GHOST TOWN - my rides through chernobyl area

[helderheid]

A PEEK INSIDE THE AREA OF THE WORST CIVILIAN NUCLEAR DISASTER IN HISTORY.





A girl by the name of Elena took a motorbike ride to Chernobyl and put up this website. This is absolutely mesmerizing; each photo more interesting than the one before.

http://www.myownlittleserver.us/chernobyl

http://www.myownlittleserver.us/chernobyl/chapter1.html

[WindRavenX]

1. Horrifying

There was another photographer who did all Black and White photos of the people and animals that suffer now because of the radiation.

[gravity]

9. The radiation is ironically helping the animals

Wildlife defies Chernobyl radiation

It contains some of the most contaminated land in the world, yet it has become a haven for wildlife - a nature reserve in all but name.

The exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power station is teeming with life.

As humans were evacuated from the area 20 years ago, animals moved in. Existing populations multiplied and species not seen for decades, such as the lynx and eagle owl, began to return.

There are even tantalising footprints of a bear, an animal that has not trodden this part of Ukraine for centuries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4923342.stm

[jus_the_facts]

2. I posted about this same thing a year or so ago...got told it was bogus...

...just fyi. :shrug:

[HooptieWagon]

5. I heard that a few of the photos were staged...

... but the bulk of what she's done seems legit. Some of the "facts" may be off too - I have heard the number killed was far less, but no one seems to know the exact number - records weren't being kept during the disaster. It does appear that many (if not most) of the initial responders died, and there are still health issues with people who lived downwind of the reactor, and children absorbing high radiation levels from locally grown food in Belarus(?).

I did show the website to several Ukrainian immigrant friends, and they thought it seemed pretty legit - although they weren't told much by their govt at the time or during the following years.

[davepc]

3. Reportedly a hoax

I am sorry to report that much of Elena's story is not true. She did not travel around the zone by herself on a motorcycle. Motorcycles are banned in the zone, as is wandering around alone, without an escort from the zone administration. She made one trip there with her husband and a friend. They traveled in a Chornobyl car that picked them up in Kyiv.

She did, however, bring a motorcycle helmet. They organized their trip through a Kyiv travel agency and the administration of the Chornobyl zone (and not her father). They were given the same standard excursion that most Chernobyl tourists receive. When the Web site appeared, Zone Administration personnel were in an uproar over who approved a motorcycle trip in the zone. When it turned out that the motorcycle story was an invention, they were even less pleased about this fantasy Web site.

Because of those problems, Elena and her husband have changed the Web site and the story considerably in the last few days. Earlier versions of the narrative lied more blatantly about Elena taking lone motorcycle trips in the zone. That has been changed to merely suggest that she does so, which is still misleading.

http://boingboing.net/2004/05/26/girl_photoblogs_cher.html

[triguy46]

6. yep. old news.

[devilgrrl]

8. I did not know that!

Thanks for saying something, that was one of my favorite sites. Wow, what a let down. :-(

[DURHAM D]

4. Thank you so much for posting.

I am having trouble constructing a response - just stops you in your tracks.

[Redstone]

7. I've read that. Utterly fascinating. Kicking so more people see your post.

Redstone

[HooptieWagon]

10. OK, here's what i've found updated into mid-2006

Elena's trip ( and accuracy or lack thereof) is discussed in this thread over a couple year period. http://www.uer.ca/forum_showthread_archive.asp?fid=1&threadid=8951&currpage=1

Apparently, she only made one trip, it was with a standard tour group (by car). Roads in Pripyat are too bad to be ridden on by bikes (which are forbidden in the Zone). Her father isn't a nuclear scientist. Most of the photos on her website were taken by her ex-husband (who allegedly also owns the bike, but I haven't seen that claim substantiated), but that would have to be since Elena was in many of the photos. As I stated in my post above, some of the photos were "staged", ie: items moved or located for dramatic effect, but most aren't, and they aren't photoshopped.

One of Elena's (who apparently is really named Lena - but that may be just a technicality) biggest critics is a Ukrainian-American woman named Mary Mycia - website here:

http://chernobyl.in.ua/en/home

Mary claims to have made about 30 trips to Chernobyl/Pripyat over the past dozen or so years, and has written a book about it. She moved back to Kiev a few years ago and is a legal counselor for Ukrainian journalists. She does give credit to Elena for bringing a renewal of interest in Chernobyl; and interestingly, many of her photos look similar. She also says that although there is a certain amount of danger, Elena overstates it. Mary has pictures of walking through the Red Forest, for instance. She estimates that her total accumulated exposure is less than a dozen transatlantic air flights.

So anyway, who is right - the cute "biker" chick or the cute lawyer/journalist? I have no idea, but I enjoyed the photos and stories of both. You can decide for yourselves.

[Syncronaut Seven]

11. Absolutely recommended!

I saw this a couple years ago. I can still recall several of the images vividly.

And here, in America, with it's Evangelical Christians clamoring for nuclear annihilation, and in the absence of any sort of sane nuclear policy.

Sometimes I imagine how peaceful it is. The Magic Forest sounds like an interesting place.

What!?! No Nuclear smiley?

DU, :yourock: