Kamchatka: The Land of Fire and Ice - Part 3: Медвежье озеро (Bear Lake)

Part Three

"Why isn't your migration card typed in Russian? Why is it handwritten? Who wrote this? Was that you?"

I had to explain to the hotel manager that for all entries to Russia through land borders, the migration card would be filled out by the passport holder, instead of a border guard in either Latin or Cyrillic alphabets. 

Of course, the hotel manager wouldn't understand it, and I knew why: You would never be able to do any land border crossings in Kamchatka - it wasn't even connected to the rest of the country! The manager appeared to be in panic: "What do you think you can do now? The police wouldn't take this. I have never seen anything like this before!"

I showed the manager police registration documents I got in Moscow and Yakutsk, and told her that if the police in those places would take my migration card, the police in Kamchatka should have no problem either.  I assured the manager that if any problem arose, get the police to contact me.

By the way, did I mention that the hotel manager had already been holding my passport for 2 days? 

..............................................................

The next morning, I looked down from the sky. Villages scattered in the sea of forests like stars in the sky.

The Pacific Ocean from the Helicopter

A village by a lake and the mountains of Kamchatka

Khrushchevkas in Kamchatka from above

Oh yeah, I was on a Soviet helicopter again. If being on a Soviet helicopter once in a lifetime is called an adventure, I don't know what can be said if you were on a Soviet helicopter two days in a row. 

A highway cutting through the wilderness of Kamchatka

A U-Shape Valley seen from above

Alpine terrains of Kamchatka

Just like the day before, we flew by some amazing landscapes: green valleys, blue lakes, and tall volcanoes covered with snow. Suddenly a crater lake on top of a volcano appeared in front of my eyes. At that moment, the lyric of a song crossed my mind:

                 "Imagine the sky high above, in Caribbean blue"
              
                                                                     - Enya, Caribbean Blue

Did you notice that there is an erupting volcano in the background?

The Caribbean Blue coloured crater lake with an erupting volcano in the background

Except that it wasn't the sky that was in Caribbean blue, but a lake literally in the sky high above! 

A giant volcano hiding in the cloud

Later, I was told that the water in that"Caribbean blue" lake was toxic. I have heard things like "beauties can be breathtaking". In this case, the beauty was simply toxic. If you jump into that luring colour of Caribbean blue, your breath will be taken away, I guarantee you.

Two sapphire coloured lakes

Small lakes with a dramatic backdrop

We landed by the shore of Kurile Lake. It had the highest concentration of bear population in Kamchatka and was the base to Kamchatka's main salmon research facility. Every year millions of salmons return to Kurile lake to hatch their eggs. This massive migration also made the lake an ideal habitat for bears - natural predators of salmons.

Kurile Lake

Kamchatka's main salmon research facility, however, had not always been at the same location. Before 1996, it was based on the shore of Karymsky Lake, together with a huge bear population. After a violent volcanic eruption, much of the bear population was killed and the water turned toxic. This event continued to remind scientists that ecosystems are fragile. Destruction of environment could come from both humans and the nature. While there is nothing we can do about natural disasters, we can certainly prevent disasters caused by human activities. 

A building used for salmon research

The river where salmons enter Kurile Lake every year

As we were speaking to the guide at the research station, two bears walked right by us. He told us not to be afraid, but we needed to stay clear of the bear's path. Humans were not the natural prey of bears. However, if the bears felt threatened, like how humans often felt threatened by bears, they could attack. 

Whoever said "feelings are mutual", I guess they were right.

Later we took a boat to the other side of Kurile Lake. Another bear appeared right by the dock. The fast boat traversed through the giant lake, arriving near the shore where several bears could be seen from the boat. Once the bears saw us, most of them retreated back into the woods. There was one bear, however, continued to approach the boat. 

It looked at us with curiosity, like the way we looked at it. I wasn't sure if the bear was frightened by us. It stood there, shaking its head like it was seeking help from other bears. The humans on the boat, of course, were busy filming and taking pictures of that bear. As time progressed, tree fluff were carried by wind from the distant land. It was almost like snowing, except the flakes were in reality fluffs in the air.

What a magical moment! If Tchaikovsky made to Kamchatka during his lifetime, he would have composed something called "Bear Lake".

As our boat was returning to the helicopter, something grabbed my attention: On the shore of where we just saw the bears, two men just landed with their inflatable boat. One of the men stayed in the boat, and the other one walked about 50 meters to set up a tripod. 

Somewhere behind the man, a bear emerged. It approached the man from behind carefully and slowly. 

What about the man? It looked like he had no idea what was behind him.  People say that surprises often hit you unprepared.

What if you turn around, and find a bear standing right behind you? 


(Click here to read Part 4)