The west coastal plain has colder and drier climate with precipitation ranging from 880 millimetres (35 in) in the south to as little as 430 millimetres (17 in) in the north, where winter temperatures become considerably colder at around −20 °C (−4 °F). A major smallpox epidemic that hit in 1768–1769 quickly decimated the native population; the roughly 2,500 Itelmens present in 1773 were reduced to 1,900 in 1820, from an original population of 12,000–25,000. The Russian government encouraged the commercial activities of the Russian-American Company by granting land to newcomers on the peninsula. Bolskeretsk was founded in 1703. In 1700 a punitive expedition destroyed a Koryak village and founded Nizhne-Kamchatsk on the lower river. South of 57˚N there is no permafrost due to the relatively mild winters and heavy snow cover, whilst northward discontinuous permafrost prevails. The Kamchatka or Central (Sredinny) Range forms the spine of the peninsula. Afterwards the helicopter lands inside green caldera of Ksudach volcano and at Khodutka thermal waters. The six sites included in the serial designation group together the majority of volcanic features of the Kamchatka peninsula. As such, Kamchatka forms one border of the Pacific “ring of fire,” a lasso of volcanoes and tectonic fault lines that whips south to the Philippines and Indonesia and then loops back along the coasts of the Americas. In total it is esimated that around 20,000 bears live in Kamchatka. After the Valley helicopter lands inside caldera of Uzon volcano with many hydrothermal and chemical activities and at Nalychevo where you can swim in natural thermal waters. The Kamchatka River rises northwest of Avacha and flows north down the central valley, turning east near Klyuchi to enter the Pacific south of Kamchatsky Point at Ust-Kamchatsk. Kamchatka is larger than Germany and Benelux together, while its population is only 313 thousand people, including 180 thousand in Petropavlovsk and 20 thousand in closed city Viluchinsk, naval base of nuclear submarines. Opala volcano in the southern part of Kamchatka. We also completed hiking trails to volcanos Mutnovsky and Gorely. Northward up the Pacific side, the four peninsulas are called Shipunsky Point, Kronotsky Point, Kamchatsky Point, and Ozernoy Point. There was also possibility to climb volcano Avachinsky, but it requires 8km long ascent with elevation of 1,800 meters to the 2,741 meters summit. There are 114 volcanoes on the Kamchatka Peninsula that have erupted during the Holocene Epoch (approximately 12,000 years ago to the present). The pinkish red area is the Kamchatka Krai which includes some of the mainland to the north. In 1755 Stepan Krasheninnikov published the first detailed description of the peninsula, An Account of the Land of Kamchatka. By 1812 the indigenous population had fallen to less than 3,200 while the Russian population had risen to 2,500. Compared with Iceland, Kamchatka is wilder, more diverse in terms of volcanos and has bears; while Iceland has more scenic waterfalls, more photogenic in general and have horses. The peninsula hosts habitat for several large ungulates including the Kamchatka snow sheep, reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), and Chukotka moose (Alces alces buturlini) one of the largest moose in the world and the largest in Eurasia; and rodents/leporids, including mountain hare (Lepus timidus), marmot, and several species of lemming and squirrel. After the war, the Soviet authorities declared Kamchatka a military zone: it remained closed to Soviet citizens until 1989 and to foreigners until 1990. World War II (1939–1945) hardly affected Kamchatka except for its role as a launch site for the invasion of the Kurils in August 1945. The lake-filled Akademia Nauk caldera, seen here from the north with Karymsky volcano in the foreground. Northeast of this (off the displayed map) lies Korfa Bay with the town of Tilichiki. There is something profoundly enticing about the beauty and remoteness of Kamchatka. He built an ostrog at Verkhny-Kamchatsk, rescued or captured a Japanese castaway, and went to Moscow to report. There is a limited number of English speakers in most of the tour agencies so book ahead and make sure you're getting into English group if nobody in your party speaks Russian.