When you venture beyond your own backyard, your eyes are opened up to new creatures and new colours.
At home, the birds I see are brown, grey, black…dull. Not so enticing to look at. But in Africa, many bird species easily catch your eye.
That was the case with this Lilac-breasted Roller in the Serengeti, Tanzania. Perched atop a branch, it was posing politely, showing off it’s colourful plumage. As it is unlike any birds I see at home, I happily complied and snapped this photo.
After landing in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in Kamchatka, I had a couple of days to relax before exploring the Commander Islands and Kuril Islands off the coast of Russia.
This is the part of Russia beyond Siberia. The eastern edge of the largest country in the world. In Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, or PK as they say, everything seemed stuck in time. Old concrete block buildings everywhere. Nothing new, bright or exciting. As drab as it was, I loved it, and didn’t care that many Russians call PK the ugliest city in Russia.
This was just a temporary stop. I had islands to explore, and one that I was looking forward to most was Simushir Island in the Kurils. The island was mostly uninhabited over the years, but a size-able settlement was functioning here for nearly 20 years, with a top secret submarine base operating at Broutona Bay from about 1987 to 1994.
It was abruptly abandoned one day, leaving behind relics and buildings that tantalize your imagination. Plenty of Soviet Era artwork still adorns the walls in the empty buildings too.
Once home to thousands of people, the settlement had a hospital, large apartment blocks, school, livestock pens – now all lying in ruins. Books are scattered on the floor. Gun turrets rust outdoors, having never fired a shot. A shoe repair shop has half-finished repairs lying about and trucks now sit idle in fields being recaptured by nature.
It’s a spooky place in some ways, but fascinating at the same time.
The setting is beautiful. A large volcano in the background, a sheltered bay and beach out front. Wild foxes and birds all about. You can really envision families living here and having a good life. But then it all ended.
Where did they all go? Why did they abandon the settlement? Did they move to another top secret submarine base we don’t know about, or was it just time to close up shop and send everyone back to more populous cities?
Today, very few people visit this island. Perhaps some Russian fishing boats stop by now and then. Only a handful of tourist boats ever make it out here in any given year. It feels more like an outdoor museum than anything else.
Definitely a place unlike any other that I have visited. It made me wonder though, how many of these abandoned settlements exist throughout Russia?
Since I enjoy visiting far flung destinations, my Russian travel experience was short on cities like Moscow and big on remote island chains like the Commander and Kuril Islands in Far East Russia.
One of those islands just happened to have some interesting Cold War artwork and murals lying about – 20+ years after the settlement had been abandoned.
Simushir Island is a remote island in the Kuril Islands, which was once home to a thriving community at Broutona Bay. Now, less than 20 years after it was abandoned it is back on the map and can be visited by intrepid travellers who venture to Far East Russia.
One thing that stood out while walking through the eerily quiet buildings was the art work found on walls, including murals, mostly all paying homage to the Soviet Era rule and importance of strength and might during the Cold War era. Here, propaganda seemed to run rampant.
In the Kuril Islands, the battle was, and still is, with Japan. These disputed islands remain a source of contention, claimed by both Russia and Japan. The international community largely keeps out of this controversy, but the US has acknowledged that they believe Japan is the rightful owner of the islands. That surely doesn’t make Russia happy.
Back to the artwork! From images of tanks to murals of Lenin and cosmonauts, this was one of those places that seems a bit frozen in time.
Lenin is prominent in this abandoned settlement. Not surprising really, as from what I gathered from the people at a couple of settlements on other islands in this far end of Russia, they feel somewhat forgotten by the current leadership back in Moscow. At least when Lenin was around, they had supplies and infrastructure and purpose.
After visiting Simushir Island, I couldn’t help but think that the few inhabited islands I visited would one day have a similar fate. I suppose only time will tell.
The Spotted Deer is more commonly called the Chital in Sri Lanka and others parts of Southern Asia.
It is a very widely distributed deer species that is found in good numbers across the forests of India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Bhutan.
While many deer species have spots when they are young, this species retains their spotted hide even when they mature.
This Chital, or Spotted Deer, was photographed at Yala National Park in Sri Lanka.
There are currently nine different species / subspecies of Giraffes recognized to exist in Africa.
This is the Thornicroft’s Giraffe (formerly called the Rhodesian Giraffe), which can only be seen in the South Luangwa Valley in Zambia. This isolated species, G. c. thornicrofti, is believed to have fewer than 1500 individuals in existence.
As with other species of Giraffe, you can differentiate the Thornicroft’s Giraffe by it’s colouration and shape / location of it’s spots. This species has an almost cream coloured skin with ragged dark spots that extend all the way down from it’s neck to it’s legs. Compared to the Masai Giraffe, it’s spots are relatively light and spread apart.
Did you know that all Giraffes, both females and males, have what look like horns atop their heads? It is actually just built up cartilage, not a horn, and the males can use them as weapons while fighting for females during mating season.
