By Sergey Rogalsky  (C) 2001 (most of the photos are by the author)

 For a thousand miles from the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Japanese northern island of Hokkaido, the eastern edge of Russia is bordered by islands.  More than 30 islands comprise the Kurile chain that rises above the Pacific and includes no less than 40 active and a multitude of extinct volcanoes. 

We are covering the southernmost islands.  The South Kurile administrative district includes two inhabited islands, Kunashir and Shikotan, plus a group of small, uninhabited islands titled Habomai.

The journey to the South Kuriles is made on a comfortable ship of the Far Eastern Steamship Company from the Sakhalin Island port of Korsakov and takes some 36 hours.  Seagulls accompany the ship from port for a long time and in the open ocean one sees playing dolphins and whales.

Suddenly, a majestic view opens before your eyes:  Kunashir Island with its mountainous ridges and volcanoes.  “Kunashir” is translated as “black island” in the language of the original aboriginal inhabitants, the Ainu.  There are four active volcanoes here, with the highest Tyatya at just under 6,000 feet.  The lower slopes of Tyatya are covered with a forest skeleton, created when the mountain woke up in 1973 with an awesome display of ash plumes and peals of thunder.

Administrative Center

The region’s administrative center is South Kurilsk town, near Mendeleev volcano, which is covered by smoking terrain.  Several salmon and crab processing plants which form the backbone of the islands’ economy are located here.  Kunashir island stretches for 76 miles from southwest to northeast and has a surface area of 579 square miles.

(Photo credit unknown: the Ainu are white-skinned Asians, probably descended from ancient Siberian peoples.)

About six hours voyage from Kunashir another mysterious island awaits viewers.  This is Shikotan, which in the Ainu language means “best place.”   It is difficult to find a more fantastic land on this earth.  There is no end of fantasy in geographical names here, including “End of the World” Cape.

There are two extinct volcanoes on Shikotan:  Tomari and Notoro.  They are not high, with the highest point on the island 1,352 ft. above sea level.  Shikotan is 15 miles long, with a total area of 100 square miles.  Two deep bays cut into Shikotan and are the site of two fishing communities:   Small-Kurilsk.and Krabozavodsk.

Exotic Fauna

The South Kuriles sport an exotic combination of subtropical and subarctic vegetation.  There are mixed forests of Sakhalin Fir, Blue Ainu Fir, Birch, Silver Fir, Rowan, Birdseye Cherry, Yew and Sakhalin Cork.  The ground is covered with a soft carpet of moss, ferns, lycopodium and wild Rosemary, sometimes interspersed with ‘islands’ of Juniper.  Kuril Bamboo is plentiful.  River and stream valleys support Alder and Elder trees and the ravine slopes thickets of poisonous Chinese Sumac, while many bushes and trees are interwined by Liana vines.  Several valuable medicinal plants growing in the South Kuriles include Aralia, Schizandra Chinese and Rodiola Rose.

The unique mix of vegetation and the smoking volcanos backdrops make the Kuriles a potentially ideal site as a film location.

Fish Abound
 

There are many different fish in the seas and rivers of the Kuriles.  In August, Salmon come into fresh waters for spawning.  From August to October, Kurile fish processing plants are working at capacity.  Trawlers catch Salmon in the open ocean.  The main production of the plants is tinned Salmon and Salmon Roe.  Local residents fish for Salmon in the bays and rivers with special permits issued.  Nets, harpoons and spinning rods are employed.

A very valuable fish, Saury, called “night pearl” is in the waters surrounding Shikotan.  This fishery is done at night, with violet lamps shone on the water to attract the fish to nets.  Shikotan processors produce a large quantity of canned Saury, including natural, blanched and smoked variations. 

Special trawlers extract Laminaria (a kelp-like seaweed) from the ocean floor near the Habomai islands and deliver to Shikotan for processing.

In the rivers, one can fish for Trout.  In the bays, Flounder, Sea Perch,. Smelt and Crab are all important catches.  Crab come inshore at night on low tides.  Large ocean Crab are caught in open seas by special ships for processing.

Fauna Variety

The animal world of Kunashir is richer than Shikotan.  Bears live here, and the arctic Sable dwells in the forests.  Three kinds of Rat Snakes inhabit this island (Skaless, Island and Japanese).  Two families of very rare Japanese Cranes nest on Kunashir.

Many foxes and rodents live on Shikotan.  There are more than 100 species of birds here, including Gulls, Crows and Golden Eagles.

We must note the efforts of the Russian government to preserve these heavenly places.  In 1984 a state reserve was established in the South Kuriles, covering a territory of 160,000 acres.  It is forbidden by law to journey into this territory except for special permission.  However, it is possible to make organized excursions with the accompaniment of reserve workers or licensed guides.

This land will attract forever the people with a romantic soul.

Editor’s notes:  The Kurile Islands have long been a bone of contention between Russia and Japan.  Imperial Russia controlled the region until the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905, when the Japanese occupied Sakahlin and the Kuriles.  At the end of World War II, Russia declared war on the Japanese and swiftly regained this lost territory (though some fierce, virtually unreported  fighting took place).  With Russian reoccupation, native Ainus, Japanese and Korean settlers were repatriated to Japan.  The Soviet regime provided incentives to enccourage a flow of Russian settlers to the area  in  the decade following the war, with the purpose of developing natural resources including agriculture, oil, coal and fisheries.  The Kurile Islands were first charted by Dutch seamen in the 17th century.

Travel notes:  Fesco, the Far Eastern Steamship Co. (with U.S. offices in Seattle) sails a freqeunt freight route from the U.S. to Vladivostok (12 days sailing) on the Russian mainland and to Korsakov on Sakhalin Island.  It operates connecting routes for passengers and freight from Sakhalin to the Kuriles.  This is an American/Russian joint venture to exploit the considerable resources of the region we profile.  Far Eastern’s history dates to its founding in Vladivostok in 1880 (actor Yul Brynner’s grandfather was an early principal and the company maintains the actor’s birthplace as a shrine).  Air connections are now available from the U.S. via Reeve Aleutian Air from Anchorage.  Sakhalin Air Trans flies to Kunashir in the Kuriles.

(Editor’s note  Sergey here offers a profile of his remote part of this planet.  His English is better than our Russian, so I have polished his original text a bit.  FD)

Links:  Travel Eastern Russia |  Fesco  |