We are a group of volunteers from Moscow. In September 2012 we are going to Kunashir Island, the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands. We are driven not only by the desire to see the breathtaking beauty of the Kuril Islands, the ocean and the rising sun. We also aim to help the Kuril State Natural Reserve.
Kunashir Island is a unique and specially protected natural site. We realize that in the modern world we cannot fully protect nature from the humans. What we can do, however, is to minimize the influence of humans on nature, the habitat of birds and animals. We can clean the rubbish, make routs for travellers, organize minimal facilities, such as camping sites, for them.
During the two weeks of our stay at Kunashir Island we will:
· Mark and clean the 11 kilometer path for recording birds and animals across the Island from the Pacific Ocean to the sea of Okhotsk
· Set up temporary camping sites in the area of Golovin volcano
· Repair cordon Ozerniy in the area of Golovin volcano
· Mark and clean the ecological path in the caldera of Golovin volcano
· Clean the rubbish on the ecological path Stolbovskaya and at the Cape Stolbchatiy
During our expedition we are also planning to visit local schools and environmental children’s organizations. We want to share with children our volunteer experience, tell them about our expedition and hold creative master classes.
We are volunteers and first of all we are driven by the willingness to do good, help people and the environment. We are not paid for participation in this volunteer project.
Participants of the volunteer expedition.
Aleksey Andryushin
Kunashir… Why would one fly so far away? A small piece of land, behind it… just endless ocean, typhoons, tsunami, whales and barracudas. The land of mysterious ainu, spiced up with the splashes of the sea and volcanic ashes, where there are more bears-islanders than human-islanders, and the troops of the sea winds are ruled by grey volcanoes, as old as time…
Aleksandr Kozlov
Long, long ago our ancestors heroically conquered the edge of the world from the indomitable nature. They gifted us the lands of outstanding beauty lost in the ocean. Our task is to preserve them. We must do our best to keep the beauty of the rich Russian land.
Svetlana Yakovleva
The daily environment of a Moscow lawyer is often limited to closed spaces of offices, governmental institutions, metro, apartment…
For me this expedition is an opportunity to go beyond possible and even imaginable. 10 hours by plain to the edge of the world, 24 hours on a ship, 2 weeks in the tent... not only to see, but also to help. All this adds some mysterious romance to the journey.
Lidia Krinova
As a child I always dreamt to become a traveller and explorer. Grew up, but everything has been already discovered and found, all trails explored.
Volunteering is a sincere impulsion to help. It opens the doors, gives new opportunities.
This expedition is a real adventure, a chance to challenge yourself and the team. I’ve got goosebumps just of an idea of the tents near the ocean, volcanoes and bears.
Aleksandra Levina
From the very childhood I wanted to visit the Kuril Islands. The thing is that my mom wanted to work for a national park after graduating from the university. But in those times it was extremely difficult, and the competition was enormous. As a result my mom was directed to work at Far East, but in the end she didn’t stand the contest to work for the national park.
The sister of my grandfather, by will of fate, found herself in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The mother and younger brother of hers and my grandfather were killed with an axe in the village during collectivization. She had a miracle escape, went to Moscow to her grandfather, got married and came to Sakhalin. Her husband worked in the forest, and from the childhood I heard many stories about Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the ocean, volcanoes, fish, forest, lakes, bears, settlements and… somehow about Koreans. It is like a fairy tale, familiar from the childhood.
This is why, I think, I want to go to the Kuril Islands so much: to the national park where my mom wanted but couldn’t work, to aunt Lelya who mysteriously escaped and is living at Sakhalin now… It should be a clean, untouched place, and we will help to make it even more beautiful.
Kunashir… Why would one fly so far away? A small piece of land, behind it… just endless ocean, typhoons, tsunami, whales and barracudas. The land of mysterious ainu, spiced up with the splashes of the sea and volcanic ashes, where there are more bears-islanders than human-islanders, and the troops of the sea winds are ruled by grey volcanoes, as old as time…
Aleksandr Kozlov
Long, long ago our ancestors heroically conquered the edge of the world from the indomitable nature. They gifted us the lands of outstanding beauty lost in the ocean. Our task is to preserve them. We must do our best to keep the beauty of the rich Russian land.
Svetlana Yakovleva
The daily environment of a Moscow lawyer is often limited to closed spaces of offices, governmental institutions, metro, apartment…
For me this expedition is an opportunity to go beyond possible and even imaginable. 10 hours by plain to the edge of the world, 24 hours on a ship, 2 weeks in the tent... not only to see, but also to help. All this adds some mysterious romance to the journey.
Lidia Krinova
As a child I always dreamt to become a traveller and explorer. Grew up, but everything has been already discovered and found, all trails explored.
Volunteering is a sincere impulsion to help. It opens the doors, gives new opportunities.
This expedition is a real adventure, a chance to challenge yourself and the team. I’ve got goosebumps just of an idea of the tents near the ocean, volcanoes and bears.
Aleksandra Levina
From the very childhood I wanted to visit the Kuril Islands. The thing is that my mom wanted to work for a national park after graduating from the university. But in those times it was extremely difficult, and the competition was enormous. As a result my mom was directed to work at Far East, but in the end she didn’t stand the contest to work for the national park.
The sister of my grandfather, by will of fate, found herself in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. The mother and younger brother of hers and my grandfather were killed with an axe in the village during collectivization. She had a miracle escape, went to Moscow to her grandfather, got married and came to Sakhalin. Her husband worked in the forest, and from the childhood I heard many stories about Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the ocean, volcanoes, fish, forest, lakes, bears, settlements and… somehow about Koreans. It is like a fairy tale, familiar from the childhood.
This is why, I think, I want to go to the Kuril Islands so much: to the national park where my mom wanted but couldn’t work, to aunt Lelya who mysteriously escaped and is living at Sakhalin now… It should be a clean, untouched place, and we will help to make it even more beautiful.
