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Fly fishing and travelling in Russia
Russia is an incredibly large country and
so it will take hundreds of years till the last river will
be
explored. I have fished some of them from Altai to the Ural
and up
to Kamchatka in the very east. Whenever time allows it, I
will try to add one destination after the other to give you
an imagination what the fly fisher can expect when he enters
Russia for a fishing trip.
standard of lodges and camps
Because of the fact that the country is so large, you cannot expect the same standards of
living as e.g. in Canada or Alaska. This is especially true
for remote areas. The Russian travel companies try to do their
best to host you as comfortable as possible. They will try
to make you enjoy your trip. The fishing is usually very
good. The weather is not to be controlled by anyone. Fly Fishing tourism in
Russia is quite young and the services have improved
permanently within the last years.
Of course in special high price areas like on Kola Peninsula
and some places on Kamchatka you will find everything that
you could imagine what should be there, but this comfort has
of course its price.
extensive travel insurance
The traveller in Russia needs a good
insurance because you never know what will happen.
Especially in remote areas there are many wild animals like
bears, wolferines and moose which can be dangerous but also
a broken leg, a deep cut or illness can cause problems if
you are in the wilderness and far from any hospital. So the travel
agencies and private companies demand an
extensive travel insurance which especially covers
cancelation or annulment costs, travel incidents, optimum
casuality compensation and sick person's care on site as
well as extra costs of return flights.
Anyway, all experienced, serious fly fishing tourists effect
such insurances even if they were not requested to do so.
visa
If you travel to Russia you need a visa. The forms that are
required to apply for it can be downloaded from the Russian embassy
websites of your country. Just fill in the form and send it
together with the required documents(usually copy of
insurance, passport, passport photograph) to a Russian
travel company in your country. They know how to handle visa
applications
in the best way. You can of course also go directly to the
embassy but this can take you a lot of time. Russians
usually have no hurry when they work but take their time. They do not
want to become slaves of time as most of us already are so they try
to work against it. If you travel for more than 30 days in a
row a
business visa is required. This can also be handled much
better by a tourist company. Visa help is usually
provided by the fishing travel companies.
registration
If you travel in Russia you are requested to register at a
hotel or local administration building at least three days
after your arrival. This can sometimes be quite difficult,
especially if you travel on your own and far away from tourist
areas. There, the people at the counters usually do not know how
to handle situations which differ a lot from there everyday
work. I still remember one time when I was sent from one
place to another for more than two days to finally be sent
back to the place where I started first. However this was
also a good experience and gave me an insite view in Russian
bureaucracy. Travelling completely on your own in Russia can
be really dangerous. Better forget about that, especially if
you are fly fisher and travel with expensive gear. I have
always felt save in Russia but I was never on my own but always together with native
friends. As in many other
countries there are some unwritten rules which you have to
follow but which you do not know if you are not native.
There are many little things I would have done wrong or
which I would have interpreted in another way. If you travel
with a group, registration will usually take place at the
hotel where you stay for the first night and it is usually done with the help
of the partner company at site. Anyway two nights(after
arrival and before departure) are usually spent in hotels
before you fly out. This is necessary because you never know
about the weather especially not in Kamchatka. So you always
need to be on the safe side and better schedule one or two
extra days in the town where your plane departs just in case a helicopter cannot take
off in time to bring you back to the airport.
some destinations:
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