That conversation is one that I had a handful of times before I went on holiday. The reactions were the best part — bewilderment, concern, excitement… a real mixture that you would never get if you said you were off to Majorca or the Lake District.

It’s somewhere that’s intrigued me a bit since seeing news stories about the radioactive sheep, and sporadic news reports when growing up in the early 1990s. It was the worst nuclear disaster in history, with millions affected. There’s some more background on the events here.

So, after 48 hours exploring Kiev (including a trip to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s mansion, the Mezhyhirya estate), on Monday morning I found myself in Independence Square, jumping in a mini-bus with seven people I’d never met before for a two hour drive into the Ukranian wilderness.

The upcoming selection of photos and comments are not necessarily in order. I’ve tried to keep it briefish…

Around the Chernobyl reactor there’s a 30 km exclusion zone, and a 10km exclusion zone inside that. Security is reasonably tight, so you have to get permits and go with an organised tour group. About 15,000 people now visit each year.

A herd of wild horses spotted just after the checkpoint

Just after we entered the exclusion zone… me by the “Chernobyl” town sign, freshly painted

Chernobyl town church

In the centre of Chernobyl town there’s a nice memorial to other nuclear incidents in Japan: Hiroshima and Fukishima

I loved this angel in the centre of Chernobyl

Chernobyl town’s Lenin statue (every town in the Soviet Union reportedly had one)

Inside a kindergarten

Our first bit of “significantly above average radiation” outside the kindergarten.

For a good explanation of radiation see this great diagram from XKCD here. This patch of soil above is giving off a bit more radiation than a chest CT scan.

There was a hastily built sarcophagus around the reactor that was built in about 7 months after the accident. A new sarcophagus is being built that is taller than the statute of liberty and will be wheeled into place next year to cover the reactor. Remote controlled cranes inside will start dismantling the building inside.

This is the radiation detectors that were at every checkpoint. You can watch a video on how this works.

A statue of Prometheus, taken from Pripyat city and moved to the memorial just in front of Chernobyl Reactor Number 4. Very apt seeing as Prometheus was the deity in Greek mythology who stole fire from Mount Olympus and gave it to mankind

Just 270 metres from Prometheus’ statue stands Chernobyl Reactor Number 4, where the explosion and meltdown took place in 1986.

Near to the power station is the city of Pripyat. It had a population of 49,360 and was a dormitory community for the Chernobyl power plant. The city is now a ghost town since it was evacuated on the afternoon of April 27th 1986, the day after the Chernobyl meltdown.

Welcome to Pripyat

Inside the supermarket on Pripyat’s main square

I quite liked this mural outside the supermarket in Pripyat

A “propaganda” room

Our first sighting of the famous Ferris wheel at Pripyat amusement park. The park only ever opened for a few hours — it was scheduled to open on May 1st 1986, a few days after the accident. It only opened for a few hours on April 27th before the order to evacuate was made.

The dilapidated dodgems at Pripyat amusement park

Me on the bumper cars.

This is the main stand at the sports stadium. The seats were all wooden — completely rotten at the bottom, where they've been exposed to the elements, in very good condition at the top, the VIP section.

The view from the top of the stands looking out. We’re looking out onto what would have been a football pitch — notice the absolutely huge trees there now.