In 1986 REACTOR NUMBER 4 exploded.
Residents were forced out of their homes, and given only hours to collect all they could carry. They believed that they would be home again soon, but almost 3 decades later, the towns and villages of the Chernobyl exclusion zone are still deserted. Devoid of all human life, radiation has turned this land into an urban wasteland. It’s a tragic story of human folly, but for the dark tourist it’s better than Christmas.
Here are a few of the things I saw in the Exclusion Zone! Radiation level, high.
Highway to the Danger Zone!
The lost villages.
Empty beds in an empty kindergarten.
The dodgems.
A lovely day at the funfair.
Fancy a swim?
School’s out forever.
Radioactive gas masks.
Radioactive books.
A radioactive gym.
A radioactive truck.
The Russian Woodpecker. The Soviet’s loved their giant radar contraptions. The bigger the better.
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All Photos Property of Richard Collett
For more photos from the road, then check out The Things I Saw In Bosnia.
It’s amazing how creepy an abandoned amusement park can be. Although I guess part of the creepiness comes from knowing what caused it to be that way…
Great photos, regardless!
Hi Evan, Chernobyl takes creepiness to a whole new level. It’s a rather harrowing place to visit!
Did you go through a tour and how long did you spend in Ukraine? Very interested in visiting Chernobyl!
Hi, yes you have to visit on a tour as it is quite a restricted zone! I visited from Kiev with a company called Solo east Travel http://www.tourkiev.com/
I spent over a week exploring Kiev, including the trip to Chernobyl. I’ll have a more detailed article published soon about the visit, so watch this space!
Wonderful photography! I would love to one day make a trip just to see the site. It is part of my bucket list.
Thank you Scotty, it’s well worth a trip.
Wow, the photos alone are amazing. I’d love to visit but it almost looks too creepy for me!
Incredibly creepy, if you can get over the creepiness it’s a great place to see!
Pretty amazing photos. I notice you say “radioactive” a couple of times. Is there still a lot of radiation in the area, and how do the tours deal with that — do you have to wear radiation suits?
Thanks Paul. It’s fairly radioactive, but only in certain areas (i.e the reactor!), and you are kept away from anywhere that’s really dangerous. The radiation levels aren’t really that high in the places you see, there’s more radiation on a plane flight! You also have frequent radiation checks, and then decontamination if you are above abnormal levels (not that this happened!), but no radiation suits (unfortunately!).
This has always been a destination high on my list.
Unfortunately the tensions with Russia made it too unstable when we were last close to the region, but I will get there one day!
When were you close? Kiev was a world away from the trouble on the Russian border.
Wow, this looks like it must have been really intense. I felt a similar way at the killing fields in cambodia.
Very intense. This was a lot spookier than the Killing Fields, but I think the Killing Fields were still more moving.
Wow! These pictures are so eerie and amazing. I’m fascinated with abandoned places but not been to any yet.
Thanks Hayley, you should get exploring 🙂