Report - Pripyat Fairground & Supermarket, May16

[The Wombat]

Report 6 from our epic trip to Chernobyl

The supermarket & town square was my first experience in Pripyat, and it was thrilling to be walking around these derelict buildings, sometimes on my own. It was hot & humid, but silent.

No trip to Chernobyl would be complete without a trip to the legendary fairground! There were 4 attractions; The notorious ferris wheel, bumper cars, swing boats and a paratrooper ride. The ferris wheel has become a symbol of the Chernobyl disaster, but my personal favourite was the bumper cars.

The history is well documented on the net. In summary:

Pripyat was a purpose built city for Chernobyl nuclear power plant (pop nearly 50,000). Founded in 1970, the whole city was evacuated after The Chernobyl disaster happened in April 1986, in Ukraine, former USSR.

The city had been large enough for 20 schools for various ages, a hospital, numerous sports facilities, a fairground, fire & police station, shops and many housing blocks.

An explosion & fire released large quanties of radioactive particles into the atmosphere over current day Ukraine & Belarus. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history. It is one of only two level 7 events (the other being Fukushima in 2011.) To contain the contamination cost a lot money and lives. Today Pripyat remains uninhabited.

THE FAIRGROUND

Thanks for looking



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[urblex]

Would love to see this place one day, great photos & report like the b&w shot of the ferris wheel that is ace

 

[The Wombat]

Would love to see this place one day, great photos & report like the b&w shot of the ferris wheel that is ace

Thank you
It's definitely worth the trip

 

[The Kwan]

Another great set Mr Wombat, the fairground is certainly iconic, I really wanted to get some close up detail shots of the yellow telephone box in the square when I was there because that was iconic for me having seen pre disaster images but unfortunately two of our party went off on their own little detour which resulted in us all being rounded up and herded off by the KGB

 

[The Wombat]

Another great set Mr Wombat, the fairground is certainly iconic, I really wanted to get some close up detail shots of the yellow telephone box in the square when I was there because that was iconic for me having seen pre disaster images but unfortunately two of our party went off on their own little detour which resulted in us all being rounded up and herded off by the KGB

Many thanks uncle kwan
I think the fairground is certainly iconic
Hope you were joking about the KGB! :O

 

[The Kwan]

Hope you were joking about the KGB! :O

No joke Mr Wombat, it is funny now but at the time they were talking about booting the whole group out of the zone and not allowing us back in the next day, we were made to stand and wait whilst they searched and eventually found the pair, then we were kept under jankers by our guide who was nearly in tears because he was new and was looking at losing his job...mad or what but apparently someone had fallen through a floor the week previous so it was all about thier safety, turned out that we had a great trip in the end I would like to return to see Duga3 at some point.