Valley of Geysers
A steaming volcanic canyon of geysers and hot springs, reached only by helicopter.
About
In the Kronotsky Nature Reserve, a river canyon is dotted with geysers, boiling pools and bubbling mud pots, with steam drifting between bright green slopes. It is one of the largest geyser fields in the world outside Iceland and the United States.
Visitors walk on boardwalks with a ranger-guide, and brown bears are often seen in the surrounding hills. Numbers are limited to protect the area.
A mudslide in 2007 changed the valley, and some features have since recovered or shifted.
History
The valley was found in 1941 by a geologist, Tatyana Ustinova, and her guide. It lies within the Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage property, listed in 1996. The Kronotsky Nature Reserve was established in 1934, and the discovery of the valley soon led to scientific study of its geysers. In June 2007 a huge landslide buried part of the valley and dammed a river, forming a temporary lake. Some geysers were flooded or buried, though others reappeared after the water fell.
UNESCO World Heritage: Inscribed 1996.