Russia

Russia is the largest country in Asia

Map showing the southern half of the Kamchatka peninsula

Russia is represented by the Kamchatka peninsula in eastern Siberia and the map on the right shows the southern half of the peninsula. I first visited this area in 2005 and returned in 2017. The map shows the main sites we visited in 2017. On my first visit, I went hiking in a smaller area around the Viljutjinskaja, Mutnovskij, Khodutka and Ksudatj volcanoes.

The former Swedish HQ before the renovation.

HQ in 2005. before the renovation.

On both trips, I was in a sense following in the footsteps of a Swedish expedition which came in 1920 and stayed until 1923. The photos on the right show the former expedition headquarters in 2005 and again in 2017, when the new owners had renovated the house and even endowed it with colours that (almost) match the Swedish flag.

Former HQ after the renovation, now in the Swedish colours.

HQ in 2017, after the renovation.

When we visited in 2017, the new owners invited us in for tea and cookies and showed us the work they had done on the old house. Being related to one of the initiators of the Swedish Scientific Kamtschatka Expedition, Sten Bergman, I received a standing invitation to revisit whenever I happen to be in the vicinity of Petropavlovsk-Kamtjatskij in the future.

I have, of course, many more photos from Kamchatka in addition to those shown in the gallery below, and some were published in these two books (both are in Swedish): Vildmarksanteckningar från Kamtjatka (2006, but no longer available) and Tillbaka till Kamtjatka (2018). The second book may be previewed online, so you can look at the pictures without purchasing the book.