Atomograd (Chernobyl & Prypyat) - October 2012 - Day 2
Following on from Atomograd (Chernobyl & Prypyat) - October 2012 - Day 1 and continuing on with the very slow processing progress going on with the images from this trip, it's time for day 2 of my 2nd trip to Chernobyl & Prypyat.
As with Day 1, below are some of my personal favourite shots from the 2nd day, the places visited include:
-Unfinished Cooling Towers-
-Buryakovka Vehicle Graveyard- (Not for very long as the radiation was too high)
-Hospital 126 (very briefly as we were thrown out by the guards)-
-School #1-
-Cultural Centre-
Not that many places were visited on the second day due to an all mighty f00k up with several members of the group. Basically we were promised free roam around the zone, exactly as it was during the first trip into the zone, sadly due to a change in policy this was not to be the case and we were stuck with a guide for the days.
Some members of the group decided this was not suitable and as soon as they could, they escaped out of one of the back windows of School #1 and disappeared thinking they would just be left to get on with things...this was not to be.
After about half an hour of us stood outside the front of the school, trying to convince our guide (who was new and seemed quite fearful of his job) that they were gone and not coming back, no matter how long we waited, he was not convinced. Eventually though he decided they were gone and took us back to the central square until he decided what the next plan of action would be.
As we got to the centre of Prypyat, he was greeted by one of the guards who drives around the zone (apparently some of these people are ex-kgb and not to be messed with), it turned out that this guy had bumped into one of the missing group and tried to question them, but the language barrier got in the way, so all he did was take the person's passport and drive off. Your passport is pretty much your ticket into the zone, as its checked at each checkpoint, so without that you are pretty knackered, I guess that is why they took it as they knew the person would have come back at some point to get it.
In the end this guy was far from happy that our guide had managed to lose 5 members of his group on one of his first shifts, so we were ordered to wait where we were until the other 5 people had been rounded up.
It took two hours for the missing 5 to all be tracked down, which feels even longer when you are stood there, in 30+ degree temperatures, fully clothed (you are not allowed any shorts or t-shirts in the zone) and its safe to say we were all pretty grumpy by that time...especially with the escapees, who were not in the bit apologetic about wasting almost 3 hours of our time all told...
Apologies for the number of photos, as you can probably understand, its just so hard to narrow down the shots!
[1]
[2]
[3] - Entrance to the Buryakovka Vehicle Graveyard
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7] & [8]
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13] - This was our view for 2+ hours whilst awaiting the return of the runaway's
[14]
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19] & [20]
Full Gallery Here
