Wild life Activities Places Zones Getting to and around Seasons Tours
Kamchatka is considered to be an island because throughout the Soviet period it was walled off by an even more impenetrable iron curtain than the one dividing the USSR from the West. To get to Kamchatka, even Russian citizens had to get a special permit from the KGB. The military "occupied" Kamchatka since the beginning of the arms race. There they maintained (and still maintain) their nuclear submarines, and certain areas were used to test inter-continental ballistic missiles. When in 1983 they shot down the South Korean passenger Boeing that had deviated from its flight corridor and flew over Kamchatka, they did it to defend the peninsula's secrets. That military wall fell only in the early nineties, and the Western people keen on adventure travel have been progressively discovering Kamchatka ever since...
Nowadays you can get there with an ordinary tourist visa. Yet the tourist traffic in some areas is still controlled, and for these you must have a permit, issued by the Federal Security Service (the former KGB). Normally they deal with the local tour-operators and do not give any trouble, but if you go on your own, please bear this in mind. Even unintentional "trespassing" may result not only in a fine, which is a small sum, but in serious problems the next time you apply for a Russian visa.
