2. Where on Earth is Kamchatka?
Kamchatka is two Kamchatkas. The first one is an 'Oblast',
or a province.
The second one is the Peninsula of Kamchatka. Of course, the first
one is part of the second.
But only half of it. The Kamchatka Oblast is the southern half of
the Peninsula.
Far away to Europeans, they say it's 'East of the Sun'....
And that means you have to cross Siberia
to reach Kamchatka. That is a long way to go.
Pacific
Ring of Fire
The Oblast covers 70.800 sq.km.
It is located on the Pacific Rim of Fire,
and has 29 active volcanoes, 186 geysirs, countless boiling mud
cauldrons, steam vents,
fumaroles and other forms of volcanic activity.
Population: 384,200 as of January 1, 2001. The population is steadily
decreasing
as a result of economic decline. Petropavlovsk is the main port.
Much of the peninsula
is accessible only by air; Kamchatka's only major road goes from
Petropavlovsk up the middle
of
the peninsula, then forking out to Ust-Kamchatsk
in the northeast and Esso to
the central-west.
Kamchatka has significant deposits of gold, silver, platinum, nickel,
copper, and other mineral resources. However, it is not easy to
obtain a license to dig gold, so don't go yet.....
The
Three Brothers are natural sea stacks guarding the entrance to
Avacha bay
from the Pacific Ocean.
Copyright
©: Steve Jones,
Adventure Photographs
The
Ksudach Waterfall is one of
the largest in Kamchatka with a drop of over 35 metres.
Copyright
©: Steve Jones,
Adventure Photographs
The Ksudach volcano, also known as Stubel volcano or Voniuchi
Khrebet, is a caldera volcano
that is well known for its great eruption of 1907. At the bottom
of this caldera is located two
lakes Bolshoe (meaning: big in Russian) and Kraternoe (meaning:
cratered in Russian).
Kraternoe occupies the 1907
eruption crater, Stubel, and is the headwaters of the Khodutka
river while other lake has not outlet.
Ksudah text: http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/
Copyright
©: Steve Jones,
Adventure Photographs
The Valley of the Geysers, in the eastern part of the peninsula
and part of Kronotsky
Zapovednik (kind of a National Park), has almost two hundred geysers,
making it second in the world to Yellowstone NP in USA.
Volcanic eruptions have formed the Sredinny (Central) Mountain Range,
which stretches down the center of the peninsula.
Klyuchevskoi
volcano, in the north, rises 4,688 m above sea level.
See "The
Volcanoes of Russia" here
The
absolute temperature maximum on Kamchatka is +34°C,
the absolute minimum is -24/-26°C
on the islands
and -49/-60°C
in central and northern parts of the peninsula.
The number of days with temperature over +20°C
in summer: in coast area 1-6°,
in the valley of Kamchatka river 35/55°.
Maximum amount of precipitation up to 2.600 mm a year (south-east
seaside).
The
Osvysmannye Valley is one of
the more spectacular sites in Kamchatka being a small canyon
that drains out of Mutnovsky
volcano. It contains some fine waterfalls cut into the volcanic
rocks
although its floor is choked with snow many meters deep.
Copyright
©: Steve Jones,
Adventure Photographs
Kamchatka
river
Courtesy: http://www.kamchatkapeninsula.com/
Water
resources are among Kamchatka's most precious natural endowments.
The abundance
of pure, clear lakes and the variety of mineral waters found
in the peninsula's many spring
know few equals around the world.
Approximately 220 cu. km of runoff empties into the sorrounding
oceans each year, with a
practically inexhaustible water supply in aquifers. The mineralized
waters found in many of
the peninsula's natural springs have medicinal applications.
from the book "The
Russian Far East"
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The people - their children - are like anyone else on this planet.
However, there are many different tribes. More about that later.
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