Kuril Islands

KURIL ISLANDS

The Kuril Islands are one of the most out-of-the-way places in Russia. They are lost in te Pacific Ocean of Russian Far East. It's not easy to get there – along flight to Sakhalin, then domestic flight or long sailing by boat to the islands.

Those travelers, who don't save their expenses and time can enjoy incredible fantastic landscapes of the archipelago – volcanoes and thermal springs, majestic cliffs and harsh waves of the Sea of Okhotsk, low trees and tall grass..

Be ready to try delicious fresh seafood and fish – shrimps, crabs, scallop, salmon and red salmon roe – everything is really just-caught from the local sea and cooked according to the special authentic receipts.

And of course meet the locals who are the real pearl of the islands!

There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. It consists of the Greater Kuril Chain and the Lesser Kuril Chain. The total land area is 4,055 sq mi.

All the islands are under Russian administration. Two largest ones are Iturup and Kunashir.

The Kuril Islands form part of the ring of tectonic instability encircling the Pacific Ocean referred to as the Ring of Fire.

The Islands of the Kuril Archipelagio

There are 56 islands and many minor rocks. It consists of the Greater Kuril Chain and the Lesser Kuril Chain.

ITURUP
Iturup historically also called Etrof is one of the Kuril Islands. It was formerly known as Staten Island. It is the largest and northernmost island in the southern Kurils, ownership of which is disputed by Japan and Russia.

The island was Japanese territory until the end of the Second World War in 1945, when Soviet forces took possession of all the Kurils and forced out Japanese residents. The island is still claimed by Japan, which considers a site on Iturup to be its northernmost point.

Iturup is located near the southern end of the Kuril chain, between Kunashir and Urup. The town of Kurilsk, administrative center of Kurilsky District, is located roughly midway along its western shore.
KUNASHIR
Kunashir Island, possibly meaning Black Island or Grass Island in Ainu, is the southernmost island of the Kuril Islands archipelago. The island is currently under Russian control, though Japan also claims the island.

Kunashir Island is formed by four volcanoes which were separate islands but have since joined together by low-lying areas with lakes and hot springs. All these volcanoes are still active: Tyatya (1,819 m), Smirnov, Mendeleev, and Golovnin. The island is made up of volcanic and crystalline rocks.

Kunashir, along with the neighbouring Lesser Kuril Chain of smaller islands, has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because they support populations of various threatened bird species, including many waterbirds, seabirds and waders.
SHIKOTAN
Shikotan, also known as Shpanberg (after Martin Spangberg), is an island in the Kurils - the part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast.

The island's primary economic activities are fisheries and fishing, with the principal marine products being cod, crab, and kelp. The name Shikotan derives from the Ainu language and means "the village proper" or "real town".

The island is hilly, averaging 300 metres in elevation. The shores of the island are very indented and covered with oceanic meadows. The island is formed by the volcanic rock and sandstone of the Upper Cretaceous and Cenozoic periods. There are two extinct volcanoes on Shikotan: Mount Tomari and Mount Notoro.
URUP
Urup is an uninhabited volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain in the south of the Sea of Okhotsk, northwest Pacific Ocean. Its name is derived from the Ainu language word for salmon trout. It was formerly known as Company's Land.

Urup has a roughly rectangular shape, measuring 120 kilometres along its long axis and approximately 20 kilometres along its narrow axis. It is the fourth largest of the Kuril Islands, with an area of 1,430 square kilometres. The highest point is Gora Ivao at 1,426 metres.

In the spring and summer crested auklet, tufted puffin, and pigeon guillemot nest on the island; there is also a colony of black-legged kittiwake.
PARAMUSHIR
Paramushir is a volcanic island in the northern portion of Kuril Islands chain in the Sea of Okhotsk in the northwest Pacific Ocean. Its northern tip is 39 km (24 mi) from Cape Lopatka at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Its name is derived from the Ainu language, from "broad island". Severo-Kurilsk, the administrative center of the Severo-Kurilsky district, is the only permanently populated settlement on Paramushir island.

Geologically, Paramushir is a continuous chain of 23 volcanoes. At least five of them are active: Chikurachki with a height of 1,816 m is the highest peak on Paramushir and the third highest in the Kuril Islands. It has erupted in 1690, 1853, 1859, 1933 and several times between 1957–2008. During the most recent eruption in August 2008, the volcanic ash reached the town of Severo-Kurilsk located 60 km north-east; Fuss Peak with a height of 1,772 m is a conical stratovolcano. It has erupted in 1742, 1854 and 1934; Lomonosov Group with a height of 1,681 m is part of the Chikurachki group; Karpinsky Group with a height of 1,345 m has erupted in 1957; Ebeko, with a height of 1,345 m has erupted numerous times, most recently in 1990. The central crater of Ebeko is filled by a caldera lake about 20 m deep.
ATLASOV
Atlasov Island is the northernmost island and volcano and also the highest volcano of the Kuril islands, part of the Sakhalin Oblast in Russia.

The island is named after Vladimir Atlasov, a 17th-century Russian explorer who incorporated the nearby Kamchatka Peninsula into Russia. It is essentially the cone of the submarine volcano Vulkan Alaid protruding above the Sea of Okhotsk to a height of 2,339 metres. The island has an area of 119 square kilometres, but is currently uninhabited.

Its near perfect shape gave rise to many legends about the volcano among the peoples of the region, such as the Itelmens and Kuril Ainu. The Russian scientist Stepan Krasheninnikov was told the story that it was once a mountain in Kamchatka, but the neighbouring mountains became jealous of its beauty and exiled it to the sea, leaving behind Kurile Lake in southern Kamchatka.