The general outline of the Chernobyl disaster is rather straightforward. On the night of April 25/26 1986, something went wrong during the scheduled systems test on reactor 4 of the V. I. Lenin Nuclear Power Plant located in Pripyat.

This haywire caused a series of steam explosions with a huge fallout of radiation, ultimately touching the entirety of Europe, although the biggest impact hit Belarus, whose borders are just several kilometers from Pripyat.

Thirty-six hours later, the entire population of Pripyat and the villages around was evacuated while the firefighters tried hard to stop the fire and prevent further damages, which could have led to a far worse scenario. It was only recently that the information about the greatest danger of the disaster was released. If the water reservoirs hadn’t been timely protected, the entire Europe would have turned into a radioactive desert.

In roughly 1h 40m of the drive from Kyiv Central Station, we reached the first stop – the checkpoint Dytyatky. The passport and tickets check were very thorough; we were also warned at every stage of the booking that an error in the reservation could jeopardize our excursion.

Happily barking dogs, little shops with coffee, hot wine, “radioactive” souvenirs and bright winter sun – these are what welcomed us at the entrance of the Zone.

Our second stop was at one of the abandoned settlements called Zalissya. You’ve probably seen all those pictures with creepy dolls in the ruined schools. It was glaring in front of us as we entered the abandoned nursery.

I was born less than a year after the USSR collapsed. In my early childhood, I witnessed many attributes from that time and many of them I easily recognized in this nursery. Dolls, toys, beds, other furniture – It felt so real like it all came directly from my own childhood that I could almost feel that characteristic “soviet” smell.

Our group also entered an abandoned home with all the objects and knick-knacks still intact. Although not really intact. One couldn’t help wondering at weird positions of these objects, which could hardly have been left that way (why on earth would someone put a shoe on old newspapers?) but during those years, Chernobyl Exclusion zone was a major attraction for stalkers and looters, regardless of the dangers they may undergo. Therefore, the original setting didn’t exactly survive till this day.

After passing the second checkpoint Leliv, we headed to Pripyat; pulling over on our way, next to what used to be a village called Kopachi.

Its wooden houses had been destroyed and buried in the ground as the wood absorbed an enormous radiation dose. Little hills and yellow signs with the abbreviation for “Temporary nuclear waste localization point Kopachi” remind of its former existence.

The same thing happened to the Red Forest – a large pine forest, which absorbed the radiation to the extent of changing the color of the trees into rusty red. Some of the most contaminated parts were also buried in the ground.

The radiation level in the forest is still extremely high, and people who venture to explore it with the stalker-guides risk not only their health, but also that of their close ones.

Finally, we were in Pripyat, a place which is often regarded a Dead Town. The exemplary soviet town with the population of 47,500 built in 1970 was meant for the future power plant employees.

It used to be young and dynamic with the average age of its inhabitants being 26 years (!). Five schools, two stadiums, three swimming pools, three houses of culture, an amusement park – Pripyat was a blossoming town with a regular boat connection with Kyiv, only 94 km away.

Needless to say that everything now is left to decay exactly in the same state as the day people were evacuated.

A lot of elements from my early childhood were brought up in front of my eyes, many of which, like the communist hammer and sickle, you will hardly see in today’s Ukraine.

All of them used to be my every day environment, gradually disappearing over the years following the Independence Day. For my father however, it was a true immersion into the past. Seeing a town similar to the one of your childhood in such a state is not a daily experience.

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We were again back in the bus on the way to the next “curiosity” – the Radar Duga.

Past the fading soviet propaganda drawings, past the guard and over a thick layer of snow, soon we arrived to a huge structure hidden among the pines on the spot that for many years didn’t appear on any maps.

Even if “hidden” is not exactly a correct word for the Duga – a 140m high antimissile radar, also called “Russian Woodpecker” for the characteristic sound it emitted when it used to operate. This enormous pile of metal used to indulge the Soviet paranoia as it was meant to be the most efficient way to detect any anti-USSR actions, rightfully expected in the middle of the Cold War. There is a bunch of conspiracy theories floating around Duga, but what of it is true, and what is made up? I doubt that we would ever have the answer.

In any case, what we have now is 14 tons of rusting metal but it won’t stay like this forever. Surprisingly, there are people who actually steal the parts of the Duga in order to sell the metal but the structure gets rusty and will eventually lose its stability. Even if in some way it could be seen as a “landmark”, the maintenance for it costs money and Ukrainian government has much more urging matters to spend money on.

When you are going to the zone of the most horrible nuclear disaster the world has known, it must be a dangerous undertaking, mustn’t it?

The answer is yes and no.

Yes because the radiation level is still very high, and no because it is situated mainly under the ground and on the objects around, but not in the air. As long as you don’t touch anything, don’t eat anything outside or touch berries or fruits that might grow in the zone, as long as you follow the guide – the radiation dose you will get will be no more than the one you can get on a three hours flight. Follow the health and safety rules as well as the common sense and there will be nothing to worry about.

The Chernobyl disaster is something that you learn from a very young age. Every April, you and your classmates attend a school event accompanied by a tragic music where you watch a teacher lighting a candle on the stage. Occasionally you happen to pass by the national museum “Chernobyl”, but I would be lying if I said that those who weren’t touched directly, feel a great deal of sorrow or empathy on a daily basis.

Radiation is an invisible enemy. It doesn’t have any color, it doesn’t have any taste, you can’t see its immediate impact. Unlike in the “classic” war, you have no visible attributes of what might be killing you right now. Chernobyl tours are far less popular with Ukrainians than with foreigners; partially because not all of us can allow it financially, but also because the idea of visiting the Exclusion Zone just doesn’t occur to us.

If you want to know more about Chernobyl, here is a detailed documentary movie about the disaster and the liquidation The Battle for Chernobyl (2006). Another one – The Babushkas of Chernobyl (2015), tells the stories of the women who chose to come back to the Zone. The series Life After People about what happens to our planet the moment humanity disappears. Finally, the HBO series Chernobyl, this goes without any further words.