo. The view is from the marshy maritime tundra.
Originally posted by
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Frosty morning.
It was 8C below freezing (18F) at the daybreak today. The grass, still green, was covered with dense white frost... Fallen and frosen leaves were rustling underfoot and first ice cruckle as I walked in frequent autumn puddles...
Originally posted by
New friends have arrived.
Three more bisons made it to Bryankiy Les: cows Musavra and Muzanna, and a young bull Muston. Two of them were brought from Prioksko-Terrasnyi nature reserve in Moscow region, and one came from Okskiy nature reserve in Ryazan region. So now we have total of 7 animals: three females and four males. You can only see six of them on a photograph from yesterday, because the bison from Okskiy reserve arrived late in the evening, so it was dark and snowy when we were releasing him.
And this is their colorful tranportation unit from Prioksko-Terassnyi nature reserve.
Originally posted by
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Beaver's lodge.
These are the ponds that were created by european beavers in the proximity of "Bryanskiy les" nature reserve headquaters. They built series of dams on a small forest river Terebushka. And beaver's lodge is their house, that is pictured on the top photo.
Originally posted by
Monday, October 17, 2011
Early morning at Nerussa River.
Good morning from Bryanskiy Les Nature Reserve!
Originally posted by
European bisons. First days in Bryanskiy Les Nature Reserve.
Today I had time to observe our new settlers, European bisons. For now they are living in a large enclosure, but when the other members of this future herd of 10 will arrive, we will release the animals.
New home for European bison.
European bison - is heaviest surviving land animal in Europe. When last vast expands of wild forests were destroyed as a result of expanding civilization, these bisons survived by pure chance in several nurseries and zoos, where they are sucessfully bred. Now, it is believed that only Russia has large enough forests suitable for long term conservation of these species in the wild. Currently the bisons are being reintroduced in Orlovsky, Kaluzhsky and Bryansky regions. In national park Orlovskoe Polesye and in nature reserve Kaluzhskie Zaseki tens of bison cubs already were born in the wild. And today four new residents arrived from Okski nursery to nature reserve Bryaskiy Les.
Originally posted by
One day at Lake Baikal.
Our Lake Baikal voyage started from a village Uzura on Olknon island.
Last week I spend in Irkutsk on a all state meeting and workshop for the nature parks of Russia. There I made a presentation about opportinities in education and popularization for nature reserves and parks using blogs. In the end of that week my colleauges from Pribaikalskiy National park and Baikalo-Lenskiy Nature Reserve organized an excursion to Lake Baikal. We only spent 24 hours at the lake, but we still got to experience a lot.
On a small boat we made it from Olkhon to cape Pokoinyi, where we spend a night at the ranger station of the nature reserve. In total I only had several hours to see and photograph the bright fall colors of Baikal nature... I wish I could stay there for several weeks.
The sharp cliffs of Olkhon shore are part of Pribaikalskiy National park.
There are snags at Baikal too!
A weather station on cape Pokoinyi inside Baikalo-Lenskiy Nature Reserve.
Originally posted by
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Rainbow over Lake Baikal.
I am home. It took me less than 24 hours to travel back from Lake Baikal to Bryanskiy Forest. Soon, I'll share with you some pictures from Pribaikalskiy National park and Baikalo-Lenskiy Nature Reserve.
And for now, this is a rainbow above the deepest lake on our planet.
Originally posted by
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Good morning from "Bryansky Les" Nature reserve!
During the whole year that I spent in Kamchatka harsh weather and tough everyday life condidions I haven't caught a single cold. And here, amoung people I immidiately got sore throat infection with high fever, which made me stay indoors for a week during this beautiful time of Indian summer. But today I feel better and ready to get back to work. Nevertheless I'll have to wait with photography: tomorrow I am going to Irkutsk for a week, for national parks stuff meeting. And there is a chance that I'll get to see Lake Baikal. But for now, these are the pictures from around my home village...
Originally posted by
Monday, September 26, 2011
Just admiring the beauty...
I've noticed many times that when I post photos of edible mushrooms, especially Boletus edulis, I receive too many food-related comments, such as, "the soup must be good from those"...
How about just admire the beauty of mushrooms and nature around?
Originally posted by
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Mornings on Nerussa river.
This is Nerussa river, that flows near my home in Bryansky forest. The forest is dense around, and there are a lot of snags in the river; that makes the mornings look like fairy-tale sometimes. Snags and tree branches are among my favorite photo-models, so don't be surprised if you see a lot of them in the future in the journal.
Originally posted by
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Good morning from "Bryansky les" Nature Reserve!
My way home was fast and easy, it took me less than 24 hours to cross 8 time zones across most of Eurasia. As you can see from the map - Kronotsky Nature reserve is located at the very east of Russia, and Bryansky Forest Nature Reserve - on the very west, close to the border with Ukraine.
Now I enjoy eating Antonovka apples, that I pick directly from the tree that I planted myself around ten years ago.
Originally posted by
Saturday, September 17, 2011
My rough Kamchatka, we will meet again....
Today I made it to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of Kamchatka region. Tomorrow, most likely, I will be flying towards Moscow and then back to my homeland, Bryansky Les. Thank you, my readers, for your support and warm words during this expedition. And we'll meet again soon!
And on the picture are the places that I left today: Krasheninnikov volcano on the foreground, then Kronotsky volcano and Kronotsky Lake. On the background there is steaming Kizimen Volcano and farther back, barely visible, there is Klyuchevskaya Sopka and other volcanoes in that group.
Good bye, Kamchatka!
Originally posted by
Friday, September 16, 2011
Wind of change...
All my things are packed. Backpacks and boxes are stacked in the middle of the ranger station, that sudennly became empty. This small and simple cabin in the middle of unpopulated tundra in Kronotsky Nature Reserve was my home for over a year.
But local spirits are not in a hurry to let me go. They bring either storms, or heavy rains and fogs to prevent safe helicopter landing. But as soon as the weather permits I will be taken from here. This evening the wind calmed down and on the west the sky cleared out. There is a chance that tomorrow I will find myself in civilization after the longest and most productive expedition of my life.
Originally posted by
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Kikhpinych Volcano.
There are 26 volcanos inside Kronotsky Nature Reserve, and 9 of them are active. Kikhpinych volcano that can be seen on the photo is amoung the active ones.
It has a relatively complicated structure with three summits: Zheltaya Sopka (1585m), Peak Summit (1600m) and Young Kikhpinych or Savich Cone (1552m). The last one, Savich Cone with recent lava flows, is in the center of the top photo.
At the footsteps of this volcano the famous Valley of Geysers and Valley of Death are hidden. And the bottom photo illustrates how Kikhpinych looked from my ranger station last November.
Originally posted by
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)