The Geysers' Valley
One of the oldest Reserves in Russia. Area – 1.007.100 ha.
Protected objects – plants – 600 species, birds – 212 species; the
Valley of Geysers, Volcano Uzon Caldera, Kronotskoe Lake, 9 active
volcanoes; 10 groups of thermal springs; the grove of Fur-tree Refined
– is the only one of its kind in the world.
Initially, the Kronotsky Nature Reserve was founded to protect
a small, predatory sable. Brown bear is undoubtedly the most popular
animal of the area. Besides, red foxes with amazingly thick and
bright fur, wolves and hares can be found. There on the lakes whistling
swans spend winter, on the waterside rocks colonies of birds nest.
Fur-tree Refined is the most mysterious plant in the Reserve.
For a longtime the scientists have been trying to explain why that
Fur-tree can be found only in that small corner of the world. Even
Kamchatka’s aborigines considered the grove to be a reserve.
 The
Pearl of Kronotsky Reserve is the Valley of Geysers, a real attraction
for every guest of Kamchatka.
In 2001 the famous geographic discovery of T.I. Ustinova celebrated
its 60 anniversary. It was S.P. Krasheninnikov who first described
the gushing boiling springs in the southern part of Kamchatka. But
“the sleeping beauty” was waiting for the chance. The way to the
valley was blocked by the growths of gigantic herbs, cedor and alder
trunks, which were closely interwoven. These places are uninhabited
till present time.
The helicopter flies round the Karymsky and Semyachik volcanoes.
. And in the canyon there are yellow outcrops of the slopes, the
winding Geysernaya River on the bottom, the steaming grounds, and
the white gushes of the fountains. The geysers are located here
for about 5 km. along the stream of the Geysernaya River, starting
with First Born (Pervenets) and up to Verkhniye geysers of Tripple
Waterfall.
Among hot springs, the geysers take a peculiar place. The periods
of their rest yield to the periods of stommy activity, each of them
has its own time of work.
This phenomenon is as beautiful as rare. Big geysers are located
only in Island, in the Yellowstone park of the USA and in New Zealand,
some small geysers – in California, Japan, and in the Tibet. But
there is hardly a place in the world where such a variety of magnificent
gushing springs can be found in so small a compass as in the Valley
of Geysers.
The Volley of Geysers is a specially protected area, included in
Kronotsky State Biospheric Reserve, only tourist groups can visit
this place today. The wooden floorings for hiking tours are specially
constructed for them here.
All geysers are different, they are not alike. Tripple geyser is
peculiar by its grayishbrown color of the geyserite and by three
griffons; Sugary Geyser has a form of the big lily- flower, Bolshoy
Geyser has the highest fountain, Maly Geyser is the most powerful
in the amount of water it erupts during 24 hours. Giant Geyser staggers
by its mightiness.
The wealth of forms and colors of the Valleys of Geysers is created
not only with the help of the whimsical cliffs and precipices, vegetation,
water and steam fountains, waterfalls, and geyserite cones but also
by the thermofilic algae and bacteria developing in any place, where
the jet of water appears.
The gushing of the hot spring is the result of a lot of factors:
the form and depth of the subterranean channel, the pressure, the
flow of the cold waters, the amount of the overheated steam. Geysers’
activity also depends on the amount of surfacewaters, for instance
precipitation, penetrating into the depths of the ground. Steam
and gas, separating from the magmatic heart warm the water, it boils
and erupts into the surface through the ground cracks.
The excursion lasts for 1,5 - 2 hours. After it you will be invited
for lunch. In the evening at about 5 p.m. you start for Petropavlovsk.
The Program:
Breakfast
Departure for the helicopter ground
Departure for the Valley of Geysers
Flight over the volcanoes
Excursion around the Valley of Geysers
Lunch
Rest, nature observation
Flight back to the helicopter ground
Back to the hotel
Dinner
You can order the combined tour to the Uzon caldera.
The Program:
Breakfast
Departure for the helicopter ground
Departure for the Valley of Geysers
Flight over the volcanoes
Excursion around the Valley of Geysers
Lunch
Flight to the caldera Uzon
Excursion in the caldera Uzon
Flight back to the helicopter ground
Back to the hotel
Dinner
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