The almost perfect magic of Kamchatka: a farewell chopper ride.

A moment comes when memories of even the most powerful and almost-perfect trip to Kamchatka in the summer of 2024 begin to fade. That went for me recently. So I needed to refresh my memory…

But why was this trip only almost perfect, and not entirely? Simply because one week out of the three was spoiled by dreadful weather! Still, any experienced Kamchatka traveler will tell you that you should allocate at least 50% of your time for cyclones, rain, or just view-spoiling low cloud cover. Or a bigger percentage; or a much bigger percentage. Just ask Vitus Bering. So, as it turned out – we were lucky with just 33%.

In good weather, you see things here that you won’t see in everyday life. Well, except perhaps in Indonesia or New Zealand – though, even there, you won’t find such vivid phenomena as those in Kamchatka. For example, there’s the hot Khodutka lake, the hot beaches of Ksudach, the bright colors of the Koshelev volcano, and bears everywhere – Kamchatka exclusives.

In short, it’s simple: Kamchatka is the most magical place in the world for contemplation-meditation. It only just beat its nearest competitor (New Zealand), but it’s so much more interesting – than everything else on this planet!

As our trip was coming to a close, we took a final helicopter ride around the some of the peninsula’s hotspots (pun not intended!).

Farewell glimpses of southern Kamchatka – of bright colors and snow cover…

…And of the “greenery” of the volcanic ridges:

A panorama of the Kambalny and Koshelev volcanoes ->

Various lakes – including this one, called Vitamin lake! How did such a name come about? Could it be that they Russified the local name Etamink, which remains the name of the river flowing nearby. Did the Cossacks name it that way? But the word vitamin seems to have been invented only in the 20^th century…

The hill above the lake: Diky Greben – Wild Ridge, in English. The name does seem to fit. And – again about Kamchatkan nomenclature – its highest point is called Mount Unpleasant. To me, it looks quite pleasant, but perhaps the bad weather played a role here too.