Secrets parts of the Chernobyl exclusion zone most tourists don’t see

Under the cover of darkness, an outlaw tour guide is leading an illegal trip through one of the most dangerous, radioactive places on earth.

The former Soviet city of Pripyat might be the most popular abandoned place on the planet.

The Ukrainian city, which was left deserted after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, has become a massive drawcard for international tourists keen to step inside its still-radioactive exclusion zone.

Hundreds of holiday-makers arrive each day in Pripyat for official tours of safer parts of the exclusion zone. The number of visitors is growing rapidly, partly spurred by the recent success of the HBO series Chernobyl.

Visitors walk in Pripyat during a tour of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP

But as nuclear tourism becomes increasingly popular in Pripyat, more intrepid tourists are growing tired of the well-worn tourist track.

So they’re seeking outlaw tour guides, like Chernobyl “stalker” Kiril Stepanets, to lead them on illegal tours into darker, riskier parts of the region still contaminated after the worst atomic accident in history.

And in his report that airs on Foreign Correspondent tonight, ABC’s Europe correspondent Linton Besser goes along for the ride.

Pripyat is now a ghost town. Picture: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

‘AN ILLEGAL TRIP’

It’s been 33 years since reactor four at the Chernobyl power plant exploded, causing a catastrophic meltdown that forced about 50,000 people to evacuate Pripyat, where the official population is now zero.

The exclusion zone captures a 30km radius of contaminated land. At the centre of it is the power plant itself, which scientists say will remain radioactive for another 20,000 years.

On official Chernobyl tours, guides armed with Geiger counters lead visitors through parts of the exclusion zone deemed safe for humans to briefly visit. They pass homes and buildings people fled in the disaster’s aftermath. They pass a decrepit amusement park, featuring a graveyard of rusty bumper cars and an eerily still ferris wheel. They also see decaying Soviet-era propaganda posters, a sign of a city frozen in time.

Posters and portraits in a building in Pripyat. Picture: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

Tour guides say they’re spending more and more time in the radioactive exclusion zone to cater for the growing demand for Chernobyl tourism, Besser reports.

“I come here quite often,” tour guide Lara tells him.

“Nowadays it’s quite busy. I spend about 20, 22 days of the month here.

“I could be wrong but (there were) about 75,000 people (visiting) last year. And this year I can’t forecast … but I suppose two times higher (than that).”

Tour guides like Kiril Stepanets are also seeing a roaring trade at Chernobyl, although his tours operate in areas deemed strictly off limits.

Kiril Stepanets takes tourists on alternative tours of the exclusion zone.

Mr Stepanets is part of a subculture of “stalkers” — illegal explorers who are fascinated by dark sites like Chernobyl.

Mr Stepanets was underwhelmed by an official tour he did of the site 10 years ago, and with a group of friends, he decided to break into the exclusion zone and explore the area himself.

He’s snuck into the Chernobyl site about 100 times since, and now takes tourists with him.

“I still discover something new for myself every single time,” he tells Foreign Correspondent.

“I feel that my whole life is connected to the Chernobyl zone … To really meet the Chernobyl zone, one has to go on (an) illegal trip.”

Mr Stepanets leads tourists through the no-go zone on the secret tour.

Besser and his crew join Mr Stepanets as he leads four British tourists on one of his illegal trips into the no-go zone, under the cover of darkness.

One of the tourists says he thinks the official tours of Chernobyl are too restricted and boring.

“It’s an amazing experience most people can’t say they’ve done, and I think it will be worth it, hopefully,” his mate says.

The group will trek over several days and cover about 80sq km of land still considered unsafe for humans to inhabit.

They bring their own food, including two-minute noodles and chocolate. They also need to evade police checkpoints along the way.

“Authorities say they have to get tough on it, but our people have been brought up that the more you prohibit something, the more they want it,” Mr Stepanets says.

LEGACIES OF CHERNOBYL

Besser ventures into other parts of the area around Chernobyl most tourists don’t see.

He visits the region’s “babushka communities” — secret communities of elderly people who defied evacuation orders and still live in the contaminated exclusion zone.

One of the babushkas, a woman aged 73, continues to live off the land in her village of Kupavate, growing her own potatoes, onions, tomatoes and berries. The radiation levels here are less intense than other areas.

This ‘babushka’ defied orders to leave her home in Pripyat after the disaster.

“We are used to our village. We love this nature, we love our motherland,” she says.

“Our grand and great-grandparents are buried here and we also want to be buried in our own graveyard and nowhere else.”

She also said: “Radiation is radiation. I have told you already that it is an invisible enemy.”

Besser joins the woman as she makes an emotional return to the council building where she worked before the nuclear accident. She was in charge of the local evacuation.

“They kept telling us, ‘It’s just for three days, three days. Take just your papers’,” she says.

“The people did just that, they took their papers only. Yet the way it all has worked out, we were removed for good.

“It’s very hard to remember this. Very hard.”

There are about 120 “self-settlers” still living in Pripyat despite the evacuation orders, and many live to old age.

Children are still dealing with the medical fallout of the disaster.

In other areas affected by the fallout, young residents are the latest victims of the Chernobyl disaster.

About 50 people died in the immediate blast and the expected death toll from radiation exposure is about 4000, according to the United Nations. But today, about 350,000 children are living with various health conditions linked to the disaster.

During his report, Besser visits the Institute of Specialised Radiation Protection hospital near the Ukraine capital Kiev, which takes on hundreds of new patients each year — all of them children.

Despite the demand, the institute is under-resourced, largely due to Ukraine being one of the poorest countries in Europe.

The Institute of Specialised Radiation Protection deals mostly with young patients.

Sometimes children stay for up to three weeks at the hospital so their bodies can have a reprieve from the radiation in their villages. But they always have to return to their contaminated homes.

“It’s more of a disappointment because you put a lot of effort into this, you pour your soul into those kids, and then they go back to the places where it all starts again,” the hospital’s head nurse says.

“Yet it’s not within our power as medics or as an institution to change that.”

Besser visits as one of the young patients, nine-year-old Kristina, is tested for epilepsy. Like many children born near Chernobyl, Kristina also has thyroid problems.

Young Kristina is one of thousands of children suffering the effects of living close to Chernobyl.

While an increasing number of tourists are attracted to the morbid thrill of stepping inside the nuclear exclusion zone, for children like Kristina, illness is a legacy of Chernobyl they can’t escape.

“I don’t think that these children understand the nature of their illness,” the nurse says.

“They do understand that it’s dangerous and scary.”

Linton Besser’s report “Fallout” airs on ABC’s Foreign Correspondent on Tuesday at 8pm and on Friday at 1.30pm. It also available on iview.