What is interesting island of Iturup? How to get there?

If your path lies on the Kurile Islands, the island of Iturup must surely become part of your trip. After all, this is a very beautiful and original place. No wonder many people consider him to be a real pearl of the Kurils. We suggest today to find out what is Iturup Island, find out where it is, what climate it is and what the flora and fauna are. Also we will understand how one can get to this most interesting place.

Iturup Island: photo, description

Iturup is the largest island of the archipelago of the Great Kurile ridge, which is part of the Kuril Islands, located in the Pacific Ocean. Iturup belongs to the Russian Federation, however, for a long time already, Japan has claimed its rights to it. The authorities of this country view it as the prefecture of Hokkaido. As for the name of the island, it is believed that it originated from the word "etorope", which can be translated from Ainu as "jellyfish".

Geography and map of Iturup Island

As already mentioned, this island is located in the water area of the Pacific Ocean. On the northern side, it is washed by the waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. The island of Iturup on the map of Russia can be found in the south-east of our large country. On the map, you can clearly see how close Iturup is to Japan.

The length of the island from the north-east to the south-west is 200 kilometers, and its width in different parts varies from seven to twenty-seven kilometers. The area of Iturup is 3200 square kilometers. The island consists of mountain ranges and volcanic massifs. There are about twenty volcanoes here, nine of which are active (Curly, Lesser Brother, Chirip, Bogdan Khmelnitsky and others). In addition, such a seemingly small island of Iturup boasts many picturesque waterfalls, including the highest waterfall in Russia - Ilya Muromets (141 meters). In addition, there are lakes, as well as hot and mineral springs.

Flora

The island of Iturup is rich not only with volcanoes, waterfalls and geysers, but also with a number of representatives of the plant world. Thus, most of its territory is covered by coniferous forests, consisting of small-seeded firs and Sakhalin firs. In the central part of the island you can see the Kuril larch. In the southern part of Iturup, broad-leaved species also grow: thin-curled oak, calopanax, maple. Also on the island are very developed bamboo thickets - Kuril saz, which makes the slopes of mountains and forests almost impassable.

Climate

Iturup Island has a temperate marine climate. The summer here is wet and pretty cool. The warmest month is August, when the average daily temperature reaches +14 degrees Celsius. Therefore, going to Iturup, even in summer, be sure to grab warm clothes. As for the winter, it is much milder here than on the continent, and is characterized by frequent snowfalls, alternating thaws. The average temperature in the coldest month - February - is -3 degrees Celsius.

Residents of the island and settlements

At Iturup today there are about six and a half thousand people. In the central part of the island on the shores of the Sea of Okhotsk there is the only city and administrative center here - Kurilsk. Its population is about 1800 people. The rest of the islanders live in the rural settlements of Kitovoye, Reidovo, Rybaki, the Hot Keys and a number of others.

Minerals

On the island of Iturup in 1992, the only economically profitable deposit of rhenium was discovered in the world. It is located on Kudryavy volcano. According to research of scientists, annually from the bowels of the volcano, about twenty tons of rhenium is thrown to the surface. It is interesting that the world's mining of this metal does not exceed forty tons a year. One kilogram of rhenium costs about 10 thousand US dollars. This metal is strategically valuable, as it is used by enterprises of the military-industrial complex (primarily in the aerospace field). In addition to rhenium, the depths of Iturup are rich in bismuth, indium, germanium, gold, silver, selenium. There is also a large deposit of native sulfur.

How to get to Iturup

The air communication of the island is carried out through the airfield "Burevestnik", which is located here, which belongs to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Passenger and cargo sea communication is carried out by means of two motor ships: Polaris and Igor Farkhutdinov.

I would like to note that if you decide to visit the island of Iturup, then, most likely, you will have to go by plane. Canadian airplanes fly here Bombardier DHC-8. For example, from the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk the ticket will cost you four and a half thousand rubles. Travel time is about an hour. And, keep in mind that the aircraft is sent on schedule is not always. This is due to the variability of meteorological conditions on Iturup. It even happens that people who want to get to the island, waiting for flight weather two, or even three days.

Arriving in the Burevestnik, you are likely to be very surprised. After all, luggage here (without tags) from the plane is unloaded directly to the ground, where every passenger must pick up their belongings. As for the airfield itself, it is located about 60 kilometers from Kurilsk. And you will go 50 kilometers on a dirt road, and 10 more along the shore of the Kasatka Gulf (which can only be done at low tide). This is due to the fact that the airfield was built by the Japanese. It was from here that their fighters were sent for the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Not far from Kurilsk is now building a new airport.