1986: CHERNOBYL

April 26th 1986 one of the worst nuclear disaster took place at Chernobyl nuclear plant near Pripyat, a city of the ex Soviet Union and now part of Ukraine. Mostly nuclear plant workers lived in the city and they were all asked to leave within 48 hours of the accident.

26 Years later, in 2012,  I decided to visit Pripyat and see with my eyes what is left of these places. I have applied online for a tour to visit what is left of Chernobyl and the surrounding areas. I have used a company based in Kiev called Tour Kiev (tourkiev.com)  and I have paid around USD70 at the time: this included transportation, guided tour of the area and lunch.

To visit the exclusion zone you are not allowed to wear sandals, shorts or t shirts. Pictures are allowed mostly everywhere except at check points.

The trip lasts all day and starts from Kiev early morning as it takes around 1.5 hours to reach the exclusion zone. You have to go through 3 check points where you have to leave the bus and do a passport check. 

Pripyat is a very surreal city; all the people that lived there were asked to leave with only one piece of luggage as they were promised to go back to their homes within 2 weeks butthis never happened. 

As you enter the city of Pripyat; it feels like you have stepped back into the Soviet Union, with propaganda still in the streets and communist symbols in every corner of the derelict city. The apartment blocks, restaurants, school, swimming pool and amusement park, which only opened on the day of the evacuation to distract the residents, are slowly being consumed by the regeneration of forest and wildlife. It’s a very surreal experience.

There are many documentaries online where you can find footage of the time and see the vastity and destruction that this accident brought.  One in particular I found very interesting and it is called “The true battle of Chernobyl” and it is easily found on youTube. If you are planning to see this place I strongly recommend to watch it. 

the pictures are all taken with analogue film cameras and 35 mm films.