Here: Home » Posts » BD 2.02 - Chernobyl and Pripyat

They weren't in the original trip spec but when we realised how much the whole endeavor was already costing, excluding Kiev, Chernobyl and Pripyat to shave a thousand bones was a retarded idea. As the most famous powerstation in the world, a monument to human hubris and something of a landmark amongst those obsessed with industrial ruins skipping Chernobyl just wasn't an option. We booked our places, circled the date with a lick of ink and eagerly awaited the day.

The bus scooped us up with a random assortment of oddfellows, including one guy I eyed suspiciously who turned out to be an explorer from England. Most amusingly though was the ocker Toowoombian local in blue jeans, RM williams and a Brisbane Broncos cap. Representing the good ol' Bronocs in Ukraine, legend. The bus progressed through the concentric checkpoints where our passports and names were ticked off until finally we were in The Zone. The bus stopped at a number of monuments which disappointingly weren't very well explained so their relevance and the human stories which they commemorate were mostly left untold. That is the largest criticism I have of the tour, the human story, the one which could affect visitors the most and leave the largest impression upon them, is barely told at all. In comparison to Auschwitz for example where the displays, the guides and the narrative tells of the human tragedy. I found this aspect immensely disappointing.



Pripyat buoyed my spirits some but once again this is a tour and clearly many of the items which revealed the human element to this disaster story are long looted. Those objects which could help to illustrate the past and help us relate to the disaster stricken families who once lived here are gone. Things became more interesting when we 'lost' our tour group (not especially difficult) and climbed onto the rooves to overlook the remains of Pripyat. For the next 45minutes we wandered around the site, soaking up the rads, taking a few photographs but mostly poking through what remains we could find and trying to gain some kind of insight into the lives of those who lived here. However we'd lost so much time at the various monuments that our visit at Pripyat, the most interesting area of the day, was much shorter than we all would have liked.



I've seen a lot of forum talk about Chernobyl and Pripyat like they're some holy grail of urban exploration, some great pinnacle to strive towards but I think this lust is most misplaced. The events surrounding the tragedy are intriguing no doubt but to think of this as exploration is a fallacy. Were you to infiltrate the zone and get access to the powerstation and the sarcophagus there may be some claim to the words 'exploration' and 'chernobyl' in the same sentence. Likewise for Pripyat. Until then it's a tour, plain and simple.



That night we returned to the hostel conflicted, the visuals of the day were good but something was just missing. Everyone felt a little disappointed. We filled the gap With alcohol and chips upon the steps of the hostel surrounded by a multicultural audience. twinky-z and I launched into story telling mode recounting tales of Vegas, Nasa, James and one too god awful to print even here but one I assure you left everyone shocked. Half the hostel refused to talk to us the following day. Such is life, some people have no sense of humour. With nothing left to lose we told Constantine, the hostel guy,  that SalsaSnack (NSFW, google for it) was a site of Tektonik videos. Oops.