Sakhalin

Sakhalin has been inhabited by several indigenous tribes since the stone age, The Ainu people, also present on Hokkaido in Japan and the Kuril Islands, populated the southern half of the island, and while a small group of Sakhalin Ainu is still present on the island, most were repatriated to Japan after the end of World War II. The largest group of the island's original population is the Nivkh tribe of the northern taigas.

Sakhalin has long been the scene of a power struggle between the major Asian powers: Russia, Japan and even the Qing China have put forward claims on the island. In the 17th century, Japan and Russia started colonizing the island from different ends, dividing the island into a northern Russian part and a southern Japanese part. Aside from a 25-year period at the end of the 19th century, the island remained divided until the waning days of World War II, when Soviet troops broke through the defensive line and invaded the Japanese half. After the end of the war, the Japanese and Ainu people were forcefully repatriated to Japan, while a sizable Korean minority – brought by the Japanese for forced labour – remained on the island and were denied repatriation until the last years of Soviet rule, though many still remain on Sakhalin.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Sakhalin has experienced an oil boom with Russian and foreign oil companies pouring into the island, bringing investment in the island's infrastructure. This comes with a price though, as pipelines and logging pose a significant threat to the island's spectacular nature. There have been complaints that the oil boom's economic benefits aren't going to the island's population.

Because of the cold Sea of Okhotsk which surrounds the island, the climate on Sakhalin is generally cool and humid. In the depth of winter the average temperature ranges from a bearable –6°C in the south to a bone chilling –24°C in the north, while temperatures as cold as –54°C have been reported. In the summer temperature rarely exceeds +19°C, often much cooler and floating ice can be observed around the island, even in the height of summer. Generally the north is much colder than the south, in part due to a warm current running along the Tartar strait in the southern end, the winter is a full 2 months longer in the North (October-May). The annual precipitation ranges between 600-1200 mm, and snowfall can be heavy – in the mountains accumulation of 5 meter snow or more is not unusual.

At more than 70,000 km², Sakhalin is Russia's largest island. From the 40 km La Pérouse Strait separating Sakhalin from the Japanese island of Hokkaido, the island stretches nearly 1000 km northwards in a long and narrow shape along the mainland's east coast. It's quite mountainous with two low mountain-ranges running parallel to each other separated by a valley tract. To the north the island flattens into a swampy taiga, while the central part of the island is densely forested.

These central forests are home to more than 2000 Sakhalin brown bears, which are often spotted even on the outskirts of the cities. Otters and sables are also common sightings. Up north there are numerous reindeer, many of them are herded by the indigenous Nivkhi tribe. Whales are also a common sighting along the east coast of the island, and Sakhalin is the only known feeding ground of the west pacific colony of the Gray Whales. Other whales spotted around the island include the Right Whale, the Bowhead Whale and the Beluga Whale, and up on the shores it's possible to spot Northern fur seals and sea lions.

The Nivkh are the only remaining significant indigenous ethnic group, of a population that used to include the Ainu and Orok people: around 5,000 live on Sakhalin, mainly in the northern taigas, with the village of Nekrasovska near Okha being the largest remaining community. They are traditionally a semi-nomadic people, living near the coasts in the summer and wintering inland along streams and rivers to catch salmon; but in no small part because of Soviet centralist policies, and pollution of their natural habitats and food sources, the Nivkhs now live in mixed population villages and have a fairly modern life style. Only a handful of principally anthropological factors have so far averted their total assimilation. Their unique language, which has not been proven to be related to any other language, is also under threat, and less than 20% of the Nivkh can speak it fluently.

It's not all doom and gloom as there was a revival of Nivkh culture in the 2000s, and many Nivkhs are active in the restoration of their cultural traditions and language, which is largely shamanistic and animist, with ties to Mongolian traditional beliefs. According to Nivkh legends, Sakhalin is a giant beast lying on its belly with the trees of the island as its hair. When the beast is upset, it awakens and trembles the earth causing earthquakes.

• The Island of Sakhalin by Anton Chekhov is a rather shocking social science treatise based on the harsh living conditions the author witnessed on the island during the 1890s.
• Globetrotting for love and other stories from Sakhalin Island by Ajay Kamalakaran.

• For general visa requirements, see Russia.

Sakhalin is considered a Special Border Region (distinct from the "Border Security Zone" which is much more heavily restricted). Passport checks occur upon disembarkation of your domestic flight or the Vanino–Kholmsk. If you are not a Russian citizen, you could be led inside either the airport or ferry terminal and subjected to a brief interview. You'll be asked as to the purpose of your visit, intended accommodation, as well as onward travel. No documents other than your passport, visa, and migration card are necessary. But as of November 2015, this procedure is likely no more. Immigration officials in this part of the country are generally not multilingual, if you're not a Russian speaker plan on having this information written out ahead of time and it will speed this process along.

If Sakhalin is your first port of entry into the Russian Federation, the above process will be completed along with the standard Russian immigration procedures.

Unlike Sakhalin, the adjacent islands Tyuleniy and Moneron, and the whole range of Kuril Islands are a part of the so-called Border Security Zone and does require an entry permit. Permits are issued by the local office of border control:

• Sakhalin branch of Border Guard Service, 63a Pobedy av. (пр. Победы 63а), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, ☏ +7 4242 49-20-62, fax: +7 4242 42-32-59. 

While Russian citizens can get a permit on the day of application, the procedure for foreigners is very complicated. Unless you're a fluent Russian speaker, going on an organized tour might be the only realistic way of going (they'll handle all paperwork for you). If you'd like to try on your own, see the Kuril Islands article for details of the procedure.

There is a single passenger ferry route connecting the mainland with Sakhalin. Unless you possess time, patience, and Russian skills in abundance to explore wildcat alternatives, your choice is limited to this daily ferry service between Vanino on the mainland, and Kholmsk on the island's western coast. Vanino is linked with the rest of the Russian railway network by a daily service to Vladivostok, with stops in Komsomolsk and Khabarovsk en route. In the summer months another option is a Japanese operated ferry service linking Korsakov on the shore of Aniva Bay, at the southern tip of the island, with Wakkanai on the northern tip of Hokkaido.

• See Russia to Japan via Sakhalin itinerary for additional information on the ferry services

The booming oil industry has ensured an unusual abundance of options to reach a destination as remote, and sparsely populated, as Sakhalin. The airport in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (UUS ^IATA) has connections to major cities in the Russian Far East, and flights to Japan, South Korea and China several times per week. If you are reluctant to fly with a Russian airline, the only other option is the weekly Asiana flight from Seoul, South Korea.

Yakutia operates regular flights from Khabarovsk to small airports in Okha (4-5 times a week) and Nogliki (3 times a week) in the northern part of Sakhalin. They also have infrequent summer flights to Zonal'noe (Зональное) airport located 70 km east of Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky.

Aurora , the island's carrier, operates daily flights from and to its main hub in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and around the island. Tickets can be booked online.

Sakhalin has an extensive railway network, much of it built by the Japanese. All tracks still use the old Japanese gauge (1067 mm), although a push to replace these tracks with the standard Russian gauge of 1524 mm is underway. You will probably spot strange three-rail tracks that can accommodate both old Japanese trains and newer Russian cars. Old Japanese carriages are still in use as local trains.

Services are scattered and infrequent, but a daily train (#001/#002) connecting Nogilky and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk remains the main mode of transport between the south and north part of the island. You can check the current railway schedule at the Russian Railways website. Sakhalin railways operate exactly two night trains:

• #001/#002 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Nogliki. Sleeper cars with two-bed and four-bed compartments.
• #601/#602 (also known as #951/#952) Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Nogliki. Sleeper cars with four-bed compartments, couchette cars, and seat cars. Somewhat slower than #001/#002.

...and two trains that run during the day:

• #967/#968 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Tymovsk. One sleeper cars with four-bed compartments and one seat car. This train is very slow and delivers post rather than passengers.
• #121/#122 Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk – Tomari. Open coaches.

Local train services are moribund. Although the trains operate 2-3 times a day in the suburbs of Kholmsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, they are of little use for visitors. A direct railway line between Kholmsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk is in a sorry state and carries no traffic, although it remains interesting on its own and deserves a closer look. Railway enthusiasts wanting to continue their journey by rail after disembarking the ferry in Kholmsk need to catch a once or twice daily connection to Tomari (#1611) 80 km to the north, then take another once daily train (#121) from there to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, although unless you are a dedicated railway buff, this huge detour is probably not worth the effort.

While train is the mode of transport for longer trips, short trips are mainly done by bus. On the southern part of the island road conditions are fairly good, and many destinations can be easily reached from the bus terminal in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, offering departures for the ports of Korsakov and Kholmsk every 30-60 minutes throughout most of the day, Nevel'sk six times daily, Makarov once daily, and several other smaller cities at varying intervals. If you speak Russian, call (4242) 72-25-53 for details. Further north, buses bound for Alexandrovsk-Sakhalinsky and Okha connect to the daily trains in Tymovsk and Nogilki, respectively.

An alternative to the public buses are the many private marshruthkas (minibuses), which also do intercity trips. They cost around double of the buses and have no schedules and tend to be more crammed, although on the plus side they are usually faster, more frequent and more comfortable than the often worn out public buses. A simple "marshrutka City name?" should suffice in getting locals pointing you in the right direction.

Driving a car on Sakhalin is probably a bad idea because roads are few and in bad condition even by Russian standards. Although most interesting places are unreachable by public transport, the car will not bring you further unless you rent a 4x4 van and possess necessary driving skills, including river crossing. Considering these difficulties, most companies, which are so small that they do not even have websites, offer cars with drivers. If you speak Russian, try to search on the web or simply ask at the hotel.

• Car rental (Автопрокат), 553 Lenina St. (2nd floor), Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, ☏ +7 4242 62-16-21, +7 4242 61-96-19. The only formal car rental of Sakhalin. While they offer cars without drivers, you won't be allowed to go north beyond Poronaysk, and in fact even this will cost 50% more than the simple and boring drive along good roads between Yuzhno-Sakhalin, Kholmsk, and Korsakov. (updated Feb 2020)

The Vanino-Kholmsk ferry can take cars. Few people use this option, though. As of 2012, the one-way price is about 15000 руб for a standard car.

• Russia to Japan via Sakhalin. Sakhalin is connected to Hokkaido, Japan by a twice-weekly ferry during the summer - this itinerary tells you how to get there.