Kronotsky Nature Reserve is a natural area located on the coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula. Founded in 1934, the site is used for the research in natural sciences. It covers an area of about 4243 square kilometers houses the only geyser basin with a number of mountain ranges, extinct and active volcanoes in Russia. In addition the Kronotsky Nature Reserve is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The peak here reaches 15,584 feet. The climate ranges in the extremes it gets too hot or too cold earning it the label “Land of Fire and Ice”. It is a major tourist spot and it is being visited by 3000 tourists annually. Some have paid upward of $700.00 for a helicopter ride, round trip, to and from the reserve.
The Kronotsky Nature Reserve features about 750 plant species. In addition, 700 bears are seen here, some of them weigh about 1200 pounds and these are considered as the largest in the world.
The Kronotsky Nature Reserve features Valley of Geysers which is the world’s second largest geyser. It measures about 6 km long with a number of hot springs and geysers. The Velikan Geyser is the largest of all and it shoots water to a height of 25 meters for about 6 hours. The largest geyser erupts about 60 tons of water and this happens twice in a year.