Inquiries from tourists wanting to visit the region have risen sharply since two mudslides buried nearly two-thirds of the valley on June 3, 2007. The mudslide dammed the Geysernaya River at the bottom of the valley, creating a thermal lake.
However despite fears that the site would never be restored to its former grandeur, the region is beginning to recover with some 30 geysers surviving intact, while only 10 have been lost forever. And although the rest are underwater, they are expected to recover as floods waters gradually subside.
In addition, all the bears, who left when the area following the disaster, have returned to the valley, which features some 200 thermal pools and 90 erupting geysers across a 2.5-square mile area on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
Since the site was opened to the public in 1991, about 3,000 visitors a year have visited the remote geyser field, one of only five in the world where the spectacular eruptions of steam and boiling water can be observed.
And despite its relative inaccessibility, there have always been more than enough people willing to pay up to $600 for a four-hour visit.
