Exodus Has Tour Into Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone
Just in time for fans of HBO’s Chernobyl, Exodus Travels has launched a new Chernobyl & Kiev Long Weekend tour scheduled to depart Nov. 7 and throughout 2019-2020.
This four-day exclusive experience ventures inside the isolated confines of Chernobyl’s Exclusion Zone, the evacuated town of Pripyat, and the “New Safe Confinement” structure that surrounds Reactor 4 – the cause of the 1986 explosion that led to the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
Exodus Travels is one of the only tour operators with a permit to the site. In keeping with the brand’s commitment to responsible travel, the trip will be run by locals who will ensure the area’s history and heritage are shared sensitively and respectfully. Guests will also stay and eat in locally owned businesses throughout the trip, so that surrounding communities may directly benefit from the visitors Exodus brings to the region.
“We are pleased to have secured unparalleled access to such a historical site, and to be working with guides who can share the story of Chernobyl in a meaningful and ethical manner,” says Robin Brooks, marketing director for Exodus Travels. “Providing our travellers with this once-in-a-lifetime experience – while enabling them to travel responsibly through collaboration with community leaders – is at the core of Exodus’ DNA as a company.”
The trip includes a three-hour tour of the restricted, but still-functioning Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and its nuclear control room and reactor hall. Visitors will be equipped with official NPP protective gowns, shoe coverings and a radiation-measuring dosimeter. After touring the plant, join modern-day workers in the canteen for lunch, and hear a firsthand account of what occurred during the fateful event. In Pripyat, discover the tens of thousands of homes left abandoned, observe the Red Forest, the region hit with the largest amount of radiation, and spend a night within the deserted Exclusion Zone. From there, visit the oddity that is the Soviet-era military Duga radar system, once erected to launch ballistic missiles, and wander the grounds of some of Kiev’s historical landmarks, such as the UNESCO World Heritage Site Lavra Monastery.
The first departure will be Nov. 7. The per-person double rate starts at $1,249 and includes all activities, accommodation in three-star hotels, as well as a night in a basic hotel inside the Exclusion Zone, local transportation, experienced local guides, all breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, and transfers for group flights.
