Magadan Oblast

Tourism Infrastructure

The airport is about an hour away from downtown Magadan, approximately 54 kilometers. The best hotel in town is the Centralnaya Hotel, renovated in 1996. The hotel has five floors, accessible by elevator. It offers 43 rooms: 25 singles, 13 doubles, 3 mini suites and 2 apartment suites. All rooms have a private bathroom; color TV, refrigerator and direct dial international telephones. The property includes a restaurant seating about 40 people and a small bar. The hotel offers English speaking staff.

Geography

Magadan lies below Chukotka and above the Khabarovski Krai.

Climate

The region's harsh climate is regulated by the Pacific and Arctic Oceans and two mountain ranges. The average temperature in January ranges from -19C along the Sea of Ohotsk to -38C in the interior. Average July temperatures are from 5C to 16C.

History/Culture

The first Russian explorers came to Magadan Oblast in the late 1600's in search of furs. Settled as a support base for the exploration of minerals, it became the center of the Gulag Archipelago described by writers such as Solzhenitsyn, Shalamov and Ginsburg. Exiled politicians and criminals were sent by Trans Siberian Express windowless cars and transferred by barge to Magadan. They built the famous Kolyma Highway, the road reaching from the gold mines to Yakutia. More than a million people who were declared enemies of the state died in Magadan camps.

Ecology/Environment

"The Magadan Region is mountainous. The Anulyskiy and Pekul'nei mountain ranges feed the Boslhoy and Mally Anui Rivers. The Kolyma, Suntar-Khayata and Gherskiy mountain ranges feed the gold rich Omolon and Kolyma rivers. Large forests and marshland form the landscape in the southern Magadan Oblast. Dwarf Siberian pine grows alongside the coast. The most valuable forests (mainly larch, poplar and willow) grow alongside the river valleys. These river valleys are the richest in terms of species diversity, biomass and productivity and often have the main gold deposits."*

Nature Preserves

The Magadan Nature Reserve

*The Russian Far East: Forests, Biodiveristy Hotspots and Industrial Development by Josh Newell and Emma Wilson, published by Friends of the Earth, Japan

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